Should Maxwell Lord Be Redeemed?

[Timothy Hunter]

I think that on average, Geoff Johns is a decent enough writer, but his retcon that Maxwell Lord was a villain might possibly have been the worst thing to come out of Infinite Crisis. Lord was always portrayed as morally grey character, but it was abundantly clear that he cared about his teammates. At his heart, Maxwell Lord was a good person. Hell, the entire Breakdowns crossover between Justice League America and Justice League Europe was built around the fact that readers wanted Maxwell Lord to recover from his coma.

I think that redeeming Lord by retconning his actions in Countdown to Infinite Crisis as a form of mind control would be easy enough. However, do you think it's too late to redeem Maxwell Lord?

[king81992]

At this point, I'm not sure.

[Agent Z]

I'm perfectly fine with ending Max as a villain. Nothing good has come of it.

[Robanker]

Put him in a grave for twenty years and we'll see.

[Korath]

I've voted no, mostly because for one to be redeemed, he needs to seek redemption. And as far as I know, Maxwell Lord truly believe that he is always right. So for him, there wouldn't be a need for redemption.

[Johnrevenge]

No because I think he is beyond that point and because I'm also tired of the trope of the redeemed villain.

[Psy-lock]

Yes, because he sucks as a villain and I'm tired of DC trying to sell him as some major nemesis of Wonder Woman.

[Riv86672]

Nope, because he’s a huge [expletive deleted].

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Since nobody seemed to understand who the character was meant to be since DeMatties and Giffen left, I'd rather they just go full bore villain or kill him off.

Jurgens and Winnick's work with him was particularly painful.

[Adekis]

Redemption is a strong word - I think he never should have been made into a villain in the first place. Retconned, maybe, redeemed in-story, I don't really see how.

[Lee Stone]

I voted yes.
Giffen/DeMatteis laid a groundwork for Max in JLI that showed that under his JR Ewing-like image, he had the heart of a hero.
It was what made him so endearing.
Yes, he was opportunistic and manipulative, but what kept him from going too far with it was that he actually cared for people. Especially the JLI, which he came to consider family.

[Dr. Skeleton]

I honestly don't know, but all of that brought out the worst in Wonder Woman.

[Gaius]

Redeemed or not redeemed, get him out of Wonder Woman’s world and pawn him off on some other lame character like Harley or something.

[maxax]

Yes, but in a story involving Ted and Booster and NOT in a story involving Wonder Woman. In the same way if he's a villain it should be to those two and not to her.

[protege]

I voted yes, but ask me again after Wonder Woman 1984.