Maxwell Lord made his DCU debut in “Superman” and, though the character has a long history of being a supervillain, Sean Gunn is not letting that completely guide his take on the character. According to the actor, he’s “a lot more nuanced.”
Back in 2023, James Gunn — Sean Gunn’s older brother and now the co-head of DC Studios — posted about the character on Instagram, arguing that “calling Maxwell Lord a villain seems reductionist,” and that his depiction in the “Justice League International” comic “made him one of my favorite characters.”
Speaking to TheWrap at Fan Expo Chicago on Sunday, Sean Gunn noted that he’s not strictly pulling from comic versions of the character, but readily echoed his brother’s sentiment.
“I just wholeheartedly agree with his comment that, to call the character a villain is certainly not something that is leading the way for me as I tackle the character,” Sean Gunn said. “I think he’s a lot more nuanced than that. And I don’t really see the problem with what he’s doing so far.”
Of course, “so far” is probably key there, which Sean Gunn also conceded. Still, “he’s not evil incarnate the way that Lex is.”
For those unfamiliar, Maxwell Lord first appeared in “Justice League #1” (May 1987) and was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire.
In most versions of the character, Lord is a ruthless business mogul in charge of a powerful multinational corporation. He was an ethical entrepreneur looking to better mankind through technological progress, but he eventually became paranoid, power hungry and obsessed with controlling and using super-powered beings, preferably behind the scenes. The Justice Gang sure does open that door.
Lord has the briefest of appearances in James Gunn’s “Superman” — it’s “lower than a cameo, almost” Sean Gunn joked — and in it, he mostly just bags on Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) following the billionaire’s arrest.
It’s unclear if we’ll see the two billionaires ever really interact in this universe, and Sean Gunn won’t give any hints, but he did give a little more backstory on the duo’s in-universe dynamic.
“I can tell you that I mean it when I say Lex Luthor sucks. And I think that’s something we can honestly all agree on,” Sean Gunn half-joked. “Our companies, LordTech and Luther Corp., are in direct kind of conflict with each other.”
“But he’s the evil side of corporate greed,” he continued. “And I think that LordTech is the altruistic corporation that really wants to make the world a better place, and I’m putting my money where my mouth is by trying to help this Justice Gang achieve a better world for everybody.”
Don’t worry, Sean Gunn also confirmed that the Justice Gang name is “being workshopped.”
