Wonder Woman 1984 released on December 25, 2020, on Christmas and ended the year-long gap of releases for DC. Never in history has DC not released a single movie for a year, and hence Wonder Woman 1984 was extremely crucial for DC’s comeback. But, the reviews did not hold their end of the bargain. Even though the initial reviews were kicking and claimed that the movie is an amazing sequel to Wonder Woman (2017), it slowly steeped below and even lost its Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans claimed that the movie lacked action, and had a tab bit more drama than required, as the movie rekindled the lost love of Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor. Not that fans despise the character, but it was a lot more of love than the action.
Even though the box office collection wasn’t surprising at all, the fans really liked to see Maxwell Lord in action. Avid comic readers are no stranger to the character, but the bigger question is – What does the future hold for Maxwell Lord? It is clear that the unexpected twist at the end of Wonder Woman 1984 was unexpected as Maxwell Lord survived, we believe that the character has a position to hold in the DC Extended Universe. Apart from the comics, we can expect to see Maxwell Lord gain a reputation as a villain in the DCEU and hold that throne as well. Maxwell Lord was created in 1987 for “Born Again,” the Justice League’s rebooted first issue. Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with pencils by Kevin Maguire, Lord is established right away as a cunning entrepreneur not above using terrorism to further his goals.
Maxwell struggles with his conscience, be it unethical, has all the reasons to distrust the media and the government both. In only a few years the idea to give Maxwell powers and a villainous scope came true, and it turns out that It was indeed Lord that hijacks Batman’s satellite, using it to undermine the League and influence the mind of Superman himself, turning the hero against his oldest friends. The Infinite Crisis, an event, created by Geoff Johns and Phil Jiminez, saw Lord becomes a central figure during The OMAC Project, a six-issue mini by Greg Rucka and Jesus Saiz that focused on the original cybernetic constructs. Reimagined as cybernetic sleeper agents within ordinary people, the OMACs are observing the Justice League under the guidance of the “Brother Eye” satellite. The Brother Eye was Batman’s project, and it was indefinitely one of the most crucial and controversial moments in the comics of all time.
Then, Wonder Woman uses the Lasso Of Truth to unveil ways of stopping Lord’s mind control, and the only possible way of stopping it was killing Maxwell Lord. Unlike the character of Wonder Woman, she does it anyway to stop the debauchery, which went against her principles. This made a huge impact on the character that was immediate and long-lasting. Even though Maxwell returns for more villainous endeavors, it’s the death of the character that really stuck with the fans. As Wonder Woman 1984’s climax build, we can see Maxwell Lord far from enacting his wish and the Lasso of Truth wrapped around his ankle, the climax rather ended in an unexpected deeply emotional scene, with no violence whatever, and Lord flees the scene to reconnect with his son Alastair. That is where the problem was because fans are growing tired of the usual change of heart of evil-minded capitalists. SO it could be that the fans were expecting a different ending altogether.
Even though Maxwell was an evil capitalist, he still had affection a deep love for his family undoubtedly, it will be no surprise for us to see him fall back into his usual patterns. And there is no reason to think that Lord will not slip back into his previous personality, The only question is how, but there are plenty of places someone like Lord could sneak into. From STAR Labs to LexCorp, the DCEU has more than a few organizations that are ripe for corporate takeover. If we talk about the current scenario, then the DCEU lineup does not offer that much of a place for Maxwell to hold, but we still hope to see Lord return and create some actual trauma to the characters and establish himself in the DCEU, taking on other members of the Justice League.
Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and Natasha Rothwell. The film is out now in theaters and on HBO Max. The movie was released on December 25, 2020.
