Ultraman Max (character)

Ultraman Max (ウルトラマンマックス) was the first Ultraman after the events of Ultraman 80 to arrive on Earth as it's Ultra Crusader. Ultraman Max is also believed to boast the fastest natural speed of any Ultra to hail from the Land of Light.

Ultraman Max
A civilization observer, Max's job was to study developing civilizations and help devise a way for the various species of the universe to co-exist. His later mission was the planet Earth which was facing a crisis brought about by man's folly. It was beginning to be plagued by monsters from Earth and Space as well as invaders.

Max observed Earth and witnessed the bravery of a native youth named Kaito Touma. Rather than leaving him to cruel fate, Max merged with him and allowed them both to protect the people of Earth. After saving Kaito, Max began to fight monsters from Earth's past and invaders from space that wanted the destruction of either humans to have the planet for themselves, with DASH fighting along side him.

During his battle against Zetton, Max was being severely beaten by the legendary monster and would have died if not for the appearance of Ultraman Xenon, a fellow member of the Space Garrison. During that battle Max gained the Max Galaxy, a multi-purpose device that saved Max many times afterwards and be used to destroy his old enemy Gilfas.

Months later after stopping numerous monsters and invaders, the Delos civilization rose up to threatened the surface people of Earth. Max could not interfere because it was against the laws of his home world of the Land of Light to interfere with wars between native civilizations. However, Kaito stopped any such conflict, while also saving Mizuki from a near death experience, by making Delos change his mind and call off the war, they both agreed that neither side had actualy wished for a conflict.

The people of Delos requested Max stop their now rogue defense system, allowing Max to attack their super weapon Giga Berserk. However between rising to the surface and flying to battle, Max had little time to fight. Max lost to Giga Berserk and turned to stone after separating Kaito from his body. Unwilling to surrender DASH revived the hero by recharging the Max Galaxy, which Kaito merged with and flew to Max to again merge with him one last time. After a short assault Max destroyed Giga Basark and left Earth with Xenon to return back home to Nebula M78.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie
After Ultraman Belial was freed, he returned to the Land of Light. Upon arriving he showed that Ultraman Taro was defeated by him. After the Ultramen witnessed this all of the Space Garrison's warriors charged Belial. Max was the first one to attack, but was defeated by Belial after receiving a few hits from the Giga-Battlenizer. Even after all the long battle, they were all defeated by Belial, and who then took the Plasma Spark, all the Land of Light was frozen, along every Ultra. After Ultraman Zero defeated Belial and returned the Plasma Spark, all of the planet's people were revived. Shortly afterwards every Ultra went to listen to Ultraman King's speech.

Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial
Ultraman Max returns in this film with a very minimal role. When Zero is leaving the Land of Light, every Ultra gives him energy and power, among them Ultraman Max and Xenon are seen. Later, after Belial sent his Darklops army to Planet Ultra, every member of the Space Garrison went and fought against his army, destroying it in the end. Ultraman Max as a member of the Garrison, was also in the field of battle.

Ultraman Retsuden
Ultraman Max reappears in Ultraman Retsuden episode 66: Bond shine! Nexus, Max & Mebius!

Dark Spark War
Ultraman Max had seen participated in the Dark Spark War. But in the middle of the battle, a powerful villain known as Dark Lugiel, using the power of the Darkness Spark to transformed all Ultras, Aliens and monsters into spark dolls. It fell to Earth with the other spark dolls. The location of Max's doll is unknown but nonetheless after Dark Lugiel's defeat by Ultraman Ginga, Max was restored to his original appearance and with other victims of Dark Lugiel, return to their homes.

Ultraman Ginga S Movie Showdown! The 10 Ultra Brothers!
Ultraman Max was captured along with the Heisei Ultras by Arina & Etelgar. He would later fight together with Nexus, Mebius, Zero, Cosmos and Ginga Victory in Arina's Space Time Castle. After Nexus left behind to fight the Dark Mephisto replica in the first floor, the group met another resistance in the second floor in the form of Alien Sran, Max's old enemy as the Ultra faces him while his comrades races upstairs to the third floor.

Physical Attributes

 * Height: 171 feet, 40 m ( can go to 357 m)
 * Weight: 45,000 t
 * Age: Over 7,800 years old
 * Flight speed: Mach 9.99
 * Running speed: Mach 7
 * Underwater speed: Mach 5
 * Latent ground speed: Mach 3
 * Jumping distance: 750 m
 * Grip strength: 80,000 t (80 kg when human size)

Body Features

 * Max Sword: The boomerang weapon on Max's head, it is similar to the Eye Slugger
 * Max's Eyes: Max can see great distances and in the dark.
 * Armor: Max has protector armor on his chest, shoulders and upper  back.
 * Power Timer: Despite the different name the Power Timer acts like a normal Color Timer.
 * Ultra Armor: Max's body is resistant to lasers and fire, but like any Ultra from M78 it is weak to the cold.

Techniques
It should be noted that many of Max's techniques require the use of the Max Spark, which either gathers particles or alters the energy he intends to use for that specific technique.

Ray Techniques

 * Max Cannon: Max raises the max spark on his left hand gathering particles and fires a left-handed "L" style beam.
 * Galaxy Cannon: A deadly ray from the Max Galaxy, more powerful than the Max Cannon.

Physical Techniques

 * Max Punch: A basic Ultra Punch, of the numerous variations Max also has the Max Ashura where he punches repeatedly at high speed.
 * Max Crusher: called the 'Illusion left', an uppercut using the left hand. The presence of the Max Spark increases power to be greater than a normal punch.
 * Max Chop: Chops used repeatedly to pinpoint the enemy's weaknesses.
 * Max Kick: A front or side kick.
 * Max Spin Kick: A kick performed while the body is rotating quickly.
 * Max Flying Kick: A kick were the momentum of falling is used to hit the enemy.
 * Max Satellite Kick: Max moves at high speed and disappears from sight before hitting the enemy with a dive from above with a kick.
 * Max Knee Impulse: A standard knee blow plunged into the enemy's body.
 * Max Power: Max grabs the opponent's arms and twists with herculean strength. Used on Antlar's pincers
 * Headlock: A basic headlock to stop the enemies movements.
 * Max Swing: A skill to lift the enemy and throw them 300 meters or more.
 * Max Shoot: Grabs the tail of the enemy and throws them.
 * Max Body Spin: High speed rotation of the body. Used to escape Antlar's sand trap.

Other Techniques

 * Purifying Beam: Like many abilities, charged by the Max Spark. Used to quell Natsunomeryu's anger and seal him away.
 * Maxium Reverse: A technique to release golden light from the Max Spark.
 * Energy Reflux Tactics: A technique to discharge energy from the Max Spark. Used to free Max from Metasisas.
 * Icing Wave: Max can generate a blue wave of energy to put out flames
 * Comet Dash: Known as the fasted warrior of M78, Max can accelerate to blinding speeds at will.
 * Ultra Willpower: Max can move things with his mind, usually with an arm outstretched.
 * Max Barrier: Max can create the curtain style barrier used by the Original Ultraman and many other M78 warriors.
 * Spark Shield: Max can create a circular shield of swirling energy with his hands to stop ambushing enemy attacks. He can do this with one hand or both
 * Max Sword: Like Ultraseven, Max can throw the sharp crest atop his head, capable of slicing through most known materials, it is controlled telekinetically, but unlike Ultraseven's, his blade doesn't completely detach from his head.
 * Max Sword Alter Shot: Max can cause his Max sword to multiply into a flock of blades decimating an opponent.
 * Max Galaxy: Max can summon this bracelet weapon, it can be used for various purposes but its primary function is to deliver solar energy to Max.
 * Galaxy Sword: A blade of energy conjured from the Max Galaxy.
 * Power Galaxy Sword: It also has another form called the Power Galaxy Sword used when Max is at his largest, in that form its blade reaches into space.
 * Barrier Field: An energy beam from the Max Galaxy that erects a powerful shield, used to disable King Joe, and contain an explosion from Red King. Can also be used to restrict the opponent's movement.
 * Size Change: Max can take on a size anywhere from a human size to his proper giant height, he can also increase his size to as big as 357 meters but this will lower his time to just under a minute. He uses this against large enemies.
 * Multiply: Max can create multiple duplicates of himself, all with the same powers. He does this by use the his own version fo the High Spin.
 * Max Typhoon: When using the rectangular barrier, if it is being attacked Max can use the Max Spark to make the shield absorb the beam and transform into a tornado. The winds are strong enough to tear to shreds anything inside it.
 * Powered Tornado: A technique used when he was consumed by Madeus and Max uses it to destroy the monsters. It involves Max spinning at high speeds while radiating energy.
 * Triple Finish: Max can jump into the air, curl up, an spin fast enough to appear as a red ball of light, he can then up to fire three Max Canons at once that will be homed in on the enemies.
 * Travel Sphere: Like most Ultras, Max uses a transport sphere to travel the universe, it was his method of transport when he first arrived on Earth.

Relationships

 * Ultraman Xenon: Superior

Transformation
The Max Spark is a gold and silver trinket presented to Kaito Touma by Ultraman Max himself. When needing to transform, Kaito pulled out the Max Spark, which glistens with legs and places the Max Spark on his left forearm. Afterwards, the crest and color timer of Max's would appear and the transformation into Max proceeds.

Trivia

 * Ultraman Max's name comes from Maximum.
 * Ultraman Max's voice actor, Kazuya Nakai, also voiced Roronoa Zoro in the One Piece Anime & Bryan Fury in the Tekken Franchise.
 * Ultraman Max is the first good Ultra whose signature Ultra beam is fired from his left forearm instead of his right. Previously Evil Tiga fires his Evil Shot from his left forearm, an inverse to Tiga's right forearm.
 * Ultraman Max resembles Ultraseven and by default Ultraseven 21 (who was based on Ultraseven) because his design was also based on Ultraseven, but with elements attributed with the original Ultraman (such as a color timer).
 * Several of Max's monsters, aliens and stories were based on those that appeared in Ultraman & Ultraseven. Later these same monsters appeared in the Ultraman Mebius series.
 * Max's color timer noises are reused from Ultraman Tiga's.
 * Ultraman Max is the only main Ultra to not be a protagonist in a film, instead only appearing as a cameo.
 * Ultraman Max is the first Ultra to not require any maneuver to use his acceleration technique.
 * Ultraman Max's transformation scene is similar to Ultraseven's but Max's transformation does not start at the head. He uses Max Spark which is placed on his host's left arm, it then releases particles which gather on the host chest and form the color timer and then the chest armor and turns the human into the Ultra. Max then grows to giant heights like contemporary rise scenes and in later episodes that is all that is seen.