Gotham City seems to attract the unusual; some say it is the result of a curse placed on the city during Revolutionary times. Others feel it is a result of the number of costumed vigilantes who have operated in the city. Whatever the explanation, the underworld has had a stranglehold on the town, and many crime lords have claimed to be the leader of Gotham's mob. One of the most unusual figures to make that claim is Maxie Zeus, a man who believes himself to be the reincarnation of the Greek god Zeus. He is unshaken in this conviction, despite recent revelations that the Greek gods still exist, occupying a realm beyond his own.
Maxie Zeus is reportedly a former professor of Greek and a foremost expert on their history and culture. Some unexplained events led Zeus to leave academia and turn to crime. It was about this time that his wife either left him or died and Zeus took to raising his daughter Medea alone. He quickly amassed a following, perhaps as a result of his charismatic personality. With Gotham's underworld in constant turmoil sparked by the comings and goings of masterminds like the Joker and the Penguin and the inevitable corruption which seems to be a part of Gotham City - Zeus was in a position to climb to the top.
Maxie Zeus led the criminal underworld for some time until he came to the Batman's attention. They warred for a while, and Zeus eventually left Gotham. Conceding defeat, he relocated to the West Coast and concentrated on new schemes.
Given his interest in all things Greek going so far as to speak in a stilted variation of classical Greek, Zeus decided he needed to ensure that Medea could be raised in the proper way. He hatched a scheme to create his own team of super-powered beings, calling them the New Olympians, in a bid to coerce a Greek athlete to adopt Medea. Zeus fielded his team at the recent Los Angeles Summer Olympics, only to be confronted by the Batman and his former teammates, the Outsiders. Captured during that event, Zeus was found to be criminally insane and was assigned to Arkham Asylum where he currently resides. He did, however, recently resurface in Gotham to plague the Batman once again.
The New Olympians are currently imprisoned, and Medea's whereabouts are unknown. Maxie Zeus has no super-abilities, nor does he have any access to superior technology. Instead, he has achieved his great criminal success through his brilliant mind and personality that makes most people willing to do his bidding. Most of his plans were inspired by the ancient Greeks, but Maxie Zeus has a spark of brilliance all his own. He continually proves to be an unpredictable -and therefore, deadly -opponent.
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