Maxwell Lord IV is the son of Maxwell Lord III, a successful businessman and head of the Chimtech Consortium. Maxwell III set out to be a good example for his son by striving to always do what was right. When Maxwell IV was 16, he came home to find his father dead in an apparent suicide. His father had discovered that his company had produced a
carcinogenic product, and could not bear the guilt. Lord's mother was convinced by her husband to employ a similar practice, cajoling heroic
metahumans to help Lord. Thus, he sparked the plans to bring the Justice League, leaderless and broken after the
Crisis on Infinite Earths event, under his exclusive control.
Giffen and DeMatteis years Lord initially worked behind the scenes to establish the Justice League, while under the control of a computer created by
Metron. The computer wanted Lord to set up a worldwide peacekeeping organization as part of its plan to
dominate the world. on the need for a strong League in
Justice League America #40 (July 1990). Art by
Adam Hughes and
J. M. DeMatteis. A
retcon changed Lord's controller to the villainous computer program
Kilg%re, which had taken over Metron's machine. A second retcon mitigated Kilg%re's and Metron's influence, stating that Lord already had plans to take over the League and would have pursued them regardless. Despite being a metahuman, Lord never identifies as one. Instead, at the urging of his mother to act for the benefit of non-metahumans, he shifts his hatred for the generic "authority figures" who caused his father's death to the metahuman community.
Doomsday later crash-lands on Earth, easily trounces the League, and kills
Superman. With Earth undefended,
Mongul invades and destroys
Coast City, killing Lord's mother. This event further fuels his hatred and paranoia against metahumans, as well as leading him to believe that not only can metahumans not be trusted, but that their personal battles and scuffles are enough to shatter world safety. In
Identity Crisis (2004), Lord attends
Sue Dibny's funeral and speaks to Booster Gold, further denting his already dwindling faith in superheroes.
Infinite Crisis .
Countdown to Infinite Crisis reveals that Lord is no longer a cyborg, and is a criminal mastermind who spent years running the JLI while gathering sensitive information about the world's superheroes, whom he considered a threat to the planet. Simultaneously, he sabotaged JLI efforts to render the superhero team as ineffectual as possible. At the end of the prologue special issue, he shoots and kills Ted Kord.
Alexander Luthor Jr., the son of
Lex Luthor from an alternate Earth, gives Lord control of
Brother Eye, a satellite system
Batman created to monitor superhumans worldwide. Lord uses his powers to influence
Superman's mind, causing him to brutally beat Batman in the belief that he is
Brainiac. Lord subsequently sends Superman to attack
Wonder Woman after making him believe that she is his old enemy Doomsday. Lord justifies the resulting destruction as proof of his argument about the dangers of superhumans, pointing out the devastation that Wonder Woman and Superman could cause if they fought in a crowded area, and arguing that the fact that Superman can be brought under another's control is evidence that superhumans cannot be relied upon. In the midst of her battle with Superman, Diana realizes that even if she defeats him, he would still remain under Lord's control. She creates a diversion lasting long enough for her to race back to Lord's location and asks that he release Superman. Lord, bound by her lasso of truth, complies but states that he'll use Superman again to kill people. When she demands to know how to free Superman from Lord's control, Lord replies "Kill me." Wonder Woman then snaps his neck. seemingly kills Lord in
Infinite Crisis #1 (Dec, 2005); art by
Phil Jimenez.At the "Crisis Counseling" panel at
Wizard World Chicago,
Dan DiDio explained DC's reasoning in using Lord's character in
Infinite Crisis. After going through several possible characters who could be the "new leader for the offshoot of Checkmate", Maxwell Lord was suggested. Many of the editors thought that the idea made sense, as Lord had been shown to have a mean streak and to have killed previously. The idea was dropped due to the continuity errors, such as him being a cyborg, but they went back to it later after deciding none of the other possible characters were suitable. DiDio explained: "We thought about that aspect of the story [where Maxwell was turned into a cyborg] some more. And then asked, 'Did anyone read it?' No. 'Did anyone like the idea?' No. So we moved ahead with Max as being a human, and having been a human, and not letting that small part of the past stand in the way of this story. We wanted what was best for
Countdown [
to Infinite Crisis], and for us, that meant that Max had to be a human".
Resurrection In
Blackest Night and
Brightest Day, Maxwell Lord is resurrected as a
Black Lantern. Targeting Wonder Woman, he lures her to
Arlington National Cemetery with a trail of corpses. When Wonder Woman arrives, he springs a trap, using
black rings to revive the bodies of fallen soldiers. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to reduce Lord and the soldiers to dust, but as she leaves, the dust begins to regenerate. Some time later, Lord resumes his attack on Wonder Woman, who had recently become a
Star Sapphire. Wonder Woman encases Lord's body in crystal, then shatters him to pieces. He is later brought back to life by the power of the White Light. Though
Guy Gardner attempts to restrain him, Lord uses his mind control abilities to make Gardner let him leave. In the series
Justice League: Generation Lost, Lord is the subject of an unprecedented international manhunt. He is found hiding in the old Justice League International embassy by
Booster Gold, whom Lord is able to defeat. Lord then uses a device to amplify his mind control powers to unprecedented levels. With these, he erases the world's memory of his existence. Lord is later contacted by the
Life Entity, who tasks him with killing
Magog. Lord uses his powers to force Magog to kill himself, framing Captain Atom for Magog's death. The Entity proclaims that Lord has completed his task, and his life is fully restored.
DC Rebirth In the
DC Rebirth relaunch, Lord is depicted as the leader of
Project Cadmus. With the aid of
Killer Frost, Lord acquires the Heart of Darkness from a vault, using it to enhance his powers to take control of the Justice League. Lord uses the infected Justice League to achieve "peace" across America, and has
Amanda Waller kidnapped and taken before him. Waller forces Lord to recognize that the Heart is manipulating his perceptions, using Lord's powers to spread chaos and evil across the world, and twisting Lord's perception of what is transpiring. When Waller is able to bring him to his senses, Lord tries to remove the Heart of Darkness, but it consumes him and transforms him into
Eclipso. Eclipso is driven out of Lord when Killer Frost is able to use her powers to create a prism of ice, channeling Superman's heat vision at just the right frequency to disrupt Lord's mental control, with Lord subsequently being immobilized by Killer Frost. Lord awakens in a cell specially designed to hold him, with injectors pumping so much
blood thinner into him that he would bleed to death if he attempted to access his powers. He mockingly asks Waller if she set this whole thing up just to 'justify' the Squad to the League, but Waller declines to reply, and simply informs him that he is to prepare himself for service in "Task Force XI". == Powers and abilities ==