DC Alterverse: Maxima
is a nine-chapter story, written by Luiz Prata Oliveira, a.k.a. silverbolt1, about DC Comics character Maxima, an alien princess of the planet Almerac, who debuted in a Superman story. As in the original comics, Pre-Flashpoint continuity, Maxima comes to Earth wanting to have Superman as her consort. From this point on, the events diverge from canon.
In this story, besides having to deal with Superman’s lack of interest, Maxima has to deal with his wife Lana Lang and other unexpected players, like Vernax, a clone of Vartox of Valeron.
It's part of the DC Alterverse Project started in the Deviantart site and one of two prose fanfics related to the project. The other is about Wonder Woman's villainess Cheetah.
This fan fic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Maxima, although still somewhat arrogant and conceited, is much more reasonable than her Heel–Face Revolving Door original version, staying always on the good side. This comes as a result of Maxima being a Composite Character of her original version and her much nicer counterpart from The New 52.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Maxima is homosexual here, albeit a very closeted one.
- Also, Luma Lynai, a Pre-Crisis love interest of Superman, gets paired with the character above.
- Agony Beam: Vernax's neural disruptor.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: Is seems to be Maxima’s case, but ultimately subverted, as she is lesbian, only searching for a male mate because she internalized the expectations everyone on her kingdom had on her (see Armored Closet Gay below). Then, she chose Superman because of his well-known compassion and generosity, so she knew he wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. In other words, she chose him because of his heart, not because of his body.
- Armored Closet Gay: Maxima, who internalized the intense pressure of her kingdom, especially her family, to find a male mate and produce an heir. She also felt guilt for being lesbian and deeply repressed her feelings. Thankfully, Maxima snapped out of it and came out of the closet.
- Ascended Extra: Maxima and Lana, usually supporting characters in canon, get the spotlight here.
- Badass Normal: Lana Lang, mostly as a result of being a Former Teen Rebel. She uses her Master of Unlocking abilities to unlock Maxima's Power Nullifier handcuffs. She also shoots one of Vernax's robot guards and blasts away the neural disruptor Vernax was using on Maxima.
- In the first epilogue, she becomes an Empowered Badass Normal, thanks to the Almeracian device Maxima used to save her life and the presence of Clark's Kryptonian DNA in her body.
- Big Bad: Vernax.
- Composite Character: Maxima combines elements from her original version (like her look and her Stalker with a Test Tube attitude toward Superman) with her The New 52 version (like her connection to the Crucible Academy and her homosexuality). Those versions seem to be contradictory to each other, but there's an in-universe explaination in the spoiler text of the All Amazons Want Hercules trope above.
- Damsel out of Distress: Actually, two of them. Both Maxima and Lana escape their imprisonment in Vernax's spaceship by dropping the hostility between them and starting to work together. Lana used her Master of Unlocking abilities she got from her past as a juvenile delinquent to free Maxima from her Power Nullifier cuffs. Having her powers back, Maxima deactivates the laser bars of the cell. They also defeat Sazu and two robot guards.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Maxima, thanks to Lana.
- Demoted to Extra: Superman, as the story centers on Maxima and Lana.
- Determinator: Even severely affected by Vernax neural disruptor, Maxima refuses to give up. Even Vernax recognizes that she would be a potential Green Lantern if her sector didn’t have two of them already.
- Deuteragonist: Lana Lang is the story's most prominent character after the protagonist Maxima.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Maxima has a very hard time, but she ultimately gets her happy ending in the Crucible Academy, including a girlfriend.
- Evil Doppelgänger: Vernax is an evil clone of Vartox.
- Fiery Redhead: Maxima is the most prominent example, but Lana also has her fieriness. She’s mentioned to be even fierier in the past. Vartox is a villainous and male example.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Maxima had an initially hostile and arrogant attitude toward Lana Lang. After the circumstances force them to work together, however, she came to gradually warm up to Lana.
- First Girl Wins: Clark is married to his first girlfriend, Lana.
- The Ghost: Vartox. He is the one Vernax was cloned from, but he doesn’t appear in-story.
- Groin Attack: Maxima knee-hits Vernax in the crotch.
- Hidden Depths: In the Crucible Academy, Maxima discovers that she has an artistic talent to sculpture.
- Thanks to her rebellious past, Lana is very good in opening locks. And she has a good aim, too.
- Hold the Line: During the final battle, Lana keeps Vernax distracted while Maxima recovers from his Agony Beam.
- Malaproper: Maxima, thanks to her automatic translator, when referring to a homosexual character (herself), says that this character will “leave the wardrobe” instead of “come out of the closet”, prompting Lana to correct her.
- Master of Unlocking: Lana acquired this ability in her rebellious teen years in Smallville. It becomes useful to free Maxima from her Power Nullifier cuffs.
- Megaton Punch: In the final battle, Maxima sends Vernax flying.
- The Mole: Maxima's robotic maid Sazu, who had been hacked and reprogrammed by Vernax.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the original comics, Luma Lynai had to break up with Superman because the rays of Earth’s yellow sun were poisonous to her. Here, it’s just an excuse to brush Vernax off, as the sun of his homeworld, Valeron, is also yellow.
- Lobo whistles to summon his space bike, as in DC Animated Universe.
- Vernax interest in Lana. He is a clone of Vartox, who, in the Pre-Crisis comics, had a brief romance with Lana.
- The Kents' farm on Smallville has a golden retriever dog named Shelby.
- The introdutory chapter mentions that Cat Grant is moving from Metropolis to National City.
- In The New 52 storyline, Maxima reveals that she has a crush on Supergirl. Here, she is paired with Luma Lynai, who, in the Pre-Crisis story she was in, was described and drawn as very similar to how Supergirl would look and act as an adult.
- This story follows the tendency to make Lana Lang get superpowers, as it happened in Pre-Crisis continuity (in which she became Insect Queen) and in DC Rebirth (in which she became Superwoman). A more specific reference is Superman & Batman: Generations, by John Byrne, in which, besides getting superpowers, Lana also married Clark.
- Named by the Adaptation: Maxima originally had Only One Name, but here she got a surname: Pereztern, a homage to her creators George Pérez and Roger Stern.
- Neck Lift: Maxima does it to Lana when they first meet. Superman quickly releases his wife and calls Maxima out of it.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Vernax's decision to put Maxima and Lana in the same prison cell inside his spaceship, as well as underestimating Lana's resourcefulness, not only led to his own downfall, but it also indirectly led to Maxima and Lana becoming Fire-Forged Friends, Maxima coming out and embracing her homosexuality and Lana getting superpowers.
- Not Good with Rejection: Vernax. After Maxima had rejected him several times, he decided to resort to violence.
- Averted with Maxima, in contrast to her original version in comics, who played this trope straight. Here, she only insists in convince Superman to marry her while she can do it by peaceful means.
- Only You Can Repopulate My Race: Maxima demands this from Superman, as in other versions of the character, but this time she is also on the other end of this trope, as her people and family had insistently demanded it from her first, so intensely that she forced herself to live up to their expectations, strongly repressing her homosexuality as a result.
- Original Character: Vernax.
- Also, Olivia, the mentioned-only daughter of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.
- Parental Substitute: In the Crucible Academy, Lyrissa Mallor becomes one to Maxima.
- Pietà Plagiarism: Maxima, in tears, holds an injured Lana in her arms.
- Power Nullifier: The handcuffs that Vernax puts on Maxima have this effect.
- Promoted to Love Interest
- As mentioned in Happily Married above, Clark is married to Lana Lang.
- Lois Lane is married to Jimmy Olsen, and, as mentioned above, they have a daughter together.
- Luma Lynai, originally a Pre-Crisis love interest of Superman, is paired with Maxima.
- Puny Earthlings: Maxima’s opinion about Lana. It changes, however.
- Rebellious Princess/ Screw Destiny: Maxima, at the very end of the story, comes out as lesbian and, from then on, rejects the pressure of her family and kingdom to find a male mate and produce an heir. This said, she still considers to have a child via assisted reproductive technology (taking a hint from what Superman told her), but decides do postpone it for a while and settle her life first, at the Crucible Academy.
- Shooting Superman: Lana’s laser shoots on Vernax don’t have any effect. Vernax even lampshades this trope. Subverted, however, as Lana’s intention is to keep him distracted (see Hold the Line above).
- Played straight when Vernax shoots Maxima with a virus strain, only to find out that she's immune to it.
- On the other hand, it's surprisingly averted with Superman himself, who's in the story and has some fight, but his opponent is more interested in keep him distracted by endangering the bystanders on planet Staryl, thus avoiding a direct fight.
- Spanner in the Works: Luma Lynai botches Lobo’s plans to keep Superman distracted.
- The presence of Lana Lang derails Vernax's plans involving Maxima.
- Spared By Adaptation: Lyrissa Mallor.
- Spiritual Antithesis: To the Pussy Galore’s subplot from Goldfinger. Both Pussy and Maxima are lesbian brave, action-driven women who have to deal with sexist men hitting on them. But while Pussy is initially OK with her homosexuality, Maxima deeply represses hers. By the end of Goldfinger, Bond raping Pussy straight is
treated as a positive thing by the author, while Vernax’s heavily implied plans to rape Maxima are treated as part of his villainy (and he is defeated before he can go on with his intent). And while Pussy ends the story as a straight woman, Maxima eventually embraces her homosexuality, coming out of the closet and starting a relationship with another woman. - Stalker with a Test Tube: Maxima, initially, as her original version. But see Armored Closet Gay above.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Green Lantern Sodam Yat is a member of the L.E.G.I.O.N..
- Took a Level in Kindness: Maxima, especially to Lana. When they first met, Maxima gave Lana a Neck Lift. By their last scene together, however, Maxima softens her voice to speak to Lana, trusts Lana enough to reveal her homosexuality (what she's never done to anyone before), says she (Maxima) will be glad if she finds a girlfriend with Lana's qualities and gives Lana an affectionate farewell hug.
- Underestimating Badassery: Both Maxima and Vernax underestimate Lana Lang. Unusually for this trope, Maxima actually benefits from this: when Vernax captures both women, he cuffs Maxima with Power Nullifier, but leaves Lana uncuffed. Then, Lana uses her ability to open locks she acquired in her Former Teen Rebel years, using a hairpin to uncuff Maxima. She also proves to have a good aim, shooting one of Vernax’s robot guards, as well as blasting away the neural disruptor Vernax was using against Maxima.
