James Gunn Found His Maxwell Lord…

James Gunn has found his Maxwell Lord. The villain, who is connected with the Justice League but is more typically connected with Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, is known for his money, his lies, and, more famously, for the way that he dies. Who is playing Lord in Gunn’s DCU though is a favorite of the directors and one we’ve seen him work with time and time again. Mainly because it is his beloved brother Sean Gunn.

In an exclusive from Deadline, news broke that Gunn would take on the role in Superman: Legacy, which piqued my interest as a Wonder Woman girl. Personally, I love when the Gunn brothers collaborate and I am very intrigued by the idea of Sean Gunn working on a role like Maxwell Lord. Lord is a more serious performance than I’ve seen from Gunn before and so it’d be a new kind role for him but he is someone who is always reinventing himself and so I think he’ll find ways of making Lord completely his own.

He’d be joining the cast of David Corenswet as our Clark Kent/Superman with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Nicholas Hoult also recently is said to be set to play Lex Luthor in the film and it is shaping up to be an exciting installment in the world of DC.

According to Deadline, it is unclear how big of a role Gunn’s Maxwell Lord will play in the film but this does erase completely what Wonder Woman 1984 had put into the canon of the DCEU with Pedro Pascal’s portrayal of the character. Meaning that one aspect of Maxwell Lord’s character might be fixed throughout his run in the DCU that I, personally, wish would get changed by the time he crosses paths with Diana Prince in Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU.

But can we do the Max Lord tradition this time around?

The Patty Jenkins/Gal Gadot Diana Prince wasn’t necessarily the warrior version of Diana Prince who comes across Maxwell Lord in the comics. What that means is that she wouldn’t necessarily do what that Diana does to Maxwell. Comics Diana Prince snaps Maxwell Lord’s neck and it is something that I, as a lifelong Diana fan, love. When it came to Wonder Woman 1984, that Diana wouldn’t have done that.

All the problems with that movie aside, that was one thing that does make sense given how that Diana functions. Now though, with a new Maxwell Lord in toe and, in theory, a potential new Diana Prince on the horizon, we could maybe we a world in which we get that warrior energy from Wonder Woman that would warrant the breaking of one Maxwell Lord’s neck. Who is to say and with Gunn’s role being in Superman: Legacy, I may be getting ahead of myself.

For now though, it is exciting to think about what Sean Gunn is going to bring to a role like Maxwell Lord and how it will be different for both him as an actor and for the character itself.

(featured image: DC Comics)

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