Maxwell Lord

Maxwell Lord
Maxwell Lord Kevin Maguire, artist
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League #1 (May 1987)
Created by	Keith Giffen J. M. DeMatteis Kevin Maguire
In-story information
Alter ego	Maxwell Lord IV
Team affiliations	Checkmate Extremists Justice League Black Lantern Corps
Notable aliases	Black King, Lord Havok
Abilities	Telepathy Persuasion Mind control, Superhuman physical attributes derived from cyborg body

Maxwell Lord IV is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by DC Comics and first appeared in Justice League #1 (May 1987). He is portrayed as a shrewd and powerful businessman. Lord was very influential in the formation of the Justice League International in the DC Universe.

Maxwell Lord first appeared in Justice League #1 and was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire.

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 highly carcinogenic product, and couldn't bear to live with the guilt and shame that came with the realization.

Maxwell's mother was convinced that her husband's death was the result of a conspiracy from the executives in his company who were unwilling to let his regrets tamper with their power. This led to her telling impressionable Maxwell to distrust authority figures. This instilled a hatred towards powerful people in Maxwell and made him believe that he must have control over all of them.

Maxwell spent the next years training to be more ruthless and powerful than his father was, methodically enacting his revenge against the Chimtech administration board members, but was unable to prevent Lex Luthor, owner of a large rival company, LexCorp , from acquiring his former property. By observing how Lex earned profits by arming and employing hostile metahumans, Maxwell and his mother decided to bend the rules for themselves, cajoling instead heroic metahumans to give Maxwell Lord a better edge. Thus, he sparked the plans to bring the Justice League, leaderless and broken after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, under his exclusive control.