Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord is not the antagonist of Wonder Woman 1984, but rather, he obscures the true villain being capitalist corporate America.
Content Warning: This article contains discussions of domestic violence.
In Patty Jenkins’ sequel Wonder Woman 1984, Pedro Pascal played the main antagonist, Maxwell Lord, but the movie hid its real antagonist. On the surface, Max Lord was nothing short of an opportunistic businessman who was known for his charm and cheesy infomercials that advertised his oil company, Black Gold Cooperative. Lord built Black Gold during the Cold War Era on lies and false hope, manipulating the public into investing in what was essentially a Ponzi scheme. It’s not always certain that a superhero villain gets their sad backstory portrayed in their movie; however, Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord was an exception as Wonder Woman 1984 chose to explore his disadvantaged past, turning him into a more sympathetic villain.
Max Lord was born Maxwell Lorenzano, and was an anxious child who grew up in a household that could not financially support itself. Max and his mother were regularly subject to abuse from his father, and Max was bullied at school for wearing tatty clothes, worn-out shoes, and eating just a small amount of food at lunch. It was these experiences that imbued Maxwell with a desire for success and wealth, and after graduating high school, Max embarked on…
