We’re a little over a week away from November 1, the date that Wonder Woman 1984 was originally supposed to come out. But around this time last year, Warner Bros decided to move the Amazon warrior’s sequel adventure to summer 2020, so news regarding what we can expect from this highly-anticipated DC movie has been relatively light lately, though the first trailer is forthcoming.
Fortunately, Wonder Woman 1984 director and co-writer Patty Jenkins has sent out a tweet that confirms what a lot of longtime DC Comics fans had predicted for months: that Maxwell Lord, who has dark history with Diana on the printed page, will be involved in the sequel, and he’ll be played by Pedro Pascal. Take a look:
The only way this could be a more direct confirmation is if Patty Jenkins tweeted, “HEY, PEDRO PASCAL IS PLAYING MAXWELL LORD IN WONDER WOMAN 1984!” with that image of Max from the comics. And in case you’re wondering how it’s inferred Pedro Pascal is playing the character, he was one of the three accounts Jenkins tagged in the image. This comes over a year after the first photo of his character dropped, and a lot of folks immediately had him pegged as Max.
Although he was initially known in the DC Comics universe as the businessman who was influential in the formation of the Justice League International, Maxwell Lord morphed into an incredibly dangerous super villain, who is capable of telepathically influencing people’s minds to make them do whatever he wants. During the Infinite Crisis event, Wonder Woman snapped Max’s neck so that Superman would be freed from his control (in true comic book fashion, Max was later resurrected).
Maxwell Lord has already been depicted in live action on the TV shows Smallville and Supergirl, but Wonder Woman 1984 will introduce the character to a lot of people unfamiliar with the comics source material. Max was previously supposed to make his film debut in the George Miller-directed Justice League: Mortal, where he would have been played by Jay Baruchel, but that project ultimately went un-produced.
Even with Patty Jenkins finally acknowledging Maxwell Lord is in Wonder Woman 1984, we still don’t know what to specifically expect from him. Assuming he is indeed who Pedro Pascal is playing, clearly he’s a well-off man, but other than that, is he a regular human? Does he have his mind control powers? Is this version of the character actually an Olympian god in disguise? There are certainly plenty of rumors and speculation online, but officially speaking, he’s basically a blank slate for now.
Of course, Maxwell Lord wouldn’t be the only villainous figure in Wonder Woman 1984. Diana will also clash with Kristen Wiig’s Barbara Ann Minerva, an archaeologist who will transform into The Cheetah, the movie’s primary antagonist. Whether or not she and Max will work directly together remains to be seen.
Along with Gal Gadot obviously reprising Diana, Wonder Woman 1984 will also feature the return of Chris Pine as Steve Trevor (yes, he’s somehow still alive), Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta and Robin Wright as Antiope (we’ll see her through flashbacks). The newcomers include Natasha Rothwell, Ravi Patel, Gabriella Wilde, and Kristoffer Polaha, all of whom have been cast in undisclosed roles.
Wonder Woman 1984 opens in theaters on June 5, 2020, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. Check out what other DC movies are on the way in our handy guide.
