Maximus Octavius "Max" Thunderman is one of two main protagonists (alongside Phoebe Thunderman) of the 2013 Nickelodeon TV series The Thundermans, it's 2024 sequel movie The Thundermans Return, and the upcoming spin-off series, The Thundermans: Undercover.
Despite growing up in a family of superheroes, Max wanted to become a supervillain because he felt overshadowed by Phoebe and wanted to be the best at what he does. His family believed that Max was just going through a phase and wasn't truly evil. Eventually, Max had to make a tough choice between being a hero and a villain. He chose to become a superhero and is currently training being a superhero. He also gets along better with Phoebe, and even saved her from Dark Mayhem's control.
He was portrayed by Jack Griffo.
Biography[]
Max Thunderman is a twin to Phoebe and older brother to Nora, Billy, and Chloe. His powers include telekinesis, freeze breath, and heat breath. Despite being raised within a family of superheroes, Max originally aspires to become a supervillain for the first three seasons. His sole reason was to not be second best to Phoebe as a hero. In "Thundermans: Secret Revealed", he finally has a change of heart and makes a life-changing decision to abandon the dark side and become a fighter for justice, using his powers and high-tech gadgets for the greater good. The fourth season focuses on Max re-adjusting to his new daily life as a superhero instead of an evil-doer, as he tackles challenges working with Phoebe in Z-Force training, which jeopardizes his friendship with Dr. Colosso. His basement bedroom serves as his secret lair, filled with high-tech gadgets and posters of the Villain League. In the fourth season, his lair has posters of the Z-Force and other superhero posters. His lair is accessible through a slide leading to his bed underneath a tea table next to the couch in the living room and it is also where he keeps his best friend and mentor, Dr. Colosso, a supervillain Thunder Man turned into a rabbit. At the beginning of the series, Max is also 14 years old.
Abilities[]
Being a twin Max has the same powers as Phoebe. Even before becoming a superhero, Max is shown to be impressive in combat. In Thundermans: Secret Revealed and various other episodes, Max could take on Dark Mayhem and his sister Phoebe with using nothing but his physical prowess.
Unlike Phoebe, Max also creates gadgets BrainMelt-3000, Nose Hairalyzer, a pen that contains exploding ink, a Proton Particle Power Booster, a Ghost Zapper, a Gold Attracting Magnet, Brainwasher XL, a Helium Pain Blaster, a Super Smartwatch, a Hair-Gel Brush, a CrimeCaster, a Lemon Blaster, a Repeat Clock, a Jetpack, and etc. all made from spare parts. Max also used Colosso's Animalizer and Dark Mayhem's Power Sapping Orb on a few occasions.
Appearances[]
TV[]
- The Thundermans (2013-2018, 103 appearances)
- The Haunted Hathaways (2014, 1 appearance, crossover)
- 100 Things To Do Before High School (2015, 1 appearance, on a screen)
- Henry Danger (2016, 1 appearance, crossover)
- Danger Force (2020, 1 appearance, flashback on a screen)
Movie[]
- The Thundermans Return (2024, 1 appearance)
Other Appearances[]
He was a contestant on Beach Blanket Bean-Go show in “Spongebob’s Big Birthday Blowout".
Trivia[]
- Max was originally named "Jack" but the name was changed after Jack Griffo got the role.
- Max has a pet named Dr. Colosso. He was a supervillain who was transformed into a talking bunny by Hank Thunderman.
- He plans on attending Villain U when he's older.
- He has an evil lair.
- Max has 2 Dark Mayhem posters that, like Uncle Sam, point at viewers but the poster on the right of Dr. Colosso's cage says "I WANT YOU!"
- He likes to play pranks on Phoebe.
- In his old school his school photos where formal and he had to wear his supervillain outfit.
- He was evil because he thinks Phoebe will be the best superhero and he wants to be the best so he tried to be the best at being evil. However, this was taken too far in Thundermans: Secret Revealed.
- He has a lot of phones.
- His lair has a nightlight.
- He imitates Phoebe a lot.
- He had a crush on Tara Campbell.
- He owns several Doomsday devices.
- Max is allergic to cats, as shown in "Ditch Day".
- He couldn't ride a bike, but he taught himself in "Crime After Crime".
- Max is twenty seconds younger than Phoebe, as revealed in "Thundersense".
- He has a teddy bear named Grizzly Gus for when he is scared of getting shots, as shown in "Paging Dr. Thundermans".
- He beheaded Phoebe's dolls when they were five.
- He doesn't know how to floss.
- When Veronica sabotaged Phoebe in choir, he wanted a rhino to attack Veronica.
- He wanted to throw an anvil on Evan in "Pretty Little Choirs".
- He violated the "Bunnies Before Honeys" code that Colosso made.
- He used his powers in Pretty Little Choirs when Veronica and her friends tried to spit spitballs at Phoebe while no one was looking.
- He's the only one in the family that knows where Nora keeps her bow collection.
- He had a jetpack in the Thunderman's original home, Metroburg.
- In "Paging Dr. Thunderman", when Max looks at a needle, he faints.
- In "Thundersense", it is revealed that Max is 20 seconds younger than Phoebe, which means that Max got his Thundersense after Phoebe did and pretended that he didn't have his Thundersense yet in order to get pity gifts from Barb until she gets Max a 2,000 Tyrebyte supercomputer with satellite connectivity.
- It's possible he went to European jail one time.
- He can play the guitar, as shown in "Pheebs Will Rock You".
- He is an excellent dancer, as shown in "Going Wonkers".
- Despite having incredible intelligence, he gets poor grades at school because of his behavior and lack of interest.
- He is a very skilled hand-to-hand fighter, as shown in "Haunted Thundermans".
- His middle name, Octavius, was revealed in "Winter Thunderland".
Gallery[]
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The Thundermans Heroes | ||
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Thunderman Family Other characters Characters from Spinoffs | ||
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Henry Danger Danger Force Henry Danger: The Movie Guest characters from Spinoffs | ||
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Haunted Hathaways Heroes | ||
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Hathaway-Preston family Guest Characters from The Haunted Thundermans | ||
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100 Things To Do Before High School Heroes | ||
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Main Characters Cameos from The Thundermans | ||