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I'm not sure I understand how Maxwell Lord's vaguely defined powers work. I know he can "push" people into believing certain things. He can convince them that things never happened or that they happened in a very different way. The two big examples are the death of Blue Beetle (murder vs. suicide) and the OMAC Project (Max Lord vs. Lex Luthor). My big question has to do with the latter.

If the world thinks Lex Luthor was responsible for the OMAC Project then... Who does Lex Luthor think was responsible? I won't buy that Max can even convince a mind as powerful as Luthor's that he did something he didn't do. That just won't fly with me.

As I see it, the other explanation is that Lex Luthor knows he didn't play a part in the OMAC Project. And that that inconsistency also means that he knows who Maxwell Lord is.

Luthor, of course, doesn't care what Max is up to. He's got his own agendas and couldn't care less at this point what the world thinks of him. He got his pardon and is back in control of his company. As long as Max doesn't butt heads with Luthor there won't be a problem.

Of course, this is all just idle speculation; clearly we aren't going to see any connection between these two stories. But how much fun would it be? After all, Max Lord seems to want to rule the world. And as far as Lex Luthor's concerned that's his job.

Yeah, spoiler alert. And sorry to anyone who had the ruined and also cared. I can't imagine there are all that many of you.

Yes, in last week's Generation Lost Maxwell Lord killed Magog. I figured it would be safe to talk about it after a week. I'm assuming that is the case. If you're angry at me and don't want me to spoil further then go away.

The death of Magog wasn't something I was expecting. But in hindsight it's not so surprising. After the failure of his solo series DC didn't seem to know what to do with him. The only person who seemed to have liked Magog was Geoff Johns anyway.

Magog was originally a symbol in Kingdom Come of all that was bad about the superhero fare of the 90's. Shoulderpads. Pouches. Angry glares from someone other than Batman. And as a symbol of that era and why it was wrong Magog served his purpose. His presence and mistakes allowed Superman to step in and show us what a real hero was.

But I'm not here to talk about that Magog (I didn't even like Kingdom Come all that much). I'm here to talk about the in continuity Earth Zero Magog. And on "New Earth" Magog never fit. As a symbol of a very non-DCU type of heroism he was always out of place. So I suppose he was always fated to die.

After all, if Magog had lived he would -- as the White Lantern warned -- have led the DCU down the dark path that led to Kingdom Come on that other Earth. In killing him Max Lord has indeed saved his universe from that fate.

That is not to say I agree with what Max Lord did. There are always ways, and perhaps this iteration of Magog could have been led down a brighter path. Nothing is predestined or predetermined.

Still, we'll never really know what might have happened. Max Lord took away any hope for redemption Magog might have had. And in the process he pulled himself further into the dark hole of villainy. Maxwell Lord may well be beyond redemption.

I realized something after thinking for a while about a teaser image posted recently. You know, the one featuring Batman outside the Justice League International embassy? I realized that Batman knows.

Now, obviously Batman knows lots of stuff. He's one of the smartest guys around. But I'm thinking of something very specific. During Blackest Night Batman was dead (or at least was assumed so). Most importantly, he wasn't on Earth during our time period (as far as we know). He wasn't around when Max Lord came back.

And he wasn't around when Max Lord mindwiped the planet.

That means when Batman does get back (hopefully sooner rather than later) he'll remember Max Lord. And it's a whole different ballgame when one of the people who knows the truth is someone other than the disgraced members of the JLI.

Max Lord didn't count on Batman. But Batman counts on everything.

Okay, so I'm going to engage in some crazy speculation here. I'm undoubtedly wrong, but I'm going to lay it out just in case I'm right so I can point to this post and say: "I was right!" Because I'm petty that way.

My train of thought began when I read an interview with Kurt Busiek on the upcoming Trinity. There, Mr. Busiek talks about the villains that he intends to put up against Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman:

"We wanted to build a counter-trinity on grounds other than "the most famous enemies," and use some characters that we could do striking and different things with. So our villains come from the world of myth, the world of SF adventure and the world of crime, but they're not the guys the heroes would immediately see coming, and what they appear to be up to isn't necessarily how things will turn out."

This immediately intrigued me, as Kurt Busiek is one of those writers who likes to "adopt" minor, third-string characters that have been in limbo for a while and then reimagine them. This annoys some people, but I love it when he does that. So I figured that that's what he'd do here: take some old villains of the Big Three that haven't been used in a while and reinvigorate them.

Without mentioning any specifics, he goes on to say that Luthor and the Joker will be featured. Then he says what -- to me -- is the money quote:

"I will say that the skull of Maxwell Lord plays a part..."

That certainly threw me for a loop. The skull of Maxwell Lord? How exactly could Max Lord's cranium play into things?

Then I got to thinking... What did happen to Max Lord's body after Wonder Woman killed him? For the life of me, I couldn't remember. And nobody I asked seemed to know either. So where is Max Lord's skull?

From there, my mind turned to Mr. Busiek's Superman run. I began to think about some of the other third-stringers that Mr. Busiek has adopted and modified. The one that immediately popped into my head was the Atomic Skull.

Now, I'm sure you all see where I'm going with this... But bear with me. Busiek first mentions this new Atomic Skull in his "Camelot Falls" story arc. In the dystopian future it's mentioned that various villains have seized control of huge chunks of the Earth's territory. And one of them was the Atomic Skull.

The original Atomic Skulls (there have been Pre- and Post-Crisis versions) aren't the sort that would be capable of that. Neither have been particularly impressive as villains. So it was safe to assume at the time that this was a new Atomic Skull.

This was borne out by a later Busiek penned comic, Action #852. Here, we get our first glimpse of the new Atomic Skull when an escaped Kryptonite Man contacts a group of major figures in the criminal world:

In the company of movers and shakers like Tobias Whale and the Calculator (as well as rarely used Busiek adoptee Doctor Cyber) we see the new Atomic Skull. His look bears little resemblance to the old ones, and to be in such storied company this Atomic Skull has to be much more than simply a thug with delusions of grandeur.

And the Kryptonite Man treats him as such. This new Atomic Skull is undoubtedly someone of stature and prestige in the criminal underworld. He clearly has resources as well, as the Kryptonite Man has gone to him and the others for financial backing.

So who the hell is this new Atomic Skull? He comes out of nowhere and appears right off the bat to be a major player in supervillainy. Still, when I originally read that comic I didn't give it much thought. The Atomic Skull vanished from my mind. Until I read that Trinity interview.

You see, when Kurt Busiek "adopts" characters they tend to recur in his comic books. Sometimes years later. So when I heard that Mr. Busiek was going to be using lesser villains in his "counter-trinity" the image of the Atomic Skull briefly flitted through my mind. And when I saw "the skull of Maxwell Lord" my eyes bugged out of my head.

Is it possible that the Atomic Skull will be one of the villains that opposes the Big Three in Trinity? And is it also possible that the Atomic Skull is none other than the villainous Maxwell Lord, returned from the grave?

In comics, anything is possible...