Maxima once ruled a vast intergalactic empire centered on her homeworld of Almerac. For thousands of years, her ancestors had intermarried with races from other worlds, breeding for strength, for speed, and for power. Representing the apex of Almeracian eugenics, Maxima resolved to continue in the same tradition of her people. To that end, she became obsessed with expanding her galactic reach and, most importantly, securing a suitable mate to father an heir to her glorious realm. When Sazu, her personal handmaiden, intercepted a subspace transmission detailing the astonishing feats of Superman in the gladiatorial games of Mongul's Warworld, Maxima was sure she had found her man. Without further delay, she set out to make the Man of Steel her husband. But despite Maxima's beauty and power, Superman consistently eluded her for various reasons. As a result, Maxima's admiration turned to rage, and she became his enemy. Maxima was created by writer Roger Stern and artist George Pérez as a powerful female antagonist for Superman, but one who would also harbor a strong romantic interest in him. The character was conceived during the period of the late eighties and early nineties, when comic book specialty stores were dominated by X-Men related titles. Aside from the conspicuous visual similarities to Marvel's Jean Grey, Maxima's creators also borrowed elements from other popular X-book characters such as Magneto, Nightcrawler and Professor X. Her first appearance was in Action Comics #645, published by DC Comics in September 1989.