Batman has so many villains that I’m sure everyone has a soft spot for a minor one who should’ve been used more.
Mine is Maxie Zeus.
Detective Comics #483 (1979)
by Danny O’Neil & Don Newton
cover by José Luis García-López
He even debuts in the 40th anniversary of Batman’s first story.
This is a GREAT story, which sees Batman revisiting the alley where *spoiler alert* his parents were murdered…
…but Maxie Zeus is not a big player, being the one to hire some goons.
Maxie still shows up, but for now he looks like any other mob boss with a theme.
The story mostly follows Batman’s investigation. Considering this is the anniversary of his parents’ death, he’s not in a particularly good mood.
Not that Gotham City helps.
Batman manages to stop Maxie’s goons from murdering the man he’s after, not to mention civilian casualties. I like how his plan revolves around heavy rain; it makes the Zeus connection feel less ridiculous.
But like I said, Maxie Zeus is a minor player here.
Detective Comics #484 (1979)
by Danny O’Neil & Don Newton
cover by Ross Andru & Dick Giordano
“Soon” indeed, because Maxie Zeus is the main villain of the following issue. But he doesn’t get on the cover, which is dedicated to a Batgirl story in the same book.
We begin with Batman answering the call of a fake Bat-Signal.
I’m sure Batman expected this to be a trap. But I’m not sure he expected to be BLASTED BY A THUNDERBOLT!!!
And it was powerful enough to completely obliterate the Batmobile!
I wonder if that thing is insured.
This is indeed the work of Maxie Zeus, who has some rather dangerous technology at his disposal.
So naturally he plans to murder Batman with an arrow.
Sounds legit.
In fact, Maxie is supposed to be some kind of genius.
Even Batman thinks so!!!
That means that attacking Maxie’s base from the front is a bad idea. Not that it matters: since when does Batman use the front door anyway?
I wonder if Maxie Zeus made his money by getting the contract for the X-Men’s Danger Room.
This means Batman ends up literally “trapped between Scylla and Charybdis”.
Although Batman is a bit confused on his Greek mythology. While representations varied, Scylla typically is a woman from the waist up and several wolves patched together from the waist down.
One of the reasons why I like Maxie Zeus is that he shouldn’t work, AT ALL, in a universe where gods ACTUALLY EXIST…
…but somehow he manages to pull if off! And he’s arguably a better adaptation of Greek mythology than most comics.
I absolutely love mythology, but the Greek gods are a-holes of the highest degree.
Batman gets out by tricking the dogs into jamming the traps.
Don’t worry, they’re not injured.
While the Ra’s Al Ghul comparison is absolutely laughable, I maintain that Maxie Zeus COULD be as dangerous as the Joker. He’s almost as much unpredictable.
Also, maybe Maxie should’ve used one of his lightning weapons instead of a guy with a bow.
Unlike the Joker, who only insane people would agree to work for… I can actually see criminals tolerating Maxie’s antics if he pays well enough.
Maxie’s downfall is his pride: all Batman needs to do to stop him from leaving the country is taunting him.
So Maxie Zeus returns to his base to face Batman, and he does the truly unexpected…
…he surrenders!!! Told you he’s unpredictable.
Historical significance: 0/
Not too many people really care for Maxie Zeus.
Silver Age-ness: 0/
Not really, all things considered. Weirdly, considering that in Greek mythology the Silver Age was the age of Zeus!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 10/
Not exactly a masterpiece, but a timeless Batman story that works fine in just about any era.
How close is this to the modern character? 7/
Maxie Zeus is far from a complex character, but over the years he’s become more of a joke… his insanity has been played up, and his genius has definitely been played down.
Maxie would show up only a couple issues later. He was one of the very first Batman villains to be sent to Arkham Asylum.
However he wouldn’t come back until 1984, when he faced the Outsiders with his team of “New Olympians”.
In the same storyline we learn that he has a daughter, Medea…
…and that he was also one of the very first supervillains to be aided by the Monitor, before Crisis!
He’s still kind of a tragic figure at this point.
By the time he shows up post-Crisis in 1993, he’s among the villains released from Arkham City by Bane in the same storyline where he broke Batman’s back.
Not the best Maxie Zeus outing, since he IMMEDIATELY knocks himself out by running straight into a tree.
It’s not until 2001 that someone remembers that Maxie Zeus and the actual Greek gods exist in the same universe, and that’s the basis for a Wonder Woman story.
You’d think Maxie Zeus would be central to that, but most of the heavy lifting is done by the rest of Batman’s rogues gallery. The guy just can’t win.
Despite being murdered by Ares who is controlled by Poison Ivy (just go with it), he still showed up a bunch of times.
He has tried to redeem his image, but there’s no denying this guy is absolutely nuts.
I wouldn’t want him to become a major player, but I’m always happy when he shows up.
He can be tragic, he can be goofy, he can be a serious threat or a laughingstock… you never know what Zeus you’re going to get.
Who is YOUR minor Batman villain who deserves more attention? Let me know in the comments!
The Spook – I remember reading his first appearance as a little kid and it totally unnerved me that he was able to get the better of the Batman several times in a row.
I’ll second The Spook. I read those stories as a kid, too, and they stayed with me.
Black Spider, mainly because I always liked the idea of an assassin Spider-Man
Doctor Phosphorus – what’s not to love about a radioactive skeleton man.
He is great in James Robinsons Starman.
The Ventriloquist and Don Newton as the best Batman artist.