We know that Kristen Wiig has been cast to play the main villain in the upcoming ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ movie. Wiig plays the role of the classic WW antagonist the Cheetah in her modern incarnation as Barbara Ann Minerva. Cheetah will undoubtedly act as the main antagonist against Gal Gadot’s Amazon protagonist. But Chilean born actor Pedro Pascal has also been cast as a bad guy. What role will he be playing in the WW sequel?
According to the latest news about the WW project (confirming what some fans already speculated was the case), Pascal will be playing Maxwell Lord.
In the DC Universe Lord is a wealthy business man and entrepreneur who became a financial backer of the Justice League International. Oh, he was also a meta-human who could control minds and showed himself to be a heartless murderer. In the comics, Lord is responsible for the death of Booster Gold’s buddy Ted Kord - the second Blue Beetle- and he mind-controls Superman turning him into a major threat. Yes, he’s a villain and a menacing one.
If Pascal is portraying Lord, this is not the first time the character has been used in a live action project. Maxwell Lord has appeared on the CW show 'Smallville', played by Gil Bellows in season nine, and on the first season of the then CBS program 'Supergirl' , played there by Peter Facinelli. He’s also appeared in animated features in the DCEU.
Those appearances didn’t do much for the prices of his key comics, but then again those were small screen appearances. His appearance in the Wonder Woman film will be his first big screen portrayal.
Here are some Maxwell Lord comics you might want to pick up in anticipation of a successful reception of the next Wonder Woman movie that may drive prices on them upwards.
Justice League #1 (May 1987) – First Appearance of Maxwell Lord
Variously known as Justice League International and Justice League America this 1980s comic has been praised for its humor and new take on a very old concept. The original Justice League of America was the Silver Age successor to the Golden Age Justice Society of America. In the Bronze Age, DC really decided to shake things up and this included experimenting with their most famous team book. In the able hands of J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, the JLA was reborn in this underrated incarnation. Although it only lasted 6 issues before it's title was changed to Justice League International, it’s worth owning if only for the interactions between Batman and Guy Gardner. Oh, and Maxwell Lord does make, what is –according to many- his first appearance here. This book is not quite a heavy weight in terms of the prices it commands, but it’s not quite dollar box filler either. Currently sitting at around $75.00 FMV for certified 9.8 copies, the highest recorded sale of a certified (and non-signature series) copy was last month for $120.00. Does this signify a trend? Time will tell.
Booster Gold #16 (May 1987) – Second (?) Appearance of Maxwell Lord
I wrote above that Justice League #1 is Maxwell Lord’s first appearance chronologically speaking. That’s because this comic was released the same month as JL #1. In fact, it’s hard to say that this isn’t his first appearance, since nothing in the narrative of JL #1 implies that it takes place before this story. CGC, however, has made JL #1 the first appearance with the result that Booster Gold #16 has been relegated to dollar-bin fodder. Other than the Max Lord appearance and the first appearance of Peter Babich plus the first mention of the ‘Booster Gold International Company,’ not much happens here. Subsequently high grade copies of this can be found for five dollars or under on Ebay, or, as mentioned, by checking your local LCS’s back issue dollar bin.
Justice League International #12 (April 1988) - Origin of Maxwell Lord
Here we get a Max Lord key issue since this comic gives us his origin. It’s also the first appearance of the character ‘Ice’ a powerful cryokinetic meta-human from Norway. But, of course, most people pick this up for the Max Lord origin story not the appearance of Ice. Only two CGC certified sales of this comic are recorded on GoCollect.com. A 9.6, selling for $14.99 on 11/06/2016 and a 9.8 selling for $45.00 on 07/30/2014. That’s what I'd call an affordable key.
Wonder Woman v2 #219 (Sept. 2005) – Death of Maxwell Lord
Finally, the end of Max Lord takes place in Wonder Woman v2 #219. In this issue after taking control of Superman’s mind, Lord creates a sense of paranoia leading Clark to become dangerous. Diana, using her lasso of Truth, finds out that the only way to break the mind control is to kill Lord, which she immediately does by snapping his neck. But you know that no one ever really dies in comics. If the upcoming 'Wonder Woman' movie turns out to make Lord popular, you can bet he’ll be back. This comic has been selling for very affordable prices. Current FMV for a 9.8 certified copy is around $36.00. It’s gradually rising in terms of value however with best returns also on 9.8 at an impressive positive + 271.5% after 17 sales since 2013.
