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Maxie Zeus

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Maxie Zeus
Maxie Zeus
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDetective Comics #483 (May 1979)
Created byDenny O'Neil (writer)
Don Newton (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoMaximilian "Maxie" Zeus
Team affiliationsThe New Olympians

Maximilian "Maxie" Zeus is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a minor enemy of Batman. The character is depicted as a mentally ill former history professor who is obsessed with Greek mythology and believes to be the god Zeus, becoming a crime lord in Gotham City.

Publication history

Maxie Zeus first appeared in Detective Comics #483 (April–May 1979) and was created by Denny O'Neil and Don Newton.[1]

Fictional character biography

Criminal career

Maxie Zeus is a former Greek history teacher who started to suffer from insanity when he lost his wife.[2] He became a criminal mastermind and used his cunning and intelligence to rise to power amidst the chaos in Gotham City's underworld. He has fought Batman on several occasions before being committed to Arkham Asylum.[3]

Because Maxie seemed less dangerous than Joker, Two-Face, and other notorious Arkham inmates, Arkham's administrators did not commit him in the maximum security wing, despite repeated recommendations from Batman to do so. Batman's concern was vindicated when Maxie escaped to form a team of Greek Mythology-based superhuman agents called the New Olympians. He attempted to kidnap Olympic athlete Lacinia Nitocris and force her to marry him and become a mother to his daughter Medea. This plot was foiled by Batman and the Outsiders, who bested the New Olympians in a series of Olympic-style games.[4]

Maxie was one of the villains that escaped Arkham when Bane brought down the walls of Arkham Asylum in the Knightfall storyline. Maxie's escape attempt was disrupted when he collided with a tree.[5]

Some time later, however, he was drawn into a plot engineered by the Children of Ares—Deimos, Phobos—and Eris (Ares' sister) to merge Gotham City with Ares' throne capital, the Aeropagus. The intent was to re-establish Ares' rule on earth. Maxie was killed as a result of that plot, and his sacrifice brought about Ares' return. However, their scheme was foiled by Wonder Woman, Batman and their allies, and Ares himself banished his children back to Tartarus.

Robin

In issues of Robin, a vigilante called Violet was trying to track down an illegal casino named "Maxie's", with chips bearing a Zeus-like profile. Presumably, Maxie survived his encounter with the Children of Ares. After Violet was discovered by Maxie Zeus's guards, both Robin and Violet managed to escape unharmed as detectives that Robin was working with on the case raided the casino and arrested Maxie Zeus, who surrendered without a fight after an officer physically threatened him.

Batman: Cacophony

Maxie returns in Kevin Smith's Batman: Cacophony. Apparently cured of his delusions, he has been hired by Joker to use Joker Venom on random people on April First as an April Fool's Day joke, but instead mixes the poison with ecstasy to produce a new designer drug called "Chuckles". He uses the profits to fund his empire as well as building his dream of creating a public school that is run like a private school. The Joker, angry that his creation is being used for a noble purpose, swears revenge against Maxie. After witnessing the death of his nephew and a dozen other children when the Joker blows up a school, Maxie suffers a psychotic break and reverts to his Zeus persona. After Batman rescues him from an attack by the Joker at a nightclub, he visits Maxie again at his penthouse. After temporarily restoring Maxie's sanity with a massive dose of antipsychotics, Batman convinces him to confess and turn himself in to the police. This move is later revealed to be part of Batman's plan to lure the Joker and Onomatopoeia out of hiding.

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, in the Batman Eternal story, Maxie Zeus is used as a host for the spirit of Deacon Blackfire as he attempts to use the spirits of the Arkham Asylum inmates to return to life only to be thwarted by Batwing and Jim Corrigan.[6] Following Arkham Asylum's destruction, Maggie Sawyer attempts to get answers from Maxie Zeus on what happened.[7]

Doomsday Clock

In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Maxie Zeus was at Arkham Asylum when Rorschach was incarcerated there by Batman.[8]

Other versions

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

An electrified, emaciated version of Maxie Zeus appears in the graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean. Batman finds him connected to the electroshock therapy room of Arkham Asylum, perpetually receiving electrical currents, which he believes to be "fire from heaven". On the one occasion in the story in which he and Batman cross paths, he compares himself to the supreme gods in many mythologies. He also does not recognize Batman, warmly addressing him as "a pilgrim". Early drafts of the script describes Zeus as resembling his original comic book counterpart, but with female breasts and genitalia crudely drawn on his filthy toga.[9]

The Batman Adventures

In The Batman Adventures (a comic series based on the animated series), Maxie Zeus escapes Arkham Asylum several times and teams up with villains such as Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul to destroy Gotham. Each time, he is foiled by Batman and Robin and returned to Arkham.

The Batman Strikes!

In an issue of The Batman Strikes!, Maxie Zeus joins a group of villains led by the Joker. However, it is revealed that this is a simulation created by Batman to train Robin. On a later issue, Maxie Zeus goes on a criminal rampage alongside Ragdoll, Spellbinder, and an Everywhere Man, but is defeated by Batgirl.

Batman Beyond

In the Batman Beyond comic series, Bruce tells Terry a secured location where he has kept some of his most disturbed rogues in captivity. Maxie Zeus and Mad Hatter were among the catatonic inhabitants. It's possible that Maxie suffered a great deal from electro shock, brought on by the crude methods at Arkham Asylum, or from his delusions of godhood which forced him to wield a lightning-discharging staff.

In other media

Television

Maxie Zeus as seen in Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Maxie Zeus appears in Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by Steve Susskind. He is depicted as a shipping tycoon with underworld connections. He carries a metal rod in the shape of a thunderbolt (shown in the picture at right), which he uses to electrocute his victims into unconsciousness. In his debut episode "Fire From Olympus", he loses his mind after recovering from a serious financial crisis and faces a criminal conviction for smuggling. The stress of dealing with these causes him to develop a god complex and he starts to believe that he is the Greek god Zeus, and that his girlfriend is the muse Clio. When Batman arrives at the top of his building, Maxie believes he is Hades, as "no mortal can reach Mount Olympus" without his permission, and even calls the Caped Crusader his "brother". Maxie steals an electron discharge cannon, which he uses on "pitiful mortals" who dare to oppose him. When Clio tries to stop him and bring him back to his senses, he has his henchmen tie her to the barrel of the cannon, though she is saved by Batman before she can be killed. Maxie is eventually subdued by Batman with help from "Clio". While being dragged through Arkham Asylum, Maxie sees the prisoners as a different Greek deity: most notably Joker as the trickster god Hermes, Two-Face as the "double-faced" Roman god Janus, and Poison Ivy as the goddess Demeter. Pleased by the sight of his "fellow gods," he is last seen saying "Now at last, Mighty Zeus is home".
  • Maxie Zeus appears in The Batman, voiced by Phil LaMarr. In this interpretation, he wears a high-tech gladiator-themed armor with gloves that generate electricity (despite the fact that the gladiators are Roman, not Greek). This version of the character is also notable for detesting the nickname "Maxie"; preferring to be called "Maximilian". In the episode "Thunder", Maxie is an eccentric multi-millionaire and owner of Zeus Industries who is obsessed with Greek mythology. He runs for mayor against Marion Grange, but loses the election after announcing his plan to revolutionize the Gotham City Police Department by basing them on his own gladiator-themed security forces. Angered by his defeat, Maxie rides in his airship New Olympus in order to make Gotham City his own personal kingdom, but he is foiled by Batman and Batgirl with New Olympus crashing into the harbor. When Maxie asks about New Olympus upon his defeat, Batman stated that it became the "New Atlantis." In the episode "Rumors", Maxie reappears as one of the many villains captured by the villain Rumor.
  • Maxie Zeus appears in the Harley Quinn episode "So, You Need a Crew", voiced by Will Sasso.[10] This version has a job as a self-help guru for aspiring supervillains and mentions he stole the medals for the 1996 Summer Olympics. In addition, he is depicted as having a beard and no hair. In the episode "So You Need A Crew?", when Harley Quinn comes to him for help in becoming her own supervillain, Maxie reveals his sexist nature and requests sexual favors from her in exchange. Insulted, Harley teams up with Clayface and Doctor Psycho to get payback with the former disguising himself as Maxie's illegitimate son to distract him while she and the latter rob his mansion. Maxie eventually sees through Clayface's ruse and savagely beats him, but he is in turn beaten by Harley and Doctor Psycho. Maxie is later interviewed by reporters and reluctantly admits Harley is a powerful supervillain. In the episode "L.O.D.R.S.V.P.", a portrait of him is seen in the Hall of Doom at the time when Harley's crew meets up with Lex Luthor indicating that Maxie Zeus is a member of the Legion of Doom. In the episode "Bachelorette", he works as an employee at a strip club on an island near Themyscira and enters a relationship with the widowed Nora Fries. In the season two finale "The Runaway Bridesmaid", he is seen attending Poison Ivy and Kite Man's wedding, which is busted GCPD, resulting in an all-out war between the police and the attending villains. He is also shown to still be dating Nora Fries.
  • In the "Pilot" episode of the Batwoman series, Maxie Zeus' name can be seen on a newspaper clipping in the Batcave about his capture.

Film

Video games

  • Maxie Zeus appears as an enemy in Batman.
  • Maxie Zeus appears as an unlockable bio in Batman: Arkham Asylum. His cell (which contains a book on Greek mythology and has Greek symbols drawn on the wall) is found adjacent to the asylum's ECT room in the Intensive Treatment's Patient Pacification Center.
  • In Batman: Arkham City, although Maxie Zeus doesn't appear, his nightclub called the "Gotham City Olympus," can be found at the Amusement Mile in Arkham City, between the Gotham Casino and the old Gotham City Police Department building. Scanning the statue at the front's lightning bolt will unlock an Arkham City Story explaining that Maxie has disappeared after a few electro-shock therapy sessions. Despite his status, his nightclub continues to run on schedule.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 339. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
  3. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 384–385. ISBN 9780345501066.
  4. ^ Batman and the Outsiders #14. DC Comics.
  5. ^ Batman #491. DC Comics.
  6. ^ Batman Eternal #17. DC Comics.
  7. ^ Batman Eternal #44. DC Comics.
  8. ^ Doomsday Clock #4 (March 2018). DC Comics.
  9. ^ Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
  10. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (November 12, 2019). "Harley Quinn Comes Out Swinging in Full Trailer".
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