RUMOR: Maxwell Lord's SUPERMAN Role Has Been Revealed And It's A Moment Uniting Those On The Left And Right

RUMOR: Maxwell Lord's SUPERMAN Role Has Been Revealed And It's A Moment Uniting Those On The Left And Right

Should we be surprised that Superman will get a little political? New details on Sean Gunn's role as Maxwell Lord have been revealed, and it sounds like the businessman will make some choice remarks...

By JoshWilding - May 07, 2025 12:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Superman

There have been hints that James Gunn's Superman will put its own spin on real-life events, with many comparing whatever's happening in the fictional nation of Boravia to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. 

It's hardly a surprise, as many of Superman's comics have balanced Truth, Justice, and the American Way with politics; heck, Lex Luthor even became President of the United States for a time. 

A multitude of Superman plot leaks have been doing the rounds in recent weeks. The latest pertains to Sean Gunn's Maxwell Lord, and comes after the Guardians of the Galaxy star confirmed he'll appear in the movie this July. 

According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, "Max Lord (Sean Gunn) only appears in one scene in SUPERMAN. He's on [TV], saying 'The one thing both the left and right can agree on is that Lex Luthor sucks.'"

Is that a joke anyone is likely to be offended by? We doubt it, though it's brave of James Gunn to mention the right or left, given how sensitive a subject politics has become in recent years. Still, the fact that Lord hates Lex Luthor is interesting, and could suggest Lexcorp and LordTech are big rivals in the DCU. 

We'd expected Lord to play a bigger role in the story with him seemingly having his own superhero team—comprised of Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, and Hawkgirl—but there are likely much bigger things in store for the character down the line. 

Sean has been asked about his take on the villain, and while he's typically declined to go into too much detail, he has said that this version of Lord, "won't be based on any live-action portrayals fans have seen before. It’s all from written materials with things that we figure we’re looking at."

Superman is generating a lot of discussion among fans, and there's a lot riding on its success. While it's easy to judge largely out-of-context leaks like this ("#Supershit" has taken on a life of its own on social media), they're likely to feel very different in the movie itself. 

We're still waiting on a new Superman trailer, but you can check out the recent 5-minute sneak peek below. 

Superman, DC Studios' first feature film to hit the big screen, is set to soar into theaters worldwide this summer from Warner Bros. Pictures.

In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.  

The movie stars David Corenswet in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

Also appearing are Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, María Gabriela de Faría, Wendell Pierce, Alan Tudyk, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, and Milly Alcock.

Superman arrives in theaters on July 11, 2025.

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DocSpock
DocSpock - 5/7/2025, 12:15 PM
@Malatrova15 -

Better than being an anarchist destroyer who hates the country.
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/7/2025, 1:24 PM
@DocSpock - I can't see the original comment for some reason, but . . . who is an anarchist destroyer now?
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 5/7/2025, 6:35 PM
@ClintthaManster -

Biden, Harris, and other communists.
DraculaX
DraculaX - 5/7/2025, 7:58 PM
@ClintthaManster - me
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/8/2025, 10:05 AM
@MakeAmericaGrea - Communists AND anarchists? Y'all's political illiteracy never ceases to amaze.
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/8/2025, 10:07 AM
@DraculaX - User Comment Image
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 5/7/2025, 12:13 PM
And how Lex.. A humanist that wants humanos to be the owners of his future and aliens out now sucks.... Libs are desperate
Kadara
Kadara - 5/7/2025, 12:23 PM
@Malatrova15 - Lex would fix it in 24 hours. He's got the concepts of a plan.
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 5/7/2025, 12:31 PM
@Malatrova15 - defending the literal villain of the movie? right-wingers seriously have no media literacy or self reflection. maga nut.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 5/7/2025, 12:37 PM
@foreverintheway - and Who says is the villain? Have you watched The movie? In the trailer you can clerly see a guy whit a T shaped másk being attacked by the army.. That looks more like a villain and his name is Terrible.. Go figure
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 5/7/2025, 12:38 PM
@Kadara - his plan is to make a better place for the people that was Born on that place.. Not to being dependent of an alien
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 5/7/2025, 12:43 PM
@Malatrova15 - there's no way I can take that response seriously.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 5/7/2025, 12:44 PM
@foreverintheway - then dont take it, but understand you have no allíes on this site anymore
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/7/2025, 12:59 PM
@foreverintheway - you must be new.
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 5/7/2025, 1:03 PM
@McMurdo - No I just have better things to do than memorize who is a shit-poster and who is just dumb.
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 5/7/2025, 1:06 PM
@Malatrova15 - well thats actually the funniest thing I've read all day
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/7/2025, 2:41 PM
@foreverintheway - well hang around and you won't have to do any memorizing I can assure you lol
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 5/7/2025, 6:38 PM
@foreverintheway -

Lefty communists are the ones with no media literacy or self reflection.
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 5/8/2025, 11:06 AM
@MakeAmericaGrea - "no, you!" 😂
Kadara
Kadara - 5/7/2025, 12:21 PM
It's hardly a surprise, as many of Superman's comics have balanced Truth, Justice, and the American Way with politics; heck, Lex Luthor even became President of the United States for a time.

I see what you did there Josh 😂
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 5/7/2025, 6:39 PM
@Kadara -

Yeah, we all saw what Josh did there.

Commies gonna liberal.
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/8/2025, 10:09 AM
@MakeAmericaGrea - "Communists are liberals, anarchists are communists, everything I don't like is everything else I don't like!"
JurassicClunge
JurassicClunge - 5/7/2025, 12:56 PM
This sounds so corny 😭😭
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 5/7/2025, 6:40 PM
@JurassicClunge -

That's Marxist hackfrauds for ya.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/7/2025, 1:05 PM
I actually kinda like that…

It shows that Lord & Luthor do seem to have some kind of rivalry already which could be fun.

Anyway , given that James has said that this version of Maxwell Lord is based more on the JLI run he was introduced in where he was He was more of a businessman & con artist back then who would show signs of developing heroic qualities & struggling with his conscience at times rather then the super villain he became (which is a change his original creators didn’t even like) , I could see Sean playing that take well!!.

If that’s the characterization they go with then it also shows the difference between the 2 which is why they could have friction aswell.

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AllsNotGood
AllsNotGood - 5/7/2025, 1:09 PM
Keep it in the family
PatientXero
PatientXero - 5/7/2025, 1:15 PM
I would bet behind the scenes Lord and Luthor are in cahoots. I wonder if Lord will have his powers.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/7/2025, 1:19 PM
The one thing that both the left and the right can agree on is that Trump sucks.

...nah doesn't work.
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/7/2025, 1:24 PM
@ObserverIO - Elon Musk would be a better analog to Luthor, but yeah, they can't agree on that, either.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/7/2025, 1:33 PM
@ClintthaManster - I mean he's always been DC's main Trump analog (at least since John Byrne's Man of Steel) but he does have a lot of traits in common with Elon Musk as well. I think Gunn's Superman will be like What If Trump and Musk had an unholy baby?
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 5/7/2025, 1:32 PM
You know what would be awesome? For some brave soul to denounce all the left and right as silly and to tell everyone the truth.

You are all wrong. Politicians are all bad, and you don't know what you're talking about anyway. Its all propaganda, you can stop calling each other names now.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/7/2025, 1:35 PM
@CreateNowSlpL8r - We should all actually just chop off our left and right limbs in protest and then humankind can just bounce around on our butts for the rest of time. How much harm can we do if we got no arms or legs?
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 5/7/2025, 6:43 PM
@CreateNowSlpL8r -

A Trump presidency produces good results.

A Harris presidency would have produced disastrous results.
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 5/7/2025, 10:17 PM
@ObserverIO - Cant do it. How would I rub one out?
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 5/7/2025, 10:25 PM
@MakeAmericaGrea - That isnt the argument I'm making. People used to be able to make a distinction between good policy and personality. For example, Clinton had some really bad moments but worked with the Republican house to balane the budget. (Im using a Dem specifcally because Im always called a right winger).

Nowadays, Trump could walk on water and people will call him a Nazi. The loudest voices are the most uneducated ones. Like if you were a democrat, you would call out these funded protests but also be able to say the good things Trump is doing.

They did that intentionally. It started with Obama and its been successfull. Attack, attack, attack. Now thats all we do. Half of these leftists I argue with can't tell the difference between the Senate and the House is but they love AOC. The other half don't understand its a union. Im an independent and while I like a lot of what Trump is trying to do, Im not happy about the continous funding of the war machine. Every god damn President in modern history has done it. You want to pay that debt down, cut the Pentagon budget.

I agree with you though. Harris would have been a continuation of the deep state and globalists they report into running the country. Obamas playbook failed so the dems will need to rebrand but so far, they haven't been smart enough to do it.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/8/2025, 7:00 AM
@CreateNowSlpL8r - You'd have to kind of shuffle, lol.
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 5/8/2025, 9:58 AM
@ObserverIO - HaHa
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/8/2025, 12:02 PM
@CreateNowSlpL8r - Folks seem to get tied up in knots about the shadowy cabal of "globalists" running the country, when it's literally just right out in the open. Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, contributed nearly $300M to Trump's campaign, and was given an unprecedented amount of power over and access to the very gov't departments that subsidize his own companies. The founders and/or CEOs of Meta, Amazon, Apple, OpenAI, Google, and Coinbase, along with several other billionaires, all donated millions to Trump's inauguration at which they had front row seats. That's the unholy influence of money over politics, not some "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" tripe.
CreateNowSlpL8r
CreateNowSlpL8r - 5/8/2025, 3:58 PM
@ClintthaManster - I've argued with you during the election but its mainly when I see anyone taking a unilateral position one way or another. For the most part, I think I agree with you. At the end of the day, there is them, and there is us. Sure, we can disagree on policy and issues but when its one politician is less evil than another. Yeah, I disagree. You have to be built a certain way to make those kinds of decisions. Even to be a CEO or whatever. They naturally have a seperation of morales as if what they do for work is just part of the job.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to take the saving from DOGE and fund the Pentagon. I think if we all got back to a place where we can measure people on policy instead of whatever the meta is, the country will be in a better place. I see people in art communities Im in fighting like crazy and they have no idea what they are even talking about. Meanwhile, they mental health is suffering because of this fundamental misunderstanding of how things work.

Trump will never be a dictator because they would never let him. I think we all know who they is now. Like you said, they are doing it right in front of our faces. Maybe we should stop fighting with each other before we are in a world where you own nothing.
ClintthaManster
ClintthaManster - 5/8/2025, 9:24 PM
@CreateNowSlpL8r - Yes, CEOs and politicians and executives are frequently sociopaths. I don't think it has to be that way, and I have some ideas on how to change it, but I'm just a guy tippity typing on the internet.

"I think if we all got back to a place where we can measure people on policy instead of whatever the meta is, the country will be in a better place."

I mean, the current president is absurd and hilarious, but if his policies were good? [frick] it, why not. But his policies are very, very bad.

"we can disagree on policy and issues"

If we're talking tax policy or foreign policy or infrastructure policy, yes, we can have a polite conversation and hear each other out. But increasingly, the policies in question are "Is it okay to deny women or trans folks access to life-saving healthcare," or "Is it okay to disappear human beings to a death camp in El Salvador for any reason" I will do my best to be civil (and I think I do okay) but at the end of the day, those are my friends and family, and I'm going to fight like hell for them.

"when its one politician is less evil than another. Yeah, I disagree."

I guess I'll just point to my less bit above.

"I think we all know who they is now."

You and I might, but I know for sure that there are some folks that believe in anti-semitic conspiracy theories about "globalist" banking families pulling the strings while noble rich people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump fight the good fight. My Uncle is one of them! It sucks.

Anyway, yeah, if I thought you were a bad person, I would have blocked you a long time ago.
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