Max

Max (マックス, Makkusu), also known by his hero alias Lightning Max (イナズマックス, Inazumakkusu), is the A-Class Rank 19 professional hero for the Hero Association.

Appearance
Lightning Max is a young man with blonde hair that is slicked back and tapered to a point. He has a prominent widows peak, relatively thick eyebrows, dark lines around his eyes, and a lightning symbol on his left cheek. He wears a tight fitting outfit that consists of a tank top, shorts, long socks and sleeves that go from mid-bicep to mid-forearm. His hero outfit is black with yellow lining, and lightning symbols emblazoned on all the pieces of his outfit.

As a martial artist, he wears karate gi, while retaining most of his hero outfit parts.

Personality
Max is shown to think ahead and spy on his target to know how to defeat them but it is shown that he has some doubt in his abilities. After his defeat at the hands of the Sea King he attempts to make himself stronger.

When returning to fight against Gouketsu, Max reveals a more selfless side as he tries to buy time for Suiryu to escape, despite knowing that he and Sneck may only delay Goketsu for a second.

Saitama Introduction Arc
Lightning Max arrives at A-City with Smile Man to fight Vaccine Man, but is defeated.

Rumored Monster Arc
Lightning Max and many other heroes decided to head to Z-City to investigate the rumored monster of the city after it defeated Golden Ball and Spring Mustache, but he came to the scene after it was already beaten by Saitama.

Sea Monster Arc
Lightning Max is seen observing Stinger's defeat at the hands of the Deep Sea King through a telescope and decides to go and fight the monster himself until reinforcements arrive. But before he can even act, the Deep Sea King appears behind him in an instant smiling menacingly. This startled Lightning Max and he quickly attacks the monster with his Lightning Kick, but it has no effect on him and the Deep Sea King casually remarks that it hurt a little. Lightning Max realizing he can't win tries to think of a way to escape, but before he can move he's punched with full force by the Deep Sea King, who sends him flying into the building across from them. The building begins crumbling down and Lightning Max tries to escape, but is confronted once again by Sea King. In a desperate effort, Max unleashes his Flying Reverse Roundhouse Kick, but once again it has no effect on Sea King and he knocks out Lightning Max with a punch and sends him flying once again into the streets below where the building threatens to crush him. Luckily he is caught by the S-Class hero Puri-puri Prisoner before the crumbling building crushed him. He was later hospitalized alongside Stinger. While reading the newspaper, about the incident and the hero who took their credit, Puri-puri Prisoner appears, much to their horror, and is about to give them both his special medicine, but Lightning Max and Stinger ran away with fear. Sometime after the event, he received a promotion to rank 19.

Alien Conquerors Arc
Lightning Max appears at Hero Association Headquarters in A-City to help out with the Rescuing operation with Stinger and Mumen Rider.

Monster Raid Arc
Max is participating in the Super Fight Tournament in C-City at the C-City Super Stadium. This is the first time Max has participated in the tournament. His first opponent was Lin Lin, and he won the battle without (according to the audience) much difficulty, but it was a tough fight according to himself.

Lightning Max was later pitted against Suiryu and tries picturing Suiryu as the Deep Sea King, so that he can overcome his real goal. Lightning Max tells Suiryu that Suiryu's strength is minuscule compared to the monsters. When the match begins, Lightning Max charges at Suiryu.

Lightning Max shows off his new move, but gets easily outmaneuvered by Suiryu. Suiryu proceeds to kick Max to the edge of the ring, knocking him out.

Super Fight Arc
He and Sneck attempt to fight Gouketsu, but are defeated.

However, he and Sneck manage to recover and don their hero suits, returning to the fight in time to save an injured Suiryu. The two heroes both state that they are much more powerful with their uniforms than they were against Suiryu, and together, the three struck together and defeated The Three Crows, each with a single attack.

Both he and Sneck refuse to run from Gouketsu in order to buy some time for Suiryu escape. However both heroes are defeated during Suiryu's attempt to jump out of the stadium. '''The following section contains Webcomic spoilers. You have been warned, manga-only readers.'''

Physic Sisters Arc
He is one of the heroes examining the prison after Saitama's and Tatsumaki's battle.

Abilities and Powers
Lightning Max's high ranking as an A-Class hero shows that he is a highly capable individual. He is also a fairly capable martial artist. He has a strong analytical ability and usually tries to not overestimate his abilities.

Physical Abilities
Enhanced Endurance: Lightning Max was able to continue fighting the Sea King, even after being punched by the latter and being sent flying into a building. Max also survived a kick from the transformed Gouketsu, a Dragon-level Mysterious Being, that sent him flying out of the Super Fight stadium along with Sneck and recovered in time to save Suiryu from The Three Crows.

Enhanced Strength: Being an A-class hero, Max possesses a great deal of physical prowess, and was able to defeat one of the Three Crows, who individually were tiger-level threats, in a single kick which caused its body to explode on impact.

Enhanced Speed: As an A-class hero, Lightning Max has impressive speed, which is further augmented by his lightning shoes.

Fighting Style
Martial Artist: Being revealed to be a martial artist, Lightning Max has been shown to be a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Max's martial skills were strong enough that he's able to compete in and advance through the Super Fight tournament though was no match for Suiryu.
 * Hyper Karate (ハイパー空手, Haipā Karate): Lightning Max's preferred method of fighting. This fighting style seems to revolve around karate kicks centered at different directions and intervals. He uses multiple inbuilt mechanisms in his shoes that acts to amplify the power of his kicks and create electrical discharges while acting as a hero.
 * Lightning Kick (稲妻蹴り, Inazuma Geri): Lightning Max jumps up and throws a super fast kick that causes a small explosion utilizing gunpowder stored in his shoe.
 * Flying Reverse Round-House Lightning Kick (稲妻飛び後ろ回し蹴り, Inazuma Tobi Ushiro Mawashigeri): Lightning Max clicks his heel down which causes the toe of his shoe to open, revealing small boosters that light and cause his kick to become even faster. The kick is exceptionally fast and causes a large explosion.
 * Giant Wheel Double Heel Drop (大車輪両かかと落とし, Daisharin Ryō Kakato Otoshi): Lightning Max does a flip in the air and swings with both of his feet towards a target. He used this attack to kill one of the Three Crows.

Equipment
Lightning Shoes (稲妻シューズ, Inazuma Shūzu): Lightning Max wears a pair of special shoes with gunpowder stored inside them. The shoes also have multiple inbuilt mechanisms such as boosters inside them. The detonation switch is in the heel and an iron plate is built into the sole. These shoes have been his favorites since before joining the Hero Association.

Telescope: Lightning Max carries a telescope with him to observe events from afar.

Hero Rating
Lightning Max's rating determined by the Hero Association :

Trivia

 * In the anime he and Smile Man are the first heroes of the Hero Association to appear.
 * The origin of his hero name comes from his lightning kicks and his real name.
 * According to the databook:
 * What he likes are sports, electric baths, and fitted clothes.
 * What he dislikes are having his name mistaken as "Inazuma Max".
 * His hobbies are participating in track and field events, visiting shoe stores, and basketball.