Director James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” (formerly “Superman: Legacy) will be packed with DC Comics deep cuts, among them Superman and Supergirl villain Maxwell Lord, played by Sean Gunn.
Maxwell Lord isn’t a particularly well known villain, but he’s shown up in a surprising number of DC Comics adaptations in recent years — Pedro Pascal previously played him in “Wonder Woman 1984,” and Peter Facinelli portrayed him early on in The CW’s “Supergirl.”
TheWrap caught up with Sean Gunn at FanExpo Chicago on Friday, and naturally had to find out how he’s approaching the character. Gunn told us that he isn’t referring back to those earlier portrayals.
“I can’t talk too much about it. I can say that my my brother James and I did discuss… what reference materials from the canon were relevant to to my process,” he said, adding that “I love doing my own music.”
“I can’t say that much, other than we did talk about about relevant materials, and we discussed the character in detail on before I dove in,” he continued. “We referenced, no live performances of the character. It’s all from written materials with things that we figure we’re looking at.”
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, he’s a ruthless business mogul in charge of a powerful multinational corporation. Formerly an ethical entrepreneur looking to better mankind through technological progress, Lord became paranoid, power hungry and obsessed with controlling and using super-powered beings, preferably behind the scenes.
James Gunn and Peter Safran are using “Superman” as the foundation for their reboot of the DC universe, which officially launches with the animated series “Creature Commandos.” “Superman” hits theaters in 2025.
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