The one bit that always stuck out to me in Zeus' episode was his henchmen. They clearly didn't agree with Zeus' plans for the cannon, even apologizing to the girlfriend at one point if I remember. But they went along with it anyway out of fear of him. I really like when the show humanized the henchmen instead of just having them as obedient goons.
Yeah, it's kind of something I wish they did more with the actual villains, like Killer Croc (or really any of the animal themed villains... dunno what it is but I take it the writers of the animated series do NOT like furries.... as they're all depicted as if thier punishments are justified and written as irredeemable just for wanting to enjoy bieng in a new body, but I digress). Still kind of upset about how the Carnie episode with Killer Croc ended. With him being around other freaks like him, yet still acting like a villain at his core. Just didn't send the right message. But you're right that the henchmen were designed to look like bafoons and neanderthal stereotypes, but seemed geninely concerned with Zeus's plans and villainry, and tried to convince him to stop before things get worse. That's what I'd have liked to see more of personally.
@@MarioMastar I can see why the kept Croc evil in that one episode presicely because they wanted to acknowledge what seperates Croc from any other disabled or "freakish" person in society, by lacking any apathy for anyone other than himself. For people like Killer Croc, it's all about the money and personal gain, with zero desire to empathize with anyone no matter their appearance and shared life experience, hence why he ultimately didn't see himself having any future living in an environment surrounded by similar people like himself.
It really depends. There are henchmen who are actually that loyal to a leader and that enthusiastic to the cause they are behind. Take note, the SS DIDN'T repent for believing in the insanity of Hitler's rhetoric...
I like that, while they take advantage of the humor of the situation, Zeus is still treated as a genuine threat in his appearence. I think it’s missing his potential to make him out as an ineffectual joke like his post crisis appearances. I never got what made Maxie’s gimmick any more silly then the rest of the rogues gallery.
I think the thing that makes him seem more silly is the fact that most of the rogues is the indirect connection to the 66 show, coupled with his delusions of grandeur.
Personally, I've always felt that Maxie Zeus would work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate), where he basically takes up Zeus's values about belittling women and sees the actual Greek God Zeus as the ideal masculine figure that all men should strive to become which could add commentary to how male influencers can sometimes perpetuate sexism and outdated values through media. My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's lightning bolt. He gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power, but sadly, said abilities are only temporary as he has to hold the lightning bolt every time to gain the powers but becomes so addicted to it like a drug until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how the character could be better utilised in DC media.
@@firewolfkanji17 Glad you like it; I feel like it makes way more sense to have Maxie as a Wonder Woman villain, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an a toxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn show would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him causing him to literally decay and make him as deranged as the true Zeus. This could make him a poetic personification of how irrational prejudice can eat away at a man's soul from the inside and leave others as pathetic and truly unhappy, no matter how much influence, power or materialistic items they may possess
I always felt the concept of Maxie Zeus being a billonaire who went delusional was interesting and actually creates a sort of similarity with Batman and his dual identity. Much like Bruce create his Batman persona to deal with his trauma, Maxie use his delusions and view of himself as this god as response to his own failures in his business. The difference is that Batman has better balance between his two identities while Maxie rejects the reality, wanting to be this god, a being that is "perfect and can't make mistakes"
@@alexandrefrauches132 Huh, I never actually thought about it like that, but yeah that is an interesting juxtaposition the two of them have as two wealthy men in power who one could say went nuts and became a costumed "lunatics" but Bruce at least had learned to find a better way to balance his mental state and find a level of self control over his identities as Bruce Wayne or Batman, but Maxie became completely engulfed in the fantasy he was living in and thought of himself above others
@@milkiassamuel780 I would say that another key difference between the two is that Bruce also learned to be more vulnerable towards his friends, to let go of his armor (represent by his Batman persona) and open himself to others like Alfred or the Robins (it's not always easy but he tries), while Maxie always tries to escape reality rather than trust the people in his life, even try to kill them when they try to convice him to realize his mistakes.
@alexandrefrauches132 That was something The Batman (2004) kinda did, but took it further by having his evil plan to destroy Gotham and rebuild it to look like Olympus.
If being honest, I prefer The Batman (2004) version Maxie Zeus not only having a sick looking design but also because his evil plan was to destroy Gotham and rebuild it to look like Olympus.
I also appreciate how it tweaked his delusions of grandeur ever so slightly. Rather than believing he already was a god, he aimed to remake himself as a god. Still delusional, but his cognizance made him far more malicious.
I prefer the Batman version too but mostly because they make Maxie Seems like what would happen if Bruce besides the best way to protect and make gotten better was to rule over it hell is technology feels like something Batman would make
@@ajerjavec4723 Yeah, one of the best things about BTAS is how every villain is a metaphor to what Bruce could've become, but that's why they go out of thier way to make Bruce and Batman extremely likeable, in contrast with other versions of the character where the villains are more morally gray with Batman and it's more about Gotham city's social issues than Batman himself and what it means to be a "hero" vs an "anti hero" vs a "villain". Like the "One Bad day" episode really would've worked more with Zeus's testimony because it really WAS just "one bad day" that broke him, nothing to do with Batman and for a one off villain, he's kind of the closest there is to Batman himself, as Bruce deluded himself to thinking he's a crime fighting bat themed superhero. He does good things, but he really is no different outside of that.
@@MarioMastar I just prefer Maxi being a reference to Bruce. If he decided to use his technology to force his rule over Gotham, in btas max was just a guy with delusions in the Batman. He’s got God complex and I don’t think Lex had one in the DCAU at least until we fused with brainiac
Part of me genuinely feels bad for Maxie Zeus. His business going under and his mind cracking from the stress into a delusion makes Maxie one of the most sympathetic characters in BTAS. A man in the throes of delusion and psychosis. I can only hope that Arkham can give him the treatment he needs. What makes his character all the more tragic is that when Cleo tries to appeal to him, he snaps out of his delusion for a brief second before he loses himself again. It’s a sad reality when people see someone they love suffering from mental illness.
I guess him admitting that he was "home" when sent to arkham implies that the writers agree and made him somewhat aware of how delusional he was, but not unsympathetic. He seems to have the clearest reason for being a villain and in his eyes, didn't seem like one unlike everyone else. Genuinely he had "one bad day" and that pushed him over the edge. Plus there's also the pressure of being so in deep that you can't take off the mask created for yourself, like he probably couldn't escape the Greek God facade because he was so deep into it that coming clear would just make him wake up to a far worse reality. Kind of like being a millionaire drug dealer and having never gotten caught, but feeling the pressure of turning yourself in and shutting down operation because you couldn't face everyone if you did.
Yeah this series has an habit of letting the audience feel sympathy for the villains, who in other continuities, aren't so much shown as tragic or like real people. Most famous are Harley and Mr. Freeze, where one got made for the show and the other rebuild from the scratch. And for Zeus himself was already said that in the comics he's more like an comic relief character while the less is talked about the "Harley quinn" version of Zeus the better.
@@MarioMastar The fact that he thought he was "home" in Arkham Asylum of all places makes it even sadder. It's tear-jerking to see him lost in his own delusion and torn away from Cleo the way he was.
@@MaxWeb2599 The fact that BTAS made him more tragic and sympathetic is a great thing. It's an accurate portrayal of how mental illness can affect the sufferer and those they love. Batman himself said that he wants to help him as he can clearly see him as a suffering man.
@@MaxWeb2599 two other villains the batman animated series makes us feel bad for are Arnold wesker " the ventriloquist " and Mary Dahl " baby doll " .
Mistaking Clio (Muse of Historical Tales) for Cleopatra aside, I thank you for the look at my favorite one shot villain. The little gap in his delusions was honestly heartbreaking. "Clio? I'm sorry... I can't..." The only thing I want to add is Maxie's scene in Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum." I don't think it was published until after this episode so I don't blame you for not covering it. But yeah, it's a MUCH different take on the character and no less fascinating than the DCAU's.
Considering the wider world of the dcau or dc comics in general, I'm surprised their hadn`t been a batman and wonder women comic featuring Maxie Zeus as the antagonist. Think about it, the pretender King of Olympus coming into contact with the literal living ambassador of its mythology not to mention the comedic potential of both the real big Z and Hera getting involved would be a sight to behold.
While I don't see Maxie as a big enough threat for an entire episode of Justice League, he could've worked if he was just in the opening of an episode where Batman is stopping him before getting an appearance from Wonder Woman asking Batman for something.
If Zeus meets Maxie Zeus (which could or probably has happened in the comics) Maxie Zeus: I ama god of Olympus Zeus: No your not. Maxie Zeus: what’s the difference between you and me. Zeus: I’m not wearing curtains.
One must wonder if he were to tangled w/Wonder Woman if he'd say the actual Zeus was an imposter if Diana made them meet one another. Heck, why not have him be as much an antagonist to the Wonder Woman centred characters not unlike how Deathstroke went beyond the Teen Titans to antagonize the Bat Family if not the broader JL as well ?.
@@Personal-TVstation probably because Wonder Woman could just destroy him immediately. Doesn’t even need to beat him; just show him the real Zeus and he would cower and abandoned his Maxie Zeus persona.
Yes, the irony at the end of "Fire From Olympus" was not lost, in how being sent to Arkham only fed into Zeus' delusion. But it was even more telling when he's being wheeled past the likes of Poison Ivy, Two-Face and the Joker and they're all just looking at him like, "Wow...now THAT guy's NUTS". 😳
Considering the time that Maxie Zeus is supposed to live in, my guess is that he's more of a Greco-Roman enthusiast in general rather than someone strictly interested in just Greek culture. This is pretty justifiable in that the two cultures were pretty much blended together by Late Antiquity. For instance, when the Roman emperor Julian wanted to bring Paganism back to prominence in the empire, He referred to the Roman Gods by the names of Their Greek counterparts
I know. It’s a very glaring mistake, but I understand why they did it. Janus LITERALLY has two faces. One of war, one of peace. The comparison was too good to pass up. The Greek version of Janus is ares. But two face doesn’t fit him nearly as well. Personally, I would’ve picked scarecrow and have Maxie confuse him with Morpheus, the god of dreams and nightmares.
@@paulferancik7766 Now that's got me curious as to how Maxie would identify the rest of the rogues gallery. Who is Clayface, Mr. Freeze, the Mad Hatter, the Riddler or Harley Quinn in the eyes of the mighty Zeus?
@@danielbilodeau9045 Mad hatter could also fit Morpheus. Mr freeze: boreus, god of the northern wind (not an Olympian but still made an appearance in Greek mythology) Riddler: Apollo, the very brilliant and confident god of light Harley Quinn: now this I didn’t know, Hermes’ had a wife named pathio, goddess of seduction. Since the joker is Hermes’… you know? Clayface: no idea. All of the gods have shape shifting powers so clayface doesn’t seem very unique. There is a goddess of pottery but I don’t know if Maxie’s brain is that far gone. Lol.
Most history fanatics tend to only look at the top seed and forget their own historical accuracy. XD It's like people who genuinely believe the President of the United states is all powerful and has the ultimate say in what can be done. The ONLY thing the president has unequivocal power to do is Veto bills from congress, but congress and the judiciary can override anything the president does. They just represent the people. not have real power over them. XD I think seeing him compare Greek to Rome despite existing over a millenium apart and Rome being INSPIRED by Greece but ultimately doing thier own thing proves the point.
Maxie Zeus was a fun villain but also very sad He is completely consumed by his delusions and lost sight of who is really is. The scene where he temporarily breaks out of his madness during a confrontation with Cleo is pretty tragic, because it shows the man underneath the villain.
Wish that happened with villains like Joker, as they suddenly return to reality and realized the men they were before everything came down on them and had no choice but delve into their delusions in order to survive their respective traumas.
Oh am excited I always like this episode and his character I liked speculating the reason Maxie went crazy was due to pressure and fear of getting caught due to him making deals with the mob (if am remembering correctly)so he cracked causing him to develop that Zeus persona as a defense mechanism to feel as if he free from the consequences which considered he had a thing for Greek makes sense only for the Zeus persona to completely take control
I will never forget that apparently he’s tough enough to beat 4 evil clones of Batman in a single fight. No gadgets, or tricks just his raw strength and a crook.
I liked the version of Maxie Zeus in the third season of The Batman. In that show, he's more eccentric than outright insane. He runs against Mayor Grange, but loses because of his outlandish ideas to replace the Gotham Police with his Greek inspired enforces. He holds the city hostage with his airship but is ultimately taken down by both Batman and Bat-Girl. He still viewed himself as someone who desired to be worshipped, but was just sane enough to know what he was doing.
It's not just the poor who can succumb to madness in Gotham. He's even more deranged in The Batman. Someone else brought up that Zeus actually does exist in the DC universe, being a common fixture in Wonder Woman's stories, and how irked she would be to see some rich mortal pretending to be the god of thunder.
And while he was insane he was right about one thing: that some of the rogues do resemble Greek and Roman gods and Goddesses. Poison Ivy definitely is similar to Demeter who as the goddess of the harvest was responsible for the growth of plants and cared about them, Two Face was Janus who was the two faced god of boundaries and doorways and Two Face bordered insane and sane with the two halves of himself, and Hermes was the Greek trickster god of messengers, thieves, gambling, and all sorts of things and the joker is certainly a trickster. Though unlike Hermes who does it to lift spirits Joker does it to prove a point. That all it takes to go mad is one bad day.
Subconsioucly, most of modern US and Britian were heavily inspired by the Roman and Greek ways of life, as the society we have today was built from when the Romans set up in London and it grew and went on to define the economic and royal center of the UK, which subsequently funded the colonialization of the states. So you kind of see a lot of those metaphors thrown everywhere, and it's a really nice touch that it was pointed out more bluntly this time. Like an "AHA!" moment.
If Wonder Woman is an Amazon, has canonically found The God of War, that implies that actual Zeus is canon to DC. Imagine of Maxie Zeus and Actual-Zeus met.
I think Max’s demotion to a joke villain is because the rogues gallery is already overflowing with flamboyant gangsters, that’s what OG Penguin was to the t. By contrast, Max’s gimmick was just a little too flamboyant to take as seriously. He was also introduced right as the rogues gallery was about to get flooded with honest to goodness super humans like Cornelius Stirk or Bane, which made a crazy guy in a toga seem trivial. I’m hoping we’ll see him in Caped Crusader S2, and they’ll take him back to his roots. Less giggling and eccentric, more ruthless and bloodthirsty.
Arkham Asylum might just be the most inefficient/incompetent insane asylum in all of fiction with its patients that can't be cured from their insanity.
I really like that he called Batman Hades. Because I think it helps his delusion and shows what he thinks of Batman’s connection to the underworld. He’s a ruler (like Zeus) with a strict moral code (unlike Maxie), he PUNISHES criminals of the underworld. I really wish we could see more of what he would call other members of the rogues gallery. Ideas I have include: Hatter-Hypnos Croc-Poseidon Bane- Ares Riddler- Apollo Etc.
Yes! This was my favorite episode, not for the writing or for the animation, but simply because this nutcase thought Batman was the embodiment of Hades himself. no wonder Diana loves him so much.
Weirdly Maxie Zeus was referenced a couple of times in the Arkham games but never appeared. His cell was a riddle answer in Asylum and his club was one in City.
Rocksteady probably saw him as too much of a underwhelmimg villain with little depth worth depicting in a sidequest, hence the references devoid of importance within the main storyline. That said, i recall the Arkham Unbound comics implying Zeus was _killed_ by Quincy Sharp during electric shock therapy at Arkham Asylum.
While not explicitly stated, it's likely that he already had a form of mental illness prior to fully caving in. Most likely a form of schizophrenia and a period where he stopped taking medication for it.
I remember when I first saw this episode, and I had missed the first half, so the situation was rather bizarre. I do need to correct one thing; Zeus called Cleo his muse because Cleo was one of the seven Greek Muses. She isn’t a reference to Cleopatra (who was Greek, so you get points for that round about reference). I did enjoy his being mentioned in Batman: Arkham Asylum. You can find his cell with Greek writing and lightning bolts painted through.
It's a real treat to hear you talk about Maxie Zeus, and even more of a treat to hear you talk about my favorite Batman villain ever, King Tut. Super unexpected seein' him here, I never knew he was such a direct influence on him as a character, I personally just always wanted to see em' fight, I can't see the two of em' gettin' along.
I think it would be interesting to have a story arc for Maxie where he starts out as a gangster who is really into Classical history who holds up Zeus as a powerful role model (maybe he's even Neopagan and actually worships Zeus). As he gains power, he comes to believe that he's an incarnation of Zeus. At one point he finally decides to go on some quest to find a way to merge with Zeus. Batman hears about this and enlists Wonder Woman to track down Maxie. During a confrontation with Maxie, the real Zeus shows ups and chastises Maxie for using the name of Zeus to commit crimes. Zeus, however, offers Maxie a deal: Zeus will grant Maxie a portion of divine power but he has to swear to only use it for good. Maxie accepts and he becomes a hero
Bane would be more of Cratus. The divine personificaton of Strength, who was very brutal and violent and less heroic than Heracles. Phobos would be better for Scarecrow Proteus is more in line with Clayface Kakia would fit Catwoman just a litttle bit more
Maximilian 'Maxie' Zeus would've made a great cameo in Arkham Shadow; his electrical technology could have been confiscated by Lyle Bolton to be used during the Boss Battle. Also his delusions of grandeur could also be used to spark debates on Quincy Sharpe reopening Arkham Asylum.
Good video essay. I wasn't familiar with Maxie Zeus aside from his appearance in BTAS, an episode which I enjoyed. Every time I've watched it, I was amused by him thinking that Batman was Hades. I also liked the voice acting by Steve Susskind. I'm looking forward to your video on Mercy Graves.
I think the favorite part of this episode is having batman, the world's greatest detective, in a case that needs -50 detective skills. like as soon as his at his first lead regarding a random lightning attack he is greeted by a clearly delusional ceo believing himself to be Zeus, it's almost hilarious. but regarding maxie zeus, I think a prefer what The Batman 2000s show did with him. where instead of believing himself to be zeus he instead reflects his mentality. An egomaniac who believes themselves to be perfect despite their clear flaws, and who has no respect/care for the people beneath him yet will vidictively attack if those "filthy peasants" dare not respect/love him.
Content to see the Clio Confusion was cleared up, at least in the comments. However, watching those clips of the 1960's series featuring King Tut made me wonder: anyone else seen Wally Wingert's fanvid using those with the Steve Martin song? A true classic!
I've always hated Maxie Zeus, but it's less about the character and more about what he represents. My issue isn't with his depiction in BTAS (although I always thought his episode was forgettable) or comics, but just how fictional media adapts Greek culture, especially comics. As a Greek person, I find it so frustrating that whenever writers want to introduce a character that is either of Greek descent or has to do with anything Greek, they almost always have to connect them somehow to the gods of Olympus. It's like they don't know that there's more to our culture than just the stories about the Greek Pantheon.
As someone who's done a fair bit of research in playing a Greek vampire who spent her living days joining the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Turks, totally agree the ancient myth angle is vastly overused and there's literal thousands of years of history and culture to use.
At least in this case the character could be used to criticize that idea that everything themed around ancient Greece needs to be connected to the gods
Yeah, a lot of modern interpretations is based on stereotypes that frankly have horrible impacts on how people see the world. In fact the reason why the Greeks are often remembered by the ancient civilization is because it gives more credos to those who want to maintain the illusion that " the power men have over society was granted by the Gods of those stories", as when you read them without the bias, a lot of these men were horrible people (particularly towards women and anyone dark skinned), but that's just how propaganda works.... there are people in this world today who STILL believe the majority of African cities are still tribal villages with near naked people who don't know what basic tools are. Then are shocked to see modern cities that rival New York or DC in quality in many of the countries. And as a Native American myself, I don't have to tell you about how WE are always depicted as whooping warriors who wear headdresses and throw tomahawks and dance to make rain, when a lot of us have quietly blended into modern society and really only preserve our culture in secret so that "historians" don't keep getting our ancestry wrong to justify having wiped my people out and replaced our culture. So I know what you mean and I think a modern interpretation of the character would probably paint him more as a delusional guy deliberately getting history wrong for his own benefit, only for a modern Greek person to school him on weaponizing his culture. Kind of like how they handled the Gentleman's Ghost in Caped Crusader and how it tackled the themes of racism more bluntly, since in modern day, people REALLY need it spelled out to understand how insane they really look.
Maxie Zeus was also in Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" as a man addicted to electroshock therapy. That whole comic reimagines all the villains to be barely functional and really bizarre, like taken to the extreme.
I did toy with including a brief segment about Arkham Asylum, but given it was a brief appearance and it didn’t really fit with anything else, I cut it for time.
I feel bad for villains like Zuse, Two Face and the Ventriloquist they really are just victims of their own insanity and are in desperate need of compassion and empathy that is not provided by Arkham.
Did not know they wanted to bring King Tut into BTAS. That could have been fun, but I’m kinda glad we got Maxie instead. Tut is one of my favorite 60s Batman villains, but a lot of that comes from his actor, Victor Buono, and how much of a massive ham he was. Might not have quite fit BTAS’ more serious tone (though a slightly silly one-off could have worked, though finding someone who could out-ham Buono would not have been easy)
So glad someone pointed out the weirdness of a Greek god themed villain doing a Roman themed scheme or else I'd have had to. Also, in the comics isn't Zeus a casino mogul rather than a shipping magnate? I did find it funny the BTAS version calling Batman and some of his rogues Greek god names. 😂
If maxie Zeus was used more i would think it would be to make him a mirror of how bruce forces himself to see himself as a man above man as a monster in the dark and really contrast these to wills of force. Two men pretending to be something to the point where one genuinely believes he is a God and the other trying to make himself be a monster.
I'm kinda sad we didn't see Maxxy in the Arkham game despite the easter eggs. Would love side quest of him trying to steal something similar to this weapon or some technology that can mess with the weather. The handlers and operators report a break in and Bat-comms hear wind of it. Tracking down his location to his building , fighting up the floors and solving the electrical charge gun or the remote electric charge batarang puzzles. Sneaking through the vents to hear how his henchman or employers feel about Maxie Zeus and if they believe he is or not. Only to get to the top to face off a large muscular greek-robed Maxie Zeus, brawling it out with him as he berates us with ancient greek-like dialect. Of course who also has electric traps here and there. If this was a Arkham Knight style quest, makes would break character for a moment or slipping in and out of it in conscious in the ride back to lock-up.
Ive always felt Maxie Zeus had potential as a good villain; however, personally, I think he'd work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate). My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's actual lightning bolt, and he gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how I feel the character could be better utilised in DC media.
You know, the Harley Quinn cartoon did something very similar to this. He was a dude bro motivational speaker and, like Andrew Tate and the likes, he was utterly pathetic.
@@SerumLake Yeah, I remember his appearance in the show was really funny, and I liked how he was so full of himself I think he could work really well as a villain to Wonder Woman, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an atoxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that the Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him could make him a poetic personification of how targeted hate can eat away at a man's soul
@milkiassamuel780 I feel like if I were to do Maxie Zeus, I would make him a rich bastard who's so obsessed with Greek mythology to the point he developed a massive god complex and as a result he tries to destroy Gotham and rebuild to look like Olympus basically similar to what The Batman (2004) did with his character.
Maxie Zeus being a WW villain would also make sense considering how Diana represents the Spirit of Truth meanwhile Maxie Zeus represents lies and delusion, beliving that he's this all powerfull god instead of accepting his own flaws as person.
@@alexandrefrauches132 It wouldn't make much sense for modern Wonder Woman to have Maxie as a villain since she's the literal _daughter_ of the god Zeus, making Maxie nothing more than a pretender fighting against his would be daughter.
If all Batman villains represent a portion of Batman's psyche, then Maxie Zeus might represent the aspect of Bruce Wayne's persona of Batman taking over his identity, something that by Batman Beyond has already happened, psychologically. In a very real way, there is no Bruce Wayne, only Batman, since in Batman Beyond, he admits that he doesn't call himself Bruce in his mind. There is only Batman in his mind, and that is how it has been for decades by that point.
To bad that Mixie wasn't used more in TAS, Instead of being a one time villain for one episode, more appearance would've help boost his popularly in the comics like what TAS done for Mad Hatter and The Ventriloquist.
2:25 it’s not a hard argument to beat, it’s impossible to beat because it’s a logical fallacy. It’s impossible to prove a negative (ex. That he is not Zeus), so the burden of proof in such an argument rests on the side making the positive claim (ex. That he is Zeus).
Ok hear me out: Posion Ivy: demeter (or maybe even some Gaia in there.... Gaia is basically mother nature and a primortal god in Greek mythology) 2 face: Janus, (despite being a roman god i think- i can't find any justice related gods to match 2 face sadly...) Killer croc: Typhon (surprisingly, Typhon is a god and a monster and was created to overthrone Zeus and the other gods, he was created by Gaia to inact revenge for her kids that were killed by the god's heros and stuff, Typhon got trapped in a mountain, and is a reptile monster, Maxie Zeus probably won't like him) Clayface: Dionsyus (who is also the god of theater as well! And alcohol specifically wine i believe, could be a allegory to how clayface was addicted to renew you like a alcoholic) Cat woman: tricky, maybe Hecate? Artemis? Maybe Athena because she is crafty? (Hecate can transform into a cat, Artemis can do so as well but is the god of the wild and animals which would fit Catwoman (although Artemis is a virgin goddess... and isn't flirty like Catwoman, unsure about Hecate is one though) or Athena, i think Athena is not only associated with owls bat abit of cats, and Athena is the god of crafts and is crafty like catwoman, there is Aulloros which is the god of cats though..) Mad hatter: hypnos? Joker: hermes? I can't think of any other... Harley Quinn: maybe Eris? (As she is the god of chaos, but Persephone could work because she was kidnapped by the Joker in a way and developed stockholem syndrome, but considering Batman is Hades i feel like it won't work) The ventliquist and scarface: Castor and Pollux (don't know much aside from them being twins sorry..) Riddler: Koios? (Don't know much aside from the god being smart, i would say Sphinx but the Sphinx isn't at all a god i believe and i don't know if it is from greek mythology at all!) Mr freeze: Boreas ( greek god of winter, ice, and the north wind and the most powerful Anemoi and considered the cruelest (or coldest?) Penguin: Hephasestus (as he has a disability and is physically disfigured similar to Hephasestus? Unfortunately there were no other ice gods or ones associated with penguins...) Thankfully i cannot think of any rogues so i may rest, people can share their ideas or suggestions tbh
Who I believe Maxie would think other DC Characters were if he met them: Superman = Hercules Wonder Woman = His dear daughter, Diana Flash = Hermes Green Lantern = Hephaestus Aquaman = Poseidon Zatanna = Hecate Shazam = His champion Green Arrow = Apollo Fire = Hestia Star Sapphire = Aphrodite Mera = Amphitrite Lex Luthor = Narcissus Scarecrow = Deimos Sinestro = Phobos Ares = His volatile son
Even though I like the tragic, broken man version of Zeus, I do like versions of him where he is either a mob boss who just likes Greek mythology or a more serious threat like in Batman 2004.
While I think the concept for this character is somewhat spotty, I absolutely ADORE Steve Susskind's performance in this role. He really elevates the character for me.
I remember that episode, the ending where Zeus was taking to Arkham and thinking the villains are Olympus gods and believed that Arkham is Olympus, his home.
While I think Maxie Zeus has a good gimmick and I do think the Batman (2004) version of the character is the best, If DC comics want remaster/reimagined and modernized/compelling Maxie Zeus similar to Mr Freeze was in the Batman animated series (DCEU) I could see them using the 2004 Batman show version of the character as a basis that or maybe mix The batman animated series version where he is mentally unstable with delusions of being Zeus's and was big threat and the batman cartoon where he had a flying ship with a garrison of troopers and threatened to destroy Gotham and was pretty serious with a more technological arsenal and suit. maintained his eccentric personality while still portraying him as charismatic, ruthless and most importantly intelligent., We'd have a perfectly solid addition to Gotham's selection of Villains. You could also bring back his Miss Droukas from the animated series (putting into the main DC comics continuity.) but have her be the mother of his daughter Medea from the comics but this time Maxie calls Doukas Hera instead of Clio if you want to len-in with the greek mythology especially the greek god zeus. Say while he is still a lovely father to his daughter he is also fathered many children with different women even a deadbeat dad to them. Alongside expanding the story with his daughter from the comics and girlfriend from the animated series you could also maybe expanding on his Empire with a whole crime family based on the gods of Olympus Or have him as a Wonder Woman rogue, have him meet the actual greek gods. He definitely should go back to his more competent persona maybe make him interested in magical obtaining famous artifacts from greek mythology like the golden fleece or something.
I've always felt that Maxie Zeus would work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain too. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate), where he basically takes up Zeus's values about belittling women and sees the actual Greek God Zeus as the ideal masculine figure that all men should strive to become which could add commentary to how male influencers can sometimes perpetuate sexism and outdated values through media. My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's lightning bolt. He gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power, but sadly, said abilities are only temporary as he has to hold the lightning bolt every time to gain the powers but becomes so addicted to it like a drug until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how the character could be better utilised in DC media.
@@milkiassamuel780 This is an awesome idea, and yeah it would make an excellent wonder woman rogue kinda like how Kingpin start off as a Spider Man villain then Frank Miller make a Daredevil Villain and it was a excellent and greatest moves in not just marvel history but also comics history!
@@WyattDucar Glad you like it so much. Maxie just never really made sense to me personally as a Batman villain since I dont really see a lot of interesting ways to make him a good foil to Batman; the only thing I can imagine is how Maxie Zeus and Bruce both are so consumed in their own realities and do think there is something interesting there they could explore with Batman, but other than that I dont see why they make him a Batman villain? I feel like it makes way more sense to have Maxie as a Wonder Woman villain, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an atoxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him causing him to literally decay and make him as deranged as the true Zeus. This could make him a poetic personification of how prejudice and unchecked hate can lead to people becoming more empty and soulless from the inside, regardless of how much influence, power or money they have.
@milkiassamuel780 You’re welcome another problem I have with DC comics and this goes to the comic industry in general is the lack of codification of canon. If I was an editor in chief in DC I would pull a council or Nicaea style event and decided which part of the character backstory or lore should remain canon and which should be discarded? For an example Batman Year one canon, long Halloween canon, dark victory canon, Court of Owls maybe canon, but the stuff with barbatos yeah let make that part non canon. Other stuff for the future of DC comics and it’s universe includes: 1. No major or earth shattering crossovers events besides one with lesser villains of heroes that need more development like Maxie Zeus or Killer Mouth the latter of which will be revamped as a Saul Goodman type character. 2. No reboots or crisis events. 3. Take some characters from popular mediums like the Batman animated series with The Sewer King or Ronald Dagget and transition them into the mainline dc comics 4. No retcons keep the backstory and continuity the same. 5. More tie-in comics with film cinematic universe. 6. More Elsewhere or created and expanded new universe like the recent absolute universe. 7. More original stories whether it is the same heroes like Wonder Woman, Superman, And Batman or completely original characters. In fact given his recent popularity at Matt Reeves Batman and Penguin as well as appearing in Arkham Shadow I would love a comic series about Carmine Falcone's rise to power as Gotham City's untouchable crime lord? 8. In order to prevent contradictions or miscommunication there should be a series or franchise bible kinda like a tv or writers bible for a show Let me know what you think of these ideas in a reply comment?
Clio, not Cleopatra and Maxie was in A Serious House on Serious Earth. Otherwise great video. Such a memorable character from BTAS. Absolutely love your channel. Keep up the good work! 🦇🦇🦇
Just want to point out something Janus is a Roman God not Greek so a bit of irony here for Maxie Zeus who believe himself to be the great almighty Zeus who's Greek. Also the comic show Zeus being cured and becoming a sane person, but he kind of tick off the Joker by using a very low dosage of Joker's infamous Joker Venom to get people high and sell it like a party drug when the deal he made with Joker is to spread a normal lethal dosage of the Joker Venom across Gotham to send Batman on a wild goose chase. So as payback Joker killed off Maxie Zeus's nephew which cause him to revert back to his insane self. Batman then use some kind of anti insanity drug to change Maxie Zeus back to Maximus Zeus.
I kind of forgot about this guy. I think there might have been a similar character in Superman. I only know this from an audio book that seemed to be working to be comic accurate. It's been ages but I remember it talked about a villain who had been found as an infant at the base of Mount Olympus. Growing up he believed this meant he was a demigod and built up a fortune to create a weather controlling machine in a place called "Castle Chaos." Superman fought him and it seemed like he died when he was set on fire and fell into the Mediterranean. But Superman finds out he's still alive and being held in a mental institution in Greece. He's badly burnt and bound to a wheelchair but convinced he has ascended to godhood.
Fire for Olympus is one of my favorite episodes I remember watching it for the first time on the adventures of Batman and Robin Fire and ice cassette tape. Which also included the second Mr Freeze episode. But I've always found interesting is once Maxie Zeus Seems to be the only one off villain whose content to remain in the asylum because he views the other super villains as his fellow Olympians.
Kind of a shame you didn’t mention The Batman’s version of Maxie Zeus. ^^ but at the same time learning about his origin inspired a character of my own, so many thanks
I love how he was depicted in "A serious house on serious earth" with his art style making him look like pure electricity hooked up to electrical wires
The epilogue of that episode left no doubt that Maxie Zeus was nuts, when you saw him being wheeled through Arkham and mistaking the other villains for Greek gods
Why do I get the feeling that if SL ever gets to do a video essay on Lex, it’s probably gonna be feature length? Or alternatively(at the very least); it will probably be the longest Character Essay he’s ever done, maybe beating out even Darkseid’s and The Phantasm’s essays or maybe even any future ones made for Bats and Supes? Some of y’all might think that I’m being a little hyperbolic here, but I mean it, Lex is quite possibly one of, if not THE most complex characters in all of the DCAU. As such, you’ve got so much ground to cover when talking about all of his many nuances, strengths, weaknesses and philosophical beliefs; you could arguably bury all of Madison Square Garden with it!
Much like The Joker, my videos about Lex Luthor focus on different aspects of his story, rather than the whole thing. I’ve talked about him in the video about the ways Superman changed the world, and he gets a lot of screen time in the Mercy video.
I would like to see a video about the Batman Beyond villain, Terminal, who, unlike the other Jokers, wears spooky make up similar to a zombie but is the leader and the brains of his own Joker team and has a grudge on Terry's friend Max!
The one bit that always stuck out to me in Zeus' episode was his henchmen. They clearly didn't agree with Zeus' plans for the cannon, even apologizing to the girlfriend at one point if I remember. But they went along with it anyway out of fear of him. I really like when the show humanized the henchmen instead of just having them as obedient goons.
Yeah, it's kind of something I wish they did more with the actual villains, like Killer Croc (or really any of the animal themed villains... dunno what it is but I take it the writers of the animated series do NOT like furries.... as they're all depicted as if thier punishments are justified and written as irredeemable just for wanting to enjoy bieng in a new body, but I digress). Still kind of upset about how the Carnie episode with Killer Croc ended. With him being around other freaks like him, yet still acting like a villain at his core. Just didn't send the right message.
But you're right that the henchmen were designed to look like bafoons and neanderthal stereotypes, but seemed geninely concerned with Zeus's plans and villainry, and tried to convince him to stop before things get worse. That's what I'd have liked to see more of personally.
@@MarioMastar I can see why the kept Croc evil in that one episode presicely because they wanted to acknowledge what seperates Croc from any other disabled or "freakish" person in society, by lacking any apathy for anyone other than himself. For people like Killer Croc, it's all about the money and personal gain, with zero desire to empathize with anyone no matter their appearance and shared life experience, hence why he ultimately didn't see himself having any future living in an environment surrounded by similar people like himself.
It really depends. There are henchmen who are actually that loyal to a leader and that enthusiastic to the cause they are behind. Take note, the SS DIDN'T repent for believing in the insanity of Hitler's rhetoric...
I like that, while they take advantage of the humor of the situation, Zeus is still treated as a genuine threat in his appearence. I think it’s missing his potential to make him out as an ineffectual joke like his post crisis appearances. I never got what made Maxie’s gimmick any more silly then the rest of the rogues gallery.
I think the thing that makes him seem more silly is the fact that most of the rogues is the indirect connection to the 66 show, coupled with his delusions of grandeur.
Exactly. For some reason a guy obsessed with dates and a guy that believes himself to be Zeus is somehow sillier then a guy obsessed with riddles.
Personally, I've always felt that Maxie Zeus would work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate), where he basically takes up Zeus's values about belittling women and sees the actual Greek God Zeus as the ideal masculine figure that all men should strive to become which could add commentary to how male influencers can sometimes perpetuate sexism and outdated values through media. My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's lightning bolt. He gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power, but sadly, said abilities are only temporary as he has to hold the lightning bolt every time to gain the powers but becomes so addicted to it like a drug until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how the character could be better utilised in DC media.
@@milkiassamuel780 I adore this idea!
@@firewolfkanji17 Glad you like it; I feel like it makes way more sense to have Maxie as a Wonder Woman villain, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an a toxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn show would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him causing him to literally decay and make him as deranged as the true Zeus. This could make him a poetic personification of how irrational prejudice can eat away at a man's soul from the inside and leave others as pathetic and truly unhappy, no matter how much influence, power or materialistic items they may possess
I always felt the concept of Maxie Zeus being a billonaire who went delusional was interesting and actually creates a sort of similarity with Batman and his dual identity. Much like Bruce create his Batman persona to deal with his trauma, Maxie use his delusions and view of himself as this god as response to his own failures in his business. The difference is that Batman has better balance between his two identities while Maxie rejects the reality, wanting to be this god, a being that is "perfect and can't make mistakes"
@@alexandrefrauches132 Huh, I never actually thought about it like that, but yeah that is an interesting juxtaposition the two of them have as two wealthy men in power who one could say went nuts and became a costumed "lunatics" but Bruce at least had learned to find a better way to balance his mental state and find a level of self control over his identities as Bruce Wayne or Batman, but Maxie became completely engulfed in the fantasy he was living in and thought of himself above others
@@milkiassamuel780 I would say that another key difference between the two is that Bruce also learned to be more vulnerable towards his friends, to let go of his armor (represent by his Batman persona) and open himself to others like Alfred or the Robins (it's not always easy but he tries), while Maxie always tries to escape reality rather than trust the people in his life, even try to kill them when they try to convice him to realize his mistakes.
@alexandrefrauches132 That was something The Batman (2004) kinda did, but took it further by having his evil plan to destroy Gotham and rebuild it to look like Olympus.
If being honest, I prefer The Batman (2004) version Maxie Zeus not only having a sick looking design but also because his evil plan was to destroy Gotham and rebuild it to look like Olympus.
I also appreciate how it tweaked his delusions of grandeur ever so slightly. Rather than believing he already was a god, he aimed to remake himself as a god. Still delusional, but his cognizance made him far more malicious.
I prefer the Batman version too but mostly because they make Maxie Seems like what would happen if Bruce besides the best way to protect and make gotten better was to rule over it hell is technology feels like something Batman would make
That episode was pretty heavy on the Star Wars references.
@@ajerjavec4723 Yeah, one of the best things about BTAS is how every villain is a metaphor to what Bruce could've become, but that's why they go out of thier way to make Bruce and Batman extremely likeable, in contrast with other versions of the character where the villains are more morally gray with Batman and it's more about Gotham city's social issues than Batman himself and what it means to be a "hero" vs an "anti hero" vs a "villain". Like the "One Bad day" episode really would've worked more with Zeus's testimony because it really WAS just "one bad day" that broke him, nothing to do with Batman and for a one off villain, he's kind of the closest there is to Batman himself, as Bruce deluded himself to thinking he's a crime fighting bat themed superhero. He does good things, but he really is no different outside of that.
@@MarioMastar I just prefer Maxi being a reference to Bruce. If he decided to use his technology to force his rule over Gotham, in btas max was just a guy with delusions in the Batman. He’s got God complex and I don’t think Lex had one in the DCAU at least until we fused with brainiac
Part of me genuinely feels bad for Maxie Zeus. His business going under and his mind cracking from the stress into a delusion makes Maxie one of the most sympathetic characters in BTAS. A man in the throes of delusion and psychosis. I can only hope that Arkham can give him the treatment he needs. What makes his character all the more tragic is that when Cleo tries to appeal to him, he snaps out of his delusion for a brief second before he loses himself again. It’s a sad reality when people see someone they love suffering from mental illness.
I guess him admitting that he was "home" when sent to arkham implies that the writers agree and made him somewhat aware of how delusional he was, but not unsympathetic. He seems to have the clearest reason for being a villain and in his eyes, didn't seem like one unlike everyone else. Genuinely he had "one bad day" and that pushed him over the edge. Plus there's also the pressure of being so in deep that you can't take off the mask created for yourself, like he probably couldn't escape the Greek God facade because he was so deep into it that coming clear would just make him wake up to a far worse reality. Kind of like being a millionaire drug dealer and having never gotten caught, but feeling the pressure of turning yourself in and shutting down operation because you couldn't face everyone if you did.
Yeah this series has an habit of letting the audience feel sympathy for the villains, who in other continuities, aren't so much shown as tragic or like real people.
Most famous are Harley and Mr. Freeze, where one got made for the show and the other rebuild from the scratch. And for Zeus himself was already said that in the comics he's more like an comic relief character while the less is talked about the "Harley quinn" version of Zeus the better.
@@MarioMastar The fact that he thought he was "home" in Arkham Asylum of all places makes it even sadder. It's tear-jerking to see him lost in his own delusion and torn away from Cleo the way he was.
@@MaxWeb2599 The fact that BTAS made him more tragic and sympathetic is a great thing. It's an accurate portrayal of how mental illness can affect the sufferer and those they love. Batman himself said that he wants to help him as he can clearly see him as a suffering man.
@@MaxWeb2599 two other villains the batman animated series makes us feel bad for are Arnold wesker " the ventriloquist " and Mary Dahl " baby doll " .
One of my favorite episodes. As a kid, I was a total mythology buff (still am, actually), and I loved the Labours of Batman segment, short as it was.
Thankfully Batman didn't have to clean out any stables! Alfred would be cleaning dung out of Batman's boots for weeks...
"How can you prove that you're a god?"
"Prove I'm not"
".... Do you bleed?"
see if they bleed gold
You will.
The Greek gods do bleed.
@@tanyanikolaevagizdova6571 Yeah, but I was making a reference to BvS, where Batman asks Superman that... Cause supes is kinda like a god
They do when they fight Spartans
Mistaking Clio (Muse of Historical Tales) for Cleopatra aside, I thank you for the look at my favorite one shot villain.
The little gap in his delusions was honestly heartbreaking.
"Clio? I'm sorry... I can't..."
The only thing I want to add is Maxie's scene in Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum." I don't think it was published until after this episode so I don't blame you for not covering it. But yeah, it's a MUCH different take on the character and no less fascinating than the DCAU's.
Ooops, on both parts!
Arkham Asylum was published before BTAS hit the air, although it was only - what, two pages?
Tbf, I do see the confusion as Maxie's character was written as a soft replacement for King Tut. So its possible its a reference to both.
Never liked that take on Maxie...
"AND THEN ALONG CAME ZEUS!"
"HE HURLED HIS THUNDERBOLT"
@@m.l.kow1998 "LOCKED THOSE SUCKERS IN A VAULT"
@@lycanthis9963 "THEY'RE TRAPPED!"
@@comettamer "AND ON HIS OWN STOPPED CHAOS IN ITS TRACKS!"
I kept wanting Wonder Woman to encounter Maxie Zeus in JLU.
She’d have either considered his claim for an instant, or burned him for his heresy.
Well... Wonder Woman has the Laso of Truth, and Diana pretty much gets visit by some of the Gods.
She’d knock him out within a second!
Considering the wider world of the dcau or dc comics in general, I'm surprised their hadn`t been a batman and wonder women comic featuring Maxie Zeus as the antagonist. Think about it, the pretender King of Olympus coming into contact with the literal living ambassador of its mythology not to mention the comedic potential of both the real big Z and Hera getting involved would be a sight to behold.
So true, wasted opportunity for the two Justice League shows not to have Zeus return as a villain, with Wonder Woman as a focal character.
While I don't see Maxie as a big enough threat for an entire episode of Justice League, he could've worked if he was just in the opening of an episode where Batman is stopping him before getting an appearance from Wonder Woman asking Batman for something.
If Zeus meets Maxie Zeus (which could or probably has happened in the comics)
Maxie Zeus: I ama god of Olympus
Zeus: No your not.
Maxie Zeus: what’s the difference between you and me.
Zeus: I’m not wearing curtains.
One must wonder if he were to tangled w/Wonder Woman if he'd say the actual Zeus was an imposter if Diana made them meet one another.
Heck, why not have him be as much an antagonist to the Wonder Woman centred characters not unlike how Deathstroke went beyond the Teen Titans to antagonize the Bat Family if not the broader JL as well ?.
@@Personal-TVstation probably because Wonder Woman could just destroy him immediately. Doesn’t even need to beat him; just show him the real Zeus and he would cower and abandoned his Maxie Zeus persona.
Yes, the irony at the end of "Fire From Olympus" was not lost, in how being sent to Arkham only fed into Zeus' delusion. But it was even more telling when he's being wheeled past the likes of Poison Ivy, Two-Face and the Joker and they're all just looking at him like, "Wow...now THAT guy's NUTS". 😳
Ironically enough, Janus isn’t actually a Greek God, he’s a Roman one.
Considering the time that Maxie Zeus is supposed to live in, my guess is that he's more of a Greco-Roman enthusiast in general rather than someone strictly interested in just Greek culture. This is pretty justifiable in that the two cultures were pretty much blended together by Late Antiquity. For instance, when the Roman emperor Julian wanted to bring Paganism back to prominence in the empire, He referred to the Roman Gods by the names of Their Greek counterparts
I know. It’s a very glaring mistake, but I understand why they did it. Janus LITERALLY has two faces. One of war, one of peace. The comparison was too good to pass up. The Greek version of Janus is ares. But two face doesn’t fit him nearly as well.
Personally, I would’ve picked scarecrow and have Maxie confuse him with Morpheus, the god of dreams and nightmares.
@ Actually, Ares and Athena could probably fit too. They have a dualistic nature to each other, since they both represent different aspects of War.
@@paulferancik7766 Now that's got me curious as to how Maxie would identify the rest of the rogues gallery. Who is Clayface, Mr. Freeze, the Mad Hatter, the Riddler or Harley Quinn in the eyes of the mighty Zeus?
@@danielbilodeau9045
Mad hatter could also fit Morpheus.
Mr freeze: boreus, god of the northern wind (not an Olympian but still made an appearance in Greek mythology)
Riddler: Apollo, the very brilliant and confident god of light
Harley Quinn: now this I didn’t know, Hermes’ had a wife named pathio, goddess of seduction. Since the joker is Hermes’… you know?
Clayface: no idea. All of the gods have shape shifting powers so clayface doesn’t seem very unique. There is a goddess of pottery but I don’t know if Maxie’s brain is that far gone. Lol.
Clio is the name of the muse of history. It's literally called out in the episode. Cleopatra would be associated with Caesar, not Zeus.
One thing about earthquake plan. Zeus didn't control them. That was his brother Poseidon.
Most history fanatics tend to only look at the top seed and forget their own historical accuracy. XD It's like people who genuinely believe the President of the United states is all powerful and has the ultimate say in what can be done. The ONLY thing the president has unequivocal power to do is Veto bills from congress, but congress and the judiciary can override anything the president does. They just represent the people. not have real power over them. XD I think seeing him compare Greek to Rome despite existing over a millenium apart and Rome being INSPIRED by Greece but ultimately doing thier own thing proves the point.
Maxie Zeus was a fun villain but also very sad
He is completely consumed by his delusions and lost sight of who is really is. The scene where he temporarily breaks out of his madness during a confrontation with Cleo is pretty tragic, because it shows the man underneath the villain.
Wish that happened with villains like Joker, as they suddenly return to reality and realized the men they were before everything came down on them and had no choice but delve into their delusions in order to survive their respective traumas.
Oh am excited I always like this episode and his character I liked speculating the reason Maxie went crazy was due to pressure and fear of getting caught due to him making deals with the mob (if am remembering correctly)so he cracked causing him to develop that Zeus persona as a defense mechanism to feel as if he free from the consequences which considered he had a thing for Greek makes sense only for the Zeus persona to completely take control
King Tut is my older son's favorite villain from the Adam West series and was happy to see him, if briefly, in Caped Crusader.
King Tut was a hoot, not gonna lie.
I will never forget that apparently he’s tough enough to beat 4 evil clones of Batman in a single fight. No gadgets, or tricks just his raw strength and a crook.
I liked the version of Maxie Zeus in the third season of The Batman. In that show, he's more eccentric than outright insane. He runs against Mayor Grange, but loses because of his outlandish ideas to replace the Gotham Police with his Greek inspired enforces. He holds the city hostage with his airship but is ultimately taken down by both Batman and Bat-Girl. He still viewed himself as someone who desired to be worshipped, but was just sane enough to know what he was doing.
Zeus was probably my favorite wild episode of Btas. I remember it fondly from childhood. Thank you for covering him 🙏😃
Considering the Greek mythology connection, it would be interesting if this guy interacted with wonder woman
9:50 ZEUS, Your son has returned . I come Seeking THE DESTRUCTION OF OLYMPUS
**meanwhile, Clio looks on in horror as her significant other and son both loose their minds in their ”roleplay”**
Zeus: "You have to be more specific!"
"Creepy D!*k wasn't a joke, it was a CONCERN" -Harley Quinn
King Tut. The ONLY Batman villain to find the Batcave... TWICE.
It's not just the poor who can succumb to madness in Gotham. He's even more deranged in The Batman. Someone else brought up that Zeus actually does exist in the DC universe, being a common fixture in Wonder Woman's stories, and how irked she would be to see some rich mortal pretending to be the god of thunder.
4:18 Actually, it's based on Clio, Muse of History. He's crazy, but he's knows Greek Mythology.
Was wondering if anyone else had noticed that.
Wish he had just called her Hera, as it would have made more sense anyway.
@@javiervasquez625 Yes, because Zeus was so loyal to marriage in the mythology.
@@lightsidesoul It wouldn't have made a difference either way if that's the case. Wether Clio or Hera, he would still have been a lustful womanizer.
And while he was insane he was right about one thing: that some of the rogues do resemble Greek and Roman gods and Goddesses. Poison Ivy definitely is similar to Demeter who as the goddess of the harvest was responsible for the growth of plants and cared about them, Two Face was Janus who was the two faced god of boundaries and doorways and Two Face bordered insane and sane with the two halves of himself, and Hermes was the Greek trickster god of messengers, thieves, gambling, and all sorts of things and the joker is certainly a trickster. Though unlike Hermes who does it to lift spirits Joker does it to prove a point. That all it takes to go mad is one bad day.
In a Static shock episode, Harley was associated with Thalia, the muse of comedy.
@ I didn’t know that but it actually kind of makes sense.
Subconsioucly, most of modern US and Britian were heavily inspired by the Roman and Greek ways of life, as the society we have today was built from when the Romans set up in London and it grew and went on to define the economic and royal center of the UK, which subsequently funded the colonialization of the states. So you kind of see a lot of those metaphors thrown everywhere, and it's a really nice touch that it was pointed out more bluntly this time. Like an "AHA!" moment.
@ Pretty much, yeah.
I recall one episode where Posion Ivy paired herself with "Mother Nature", which in Greek mythology would be the titan Gaia.
If Wonder Woman is an Amazon, has canonically found The God of War, that implies that actual Zeus is canon to DC. Imagine of Maxie Zeus and Actual-Zeus met.
I think Max’s demotion to a joke villain is because the rogues gallery is already overflowing with flamboyant gangsters, that’s what OG Penguin was to the t. By contrast, Max’s gimmick was just a little too flamboyant to take as seriously. He was also introduced right as the rogues gallery was about to get flooded with honest to goodness super humans like Cornelius Stirk or Bane, which made a crazy guy in a toga seem trivial. I’m hoping we’ll see him in Caped Crusader S2, and they’ll take him back to his roots. Less giggling and eccentric, more ruthless and bloodthirsty.
"Where they are supposed to get treatment" .....key word SUPPOSED TO
Arkham Asylum might just be the most inefficient/incompetent insane asylum in all of fiction with its patients that can't be cured from their insanity.
👀
I really like that he called Batman Hades. Because I think it helps his delusion and shows what he thinks of Batman’s connection to the underworld. He’s a ruler (like Zeus) with a strict moral code (unlike Maxie), he PUNISHES criminals of the underworld.
I really wish we could see more of what he would call other members of the rogues gallery.
Ideas I have include:
Hatter-Hypnos
Croc-Poseidon
Bane- Ares
Riddler- Apollo
Etc.
Firefly - Hyperion
Scarecrow - Phobos
Manbat - Zelus
Also I think a better parallel for riddler is Agon Greek god of competitive games.
Yes! This was my favorite episode, not for the writing or for the animation, but simply because this nutcase thought Batman was the embodiment of Hades himself. no wonder Diana loves him so much.
Weirdly Maxie Zeus was referenced a couple of times in the Arkham games but never appeared. His cell was a riddle answer in Asylum and his club was one in City.
Rocksteady probably saw him as too much of a underwhelmimg villain with little depth worth depicting in a sidequest, hence the references devoid of importance within the main storyline. That said, i recall the Arkham Unbound comics implying Zeus was _killed_ by Quincy Sharp during electric shock therapy at Arkham Asylum.
@@javiervasquez625That also explains why Riddler was shocked when saw how Maxie Zeus was treated riddle
@@sonicmoore6196 Shocked... haha.
They need to put Maxie Zeus into a live action film. Yeah it would be a little risky. But I think it would be AMAZING
While not explicitly stated, it's likely that he already had a form of mental illness prior to fully caving in. Most likely a form of schizophrenia and a period where he stopped taking medication for it.
At least King Tut appeared in Batman Caped Crusader I think that his design would have looked like if he appeared
I’m surprise that there are not a lot of stories of Maxie Zeus fighting Wonder Woman
It's possible that Cleo was named after Clio the Greek Muse of History.
If he’s the villain for Batman 2 it would genuinely be peak
I remember when I first saw this episode, and I had missed the first half, so the situation was rather bizarre.
I do need to correct one thing; Zeus called Cleo his muse because Cleo was one of the seven Greek Muses. She isn’t a reference to Cleopatra (who was Greek, so you get points for that round about reference).
I did enjoy his being mentioned in Batman: Arkham Asylum. You can find his cell with Greek writing and lightning bolts painted through.
It's a real treat to hear you talk about Maxie Zeus, and even more of a treat to hear you talk about my favorite Batman villain ever, King Tut. Super unexpected seein' him here, I never knew he was such a direct influence on him as a character, I personally just always wanted to see em' fight, I can't see the two of em' gettin' along.
My favorite part of the episode was the "dush" he makes when he lands when i was watching it for the first time the sound just cracked me up
I think it would be interesting to have a story arc for Maxie where he starts out as a gangster who is really into Classical history who holds up Zeus as a powerful role model (maybe he's even Neopagan and actually worships Zeus). As he gains power, he comes to believe that he's an incarnation of Zeus. At one point he finally decides to go on some quest to find a way to merge with Zeus. Batman hears about this and enlists Wonder Woman to track down Maxie. During a confrontation with Maxie, the real Zeus shows ups and chastises Maxie for using the name of Zeus to commit crimes. Zeus, however, offers Maxie a deal: Zeus will grant Maxie a portion of divine power but he has to swear to only use it for good. Maxie accepts and he becomes a hero
6:41
I would guess which greek figure could confuses Maxie Zeus for the following Batman's villains;
- Rupert Thorne = Agamemmnon
- Riddler = Odysseus
- Killer Croc = Poseidon
- Bane = Heracles
- Penguin = Hephaestus
- Mad Hatter = Hypnos
- Ventriloquist & Scarface = Polux and Castor
- Scarecrow = Charon
- Lock up = Ares
- King Clock = Chronus
- Clayface = Gaia
- Harley Quinn = Aphrodite
- Catwoman = Athena
Underrated comment and something I wish the comics would try out for a story.
I would have like to see that. 😂
Bane would be more of Cratus. The divine personificaton of Strength, who was very brutal and violent and less heroic than Heracles.
Phobos would be better for Scarecrow
Proteus is more in line with Clayface
Kakia would fit Catwoman just a litttle bit more
I feel Posion Ivy could also be paired with Gaia the Earth titan and personification of nature.
Since Batman is Hades, I'm gonna say Robin is Artemis.
Maximilian 'Maxie' Zeus would've made a great cameo in Arkham Shadow; his electrical technology could have been confiscated by Lyle Bolton to be used during the Boss Battle. Also his delusions of grandeur could also be used to spark debates on Quincy Sharpe reopening Arkham Asylum.
Good video essay. I wasn't familiar with Maxie Zeus aside from his appearance in BTAS, an episode which I enjoyed. Every time I've watched it, I was amused by him thinking that Batman was Hades. I also liked the voice acting by Steve Susskind.
I'm looking forward to your video on Mercy Graves.
I think the favorite part of this episode is having batman, the world's greatest detective, in a case that needs -50 detective skills. like as soon as his at his first lead regarding a random lightning attack he is greeted by a clearly delusional ceo believing himself to be Zeus, it's almost hilarious.
but regarding maxie zeus, I think a prefer what The Batman 2000s show did with him. where instead of believing himself to be zeus he instead reflects his mentality. An egomaniac who believes themselves to be perfect despite their clear flaws, and who has no respect/care for the people beneath him yet will vidictively attack if those "filthy peasants" dare not respect/love him.
Content to see the Clio Confusion was cleared up, at least in the comments.
However, watching those clips of the 1960's series featuring King Tut made me wonder: anyone else seen Wally Wingert's fanvid using those with the Steve Martin song? A true classic!
That episode is actually one of my favorites in BTAS
I've always hated Maxie Zeus, but it's less about the character and more about what he represents. My issue isn't with his depiction in BTAS (although I always thought his episode was forgettable) or comics, but just how fictional media adapts Greek culture, especially comics. As a Greek person, I find it so frustrating that whenever writers want to introduce a character that is either of Greek descent or has to do with anything Greek, they almost always have to connect them somehow to the gods of Olympus. It's like they don't know that there's more to our culture than just the stories about the Greek Pantheon.
As someone who's done a fair bit of research in playing a Greek vampire who spent her living days joining the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Turks, totally agree the ancient myth angle is vastly overused and there's literal thousands of years of history and culture to use.
At least in this case the character could be used to criticize that idea that everything themed around ancient Greece needs to be connected to the gods
Yeah, a lot of modern interpretations is based on stereotypes that frankly have horrible impacts on how people see the world. In fact the reason why the Greeks are often remembered by the ancient civilization is because it gives more credos to those who want to maintain the illusion that " the power men have over society was granted by the Gods of those stories", as when you read them without the bias, a lot of these men were horrible people (particularly towards women and anyone dark skinned), but that's just how propaganda works.... there are people in this world today who STILL believe the majority of African cities are still tribal villages with near naked people who don't know what basic tools are. Then are shocked to see modern cities that rival New York or DC in quality in many of the countries. And as a Native American myself, I don't have to tell you about how WE are always depicted as whooping warriors who wear headdresses and throw tomahawks and dance to make rain, when a lot of us have quietly blended into modern society and really only preserve our culture in secret so that "historians" don't keep getting our ancestry wrong to justify having wiped my people out and replaced our culture. So I know what you mean and I think a modern interpretation of the character would probably paint him more as a delusional guy deliberately getting history wrong for his own benefit, only for a modern Greek person to school him on weaponizing his culture. Kind of like how they handled the Gentleman's Ghost in Caped Crusader and how it tackled the themes of racism more bluntly, since in modern day, people REALLY need it spelled out to understand how insane they really look.
Maxie Zeus was also in Grant Morrison's "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" as a man addicted to electroshock therapy.
That whole comic reimagines all the villains to be barely functional and really bizarre, like taken to the extreme.
I did toy with including a brief segment about Arkham Asylum, but given it was a brief appearance and it didn’t really fit with anything else, I cut it for time.
Here's an idea of for a gag. Maxie getting one punched by wonder woman.
4:18. Maxie thinks Cleo is the Muse of Historical Tales, not Cleopatra of Egypt. He even says it.
I have been waiting for you to do a vid on maxie Zeus for so long lol
I feel bad for villains like Zuse, Two Face and the Ventriloquist they really are just victims of their own insanity and are in desperate need of compassion and empathy that is not provided by Arkham.
Did not know they wanted to bring King Tut into BTAS. That could have been fun, but I’m kinda glad we got Maxie instead. Tut is one of my favorite 60s Batman villains, but a lot of that comes from his actor, Victor Buono, and how much of a massive ham he was. Might not have quite fit BTAS’ more serious tone (though a slightly silly one-off could have worked, though finding someone who could out-ham Buono would not have been easy)
TBF his behavior was that of the actual Zeus. Dude knew how to commit to the role 😂
Imagine Maxie Zeus meeting up with Lex Luthor. Now THAT would be interesting to see.
Makes me wonder which god he would invision Lex to be. Maybe Hephaestus?
@ That or Narcissus.
@@jackofallclaws6672
Yeah, that's better.
@@JanetStarChild I think Maxie wouldn't see Luthor as a God but probably as a famous mortal. Probably Midas
So glad someone pointed out the weirdness of a Greek god themed villain doing a Roman themed scheme or else I'd have had to.
Also, in the comics isn't Zeus a casino mogul rather than a shipping magnate?
I did find it funny the BTAS version calling Batman and some of his rogues Greek god names. 😂
Fire From Olympus has one of the best endings in the series.
I remember watching the episode fire from Olympics.There's so many times it's burned into my memory.
If maxie Zeus was used more i would think it would be to make him a mirror of how bruce forces himself to see himself as a man above man as a monster in the dark and really contrast these to wills of force. Two men pretending to be something to the point where one genuinely believes he is a God and the other trying to make himself be a monster.
I want to see Maxie Zeus encounter the “real” Zeus. That would be a hilarious dumpster to watch catch on fire.
I'm kinda sad we didn't see Maxxy in the Arkham game despite the easter eggs. Would love side quest of him trying to steal something similar to this weapon or some technology that can mess with the weather. The handlers and operators report a break in and Bat-comms hear wind of it. Tracking down his location to his building , fighting up the floors and solving the electrical charge gun or the remote electric charge batarang puzzles. Sneaking through the vents to hear how his henchman or employers feel about Maxie Zeus and if they believe he is or not.
Only to get to the top to face off a large muscular greek-robed Maxie Zeus, brawling it out with him as he berates us with ancient greek-like dialect. Of course who also has electric traps here and there. If this was a Arkham Knight style quest, makes would break character for a moment or slipping in and out of it in conscious in the ride back to lock-up.
Ive always felt Maxie Zeus had potential as a good villain; however, personally, I think he'd work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate). My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's actual lightning bolt, and he gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how I feel the character could be better utilised in DC media.
You know, the Harley Quinn cartoon did something very similar to this. He was a dude bro motivational speaker and, like Andrew Tate and the likes, he was utterly pathetic.
@@SerumLake Yeah, I remember his appearance in the show was really funny, and I liked how he was so full of himself I think he could work really well as a villain to Wonder Woman, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an atoxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that the Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him could make him a poetic personification of how targeted hate can eat away at a man's soul
@milkiassamuel780 I feel like if I were to do Maxie Zeus, I would make him a rich bastard who's so obsessed with Greek mythology to the point he developed a massive god complex and as a result he tries to destroy Gotham and rebuild to look like Olympus basically similar to what The Batman (2004) did with his character.
Maxie Zeus being a WW villain would also make sense considering how Diana represents the Spirit of Truth meanwhile Maxie Zeus represents lies and delusion, beliving that he's this all powerfull god instead of accepting his own flaws as person.
@@alexandrefrauches132 It wouldn't make much sense for modern Wonder Woman to have Maxie as a villain since she's the literal _daughter_ of the god Zeus, making Maxie nothing more than a pretender fighting against his would be daughter.
Gosh, those comics sound fascinating, and I'm glad you include them in your analysis.
If all Batman villains represent a portion of Batman's psyche, then Maxie Zeus might represent the aspect of Bruce Wayne's persona of Batman taking over his identity, something that by Batman Beyond has already happened, psychologically. In a very real way, there is no Bruce Wayne, only Batman, since in Batman Beyond, he admits that he doesn't call himself Bruce in his mind. There is only Batman in his mind, and that is how it has been for decades by that point.
So Zeus would see Scarecrow as Phobos and Harley Quinn as Eres, maybe?
To bad that Mixie wasn't used more in TAS, Instead of being a one time villain for one episode, more appearance would've help boost his popularly in the comics like what TAS done for Mad Hatter and The Ventriloquist.
Batman should probably stop multiplying Maxie's brain damage
2:25 it’s not a hard argument to beat, it’s impossible to beat because it’s a logical fallacy. It’s impossible to prove a negative (ex. That he is not Zeus), so the burden of proof in such an argument rests on the side making the positive claim (ex. That he is Zeus).
I was gonna say the same thing! (Hope you're doing ok btw)
Ok hear me out:
Posion Ivy: demeter (or maybe even some Gaia in there.... Gaia is basically mother nature and a primortal god in Greek mythology)
2 face: Janus, (despite being a roman god i think- i can't find any justice related gods to match 2 face sadly...)
Killer croc: Typhon (surprisingly, Typhon is a god and a monster and was created to overthrone Zeus and the other gods, he was created by Gaia to inact revenge for her kids that were killed by the god's heros and stuff, Typhon got trapped in a mountain, and is a reptile monster, Maxie Zeus probably won't like him)
Clayface: Dionsyus (who is also the god of theater as well! And alcohol specifically wine i believe, could be a allegory to how clayface was addicted to renew you like a alcoholic)
Cat woman: tricky, maybe Hecate? Artemis? Maybe Athena because she is crafty? (Hecate can transform into a cat, Artemis can do so as well but is the god of the wild and animals which would fit Catwoman (although Artemis is a virgin goddess... and isn't flirty like Catwoman, unsure about Hecate is one though) or Athena, i think Athena is not only associated with owls bat abit of cats, and Athena is the god of crafts and is crafty like catwoman, there is Aulloros which is the god of cats though..)
Mad hatter: hypnos?
Joker: hermes? I can't think of any other...
Harley Quinn: maybe Eris? (As she is the god of chaos, but Persephone could work because she was kidnapped by the Joker in a way and developed stockholem syndrome, but considering Batman is Hades i feel like it won't work)
The ventliquist and scarface: Castor and Pollux (don't know much aside from them being twins sorry..)
Riddler: Koios? (Don't know much aside from the god being smart, i would say Sphinx but the Sphinx isn't at all a god i believe and i don't know if it is from greek mythology at all!)
Mr freeze: Boreas ( greek god of winter, ice, and the north wind and the most powerful Anemoi and considered the cruelest (or coldest?)
Penguin: Hephasestus (as he has a disability and is physically disfigured similar to Hephasestus? Unfortunately there were no other ice gods or ones associated with penguins...)
Thankfully i cannot think of any rogues so i may rest, people can share their ideas or suggestions tbh
Who I believe Maxie would think other DC Characters were if he met them:
Superman = Hercules
Wonder Woman = His dear daughter, Diana
Flash = Hermes
Green Lantern = Hephaestus
Aquaman = Poseidon
Zatanna = Hecate
Shazam = His champion
Green Arrow = Apollo
Fire = Hestia
Star Sapphire = Aphrodite
Mera = Amphitrite
Lex Luthor = Narcissus
Scarecrow = Deimos
Sinestro = Phobos
Ares = His volatile son
Can Hawkgirl = Nike: Goddess of Victory
Even though I like the tragic, broken man version of Zeus, I do like versions of him where he is either a mob boss who just likes Greek mythology or a more serious threat like in Batman 2004.
There’s a full list of people who have claimed to be Jesus, so I do think there is a lot of untapped potential with Maxie Zeus as a character.
While I think the concept for this character is somewhat spotty, I absolutely ADORE Steve Susskind's performance in this role. He really elevates the character for me.
You know, I think I remember a graphic novel mention that he was at Arkham, having lost it as he resorts to coprophagia
I remember that episode, the ending where Zeus was taking to Arkham and thinking the villains are Olympus gods and believed that Arkham is Olympus, his home.
Awesome video. I have a deeper appreciation for this character now. Way to go!
Thanks for the video
During the original batman films, I wanted there to be one of King Tut and Scarecrow played by Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern respectively.
Excellent video!
11:16 I'm excited for this one. I love it when lesser known characters get attention.
While I think Maxie Zeus has a good gimmick and I do think the Batman (2004) version of the character is the best, If DC comics want remaster/reimagined and modernized/compelling Maxie Zeus similar to Mr Freeze was in the Batman animated series (DCEU) I could see them using the 2004 Batman show version of the character as a basis that or maybe mix The batman animated series version where he is mentally unstable with delusions of being Zeus's and was big threat and the batman cartoon where he had a flying ship with a garrison of troopers and threatened to destroy Gotham and was pretty serious with a more technological arsenal and suit. maintained his eccentric personality while still portraying him as charismatic, ruthless and most importantly intelligent., We'd have a perfectly solid addition to Gotham's selection of Villains.
You could also bring back his Miss Droukas from the animated series (putting into the main DC comics continuity.) but have her be the mother of his daughter Medea from the comics but this time Maxie calls Doukas Hera instead of Clio if you want to len-in with the greek mythology especially the greek god zeus. Say while he is still a lovely father to his daughter he is also fathered many children with different women even a deadbeat dad to them. Alongside expanding the story with his daughter from the comics and girlfriend from the animated series you could also maybe expanding on his Empire with a whole crime family based on the gods of Olympus
Or have him as a Wonder Woman rogue, have him meet the actual greek gods. He definitely should go back to his more competent persona maybe make him interested in magical obtaining famous artifacts from greek mythology like the golden fleece or something.
I've always felt that Maxie Zeus would work much better as a Wonder Woman villain than a Batman villain too. I have this idea to reimagine Maxie Zeus as this misogynistic, sexist dude-bro motivational speaker who compares himself to Zeus as the ultimate male inspiration (basically just Andrew Tate), where he basically takes up Zeus's values about belittling women and sees the actual Greek God Zeus as the ideal masculine figure that all men should strive to become which could add commentary to how male influencers can sometimes perpetuate sexism and outdated values through media. My idea would be to have Maxie somehow come across Zeus's lightning bolt. He gains the temporary powers of Zeus himself, becoming deranged and addicted to the power, but sadly, said abilities are only temporary as he has to hold the lightning bolt every time to gain the powers but becomes so addicted to it like a drug until Wonder Woman comes in an attempt to stop him. That's a rough draft of how the character could be better utilised in DC media.
@@milkiassamuel780 This is an awesome idea, and yeah it would make an excellent wonder woman rogue kinda like how Kingpin start off as a Spider Man villain then Frank Miller make a Daredevil Villain and it was a excellent and greatest moves in not just marvel history but also comics history!
@@WyattDucar Glad you like it so much. Maxie just never really made sense to me personally as a Batman villain since I dont really see a lot of interesting ways to make him a good foil to Batman; the only thing I can imagine is how Maxie Zeus and Bruce both are so consumed in their own realities and do think there is something interesting there they could explore with Batman, but other than that I dont see why they make him a Batman villain?
I feel like it makes way more sense to have Maxie as a Wonder Woman villain, given her connections to the Greek Pantheon, but I also think reimagining him as an atoxic male motivational speaker like in Harley Quinn would make him a great juxtaposing foil for Wonder Woman as she represents this positive female figure of love, truth and freedom for everyone regardless of what gender you are as she is an ambassador of peace. In contrast, Maxie could embody the toxicity of mankind that Amazon have feared and act as this Andrew Tate-like figure who embodies greed, self-entitled ego and perpetuates misogyny, hateful values and sexism that Wonder Woman tries to fight back against, plus giving him the actual powers of Zeus but only temporarily and act as a crippling addiction for him causing him to literally decay and make him as deranged as the true Zeus. This could make him a poetic personification of how prejudice and unchecked hate can lead to people becoming more empty and soulless from the inside, regardless of how much influence, power or money they have.
@milkiassamuel780 You’re welcome another problem I have with DC comics and this goes to the comic industry in general is the lack of codification of canon. If I was an editor in chief in DC I would pull a council or Nicaea style event and decided which part of the character backstory or lore should remain canon and which should be discarded? For an example Batman Year one canon, long Halloween canon, dark victory canon, Court of Owls maybe canon, but the stuff with barbatos yeah let make that part non canon. Other stuff for the future of DC comics and it’s universe includes:
1. No major or earth shattering crossovers events besides one with lesser villains of heroes that need more development like Maxie Zeus or Killer Mouth the latter of which will be revamped as a Saul Goodman type character.
2. No reboots or crisis events.
3. Take some characters from popular mediums like the Batman animated series with The Sewer King or Ronald Dagget and transition them into the mainline dc comics
4. No retcons keep the backstory and continuity the same.
5. More tie-in comics with film cinematic universe.
6. More Elsewhere or created and expanded new universe like the recent absolute universe.
7. More original stories whether it is the same heroes like Wonder Woman, Superman, And Batman or completely original characters. In fact given his recent popularity at Matt Reeves Batman and Penguin as well as appearing in Arkham Shadow I would love a comic series about Carmine Falcone's rise to power as Gotham City's untouchable crime lord?
8. In order to prevent contradictions or miscommunication there should be a series or franchise bible kinda like a tv or writers bible for a show
Let me know what you think of these ideas in a reply comment?
Love your content keep up the great work
Proud to be the 340th person to have liked this video, congrats on the great content Serum
No, thank you!
Clio, not Cleopatra and Maxie was in A Serious House on Serious Earth. Otherwise great video. Such a memorable character from BTAS. Absolutely love your channel. Keep up the good work! 🦇🦇🦇
Just want to point out something Janus is a Roman God not Greek so a bit of irony here for Maxie Zeus who believe himself to be the great almighty Zeus who's Greek. Also the comic show Zeus being cured and becoming a sane person, but he kind of tick off the Joker by using a very low dosage of Joker's infamous Joker Venom to get people high and sell it like a party drug when the deal he made with Joker is to spread a normal lethal dosage of the Joker Venom across Gotham to send Batman on a wild goose chase. So as payback Joker killed off Maxie Zeus's nephew which cause him to revert back to his insane self. Batman then use some kind of anti insanity drug to change Maxie Zeus back to Maximus Zeus.
I kind of forgot about this guy. I think there might have been a similar character in Superman. I only know this from an audio book that seemed to be working to be comic accurate. It's been ages but I remember it talked about a villain who had been found as an infant at the base of Mount Olympus. Growing up he believed this meant he was a demigod and built up a fortune to create a weather controlling machine in a place called "Castle Chaos." Superman fought him and it seemed like he died when he was set on fire and fell into the Mediterranean. But Superman finds out he's still alive and being held in a mental institution in Greece. He's badly burnt and bound to a wheelchair but convinced he has ascended to godhood.
To me, Zeus falls in the tragic Batman villains. The only other villain I have ever felt that much pity for is Mr. Freeze.
Fire for Olympus is one of my favorite episodes I remember watching it for the first time on the adventures of Batman and Robin Fire and ice cassette tape. Which also included the second Mr Freeze episode.
But I've always found interesting is once Maxie Zeus Seems to be the only one off villain whose content to remain in the asylum because he views the other super villains as his fellow Olympians.
I have been waiting for this. Thank you.
Not going to lie, king tut would’ve been amazing to be part of btas
Zeus was definitely more tragic than king tut though.
Kind of a shame you didn’t mention The Batman’s version of Maxie Zeus. ^^ but at the same time learning about his origin inspired a character of my own, so many thanks
To be honest that guy is to different to the point the only thing he shares with the regular Maxie Zeus is his name
I love how he was depicted in "A serious house on serious earth" with his art style making him look like pure electricity hooked up to electrical wires
5:46
Maxie Zeus has come to make an announcement.
The epilogue of that episode left no doubt that Maxie Zeus was nuts, when you saw him being wheeled through Arkham and mistaking the other villains for Greek gods
Why do I get the feeling that if SL ever gets to do a video essay on Lex, it’s probably gonna be feature length?
Or alternatively(at the very least); it will probably be the longest Character Essay he’s ever done, maybe beating out even Darkseid’s and The Phantasm’s essays or maybe even any future ones made for Bats and Supes?
Some of y’all might think that I’m being a little hyperbolic here, but I mean it, Lex is quite possibly one of, if not THE most complex characters in all of the DCAU. As such, you’ve got so much ground to cover when talking about all of his many nuances, strengths, weaknesses and philosophical beliefs; you could arguably bury all of Madison Square Garden with it!
Much like The Joker, my videos about Lex Luthor focus on different aspects of his story, rather than the whole thing.
I’ve talked about him in the video about the ways Superman changed the world, and he gets a lot of screen time in the Mercy video.
@ I don’t know if I did, but just in case, my sincerest apologies if my comment possibly angered or offended you.
@@jackofallclaws6672oh no, you didn’t at all, don’t worry! I was just trying to be succinct.
Maxie Zeus is UNDERRATED!!! he needs to be in a live action Batman Project, Sean Bean or Jeff Bridges would be likely Choices for Maxie Zeus
I would like to see a video about the Batman Beyond villain, Terminal, who, unlike the other Jokers, wears spooky make up similar to a zombie but is the leader and the brains of his own Joker team and has a grudge on Terry's friend Max!
Maybe he’ll be on the next Batman Beyond villain poll!