James Gunn Has Cast His Maxwell Lord

James Gunn has found his Maxwell Lord. The villain, who is connected with the Justice League but is most often seen battling Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, is known for his money, lies, and the brutal way that he dies. Gunn has chosen a fan-favorite actor and close collaborator for the role: his brother Sean Gunn.

Sean Gunn is best known for playing Kraglin in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, where he does double duty providing performance capture for Rocket Raccoon. While Sean appears in most of James Gunn’s projects, he was also a series regular in Gilmore Girls and has dozens of onscreen credits to his name.

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 fangirl. I love it when the Gunn brothers collaborate and I am very intrigued by the idea of Sean Gunn taking 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 of role for him. But given his talents, I think he’ll find ways of making Lord completely his own.

He’ll be joining the cast of Superman: Legacy alongside David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Nicholas Hoult is rumored to play Lex Luthor in the film and it is shaping up to be an exciting installment in Gunn’s rebooted DCU.

It is unclear how big of a role Gunn’s Maxwell Lord will play in the film, but his casting erases Wonder Woman 1984‘s version of the character as played by Pedro Pascal. It’s yet another reminder that Gunn is reshaping the DC universe and moving away from Zack Snyder’s previous version.

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

The Patty Jenkins/Gal Gadot version of Wonder Woman wasn’t necessarily the warrior version of Diana who comes across Maxwell Lord in the comics. In Wonder Woman #219, Diana snaps Maxwell Lord’s neck to break his mind control over Superman. It was a shocking moment in the comics and a dark turn for Diana Prince. This moment was not included in 1984, likely due to its brutality.

But Gunn’s Wonder Woman (whoever that may be) might be a more fierce version of Diana, one who would be more likely to break Maxwell Lord’s neck. But 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 given his relationship with the new architect of the DCU, his Maxwell Lord is likely to stick around for some time.

(featured image: DC Comics)