Yep. Pedro Pascal Is Playing Maxwell Lord In ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

Waaaaaaaay back in July of last year, director Patty Jenkins teased Pedro Pascal’s role in ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ with the picture above, showing him with bleach-lightened hair, a mega tan, and a bold ’80s era power suit.  Although there were conflicting reports about Pascal’s role, it appears that Jenkins has clarified things with her latest tweet:

Yep, Pascal is playing Maxwell Lord, a character that was at least partially inspired by ’80s real estate tycoon Donald Trump.  (Whatever became of that guy?)  Trump embodied the lush ’80s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” image, and Maxwell Lord brought that to DC Comics in the pages of ‘Justice League’/’Justice League International’, as the man that was bankrolling the reformation of this iconic super-team after the disastrous “Justice League Detroit” era of the mid-’80s.

Max, created by writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, and artist Kevin Maguire, was a friend and benefactor to the League for many years.  During the 1988 miniseries ‘Invasion’, Max learned that he was a metahuman with telepathic abilities.  Unfortunately, in the 2005 event ‘Infinite Crisis’, it was revealed that Max was secretly a supervillain and had been manipulating the League for years, including turning the ‘International’ era team into an ineffectual laughing stock.

Lord psychically manipulated Superman into believing that Wonder Woman was Doomsday and that she had murdered Lois Lane, which drove the Man of Steel into a murderous frenzy.  Though Wonder Woman managed to survive his attack, after taunting from Lord that he would take possession of Superman again in the future, Wonder Woman did what she felt she had to– she snapped his neck.  The act was broadcast on international television, with the viewers unaware of Lord’s evil machinations.  For a time, that made Wonder Woman an outlaw, forced to adopt a secret identity for the first time, in order to lay low.

We’ll have to wait and see how his story plays out on the big screen.  Is that why Batman and Superman were unfamiliar with her when she popped up in ‘Batman V Superman’?  Had she gone into hiding?

Perhaps things will be clearer when the first trailer is released.  Reportedly, that may happen in early December.  The film opens on June 4th, 2020.

What do you think of Pedro Pascal playing Maxwell Lord in ‘Wonder Woman 1984’?