History Monster / MaxSteel

* ''Turbo-Charged'' & ''Turbo-Warriors'': [[MadDoctor Dr. Prometheus Halifax]], known almost solely as [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Terrorax]], is a high-ranking member of the cult known as Nexus, whose goal is [[TakeOverTheWorld ultimate dominion over the world]]. After stealing the powers of Max Steel and transforming it into "Terror Energy", Terrorax reveals to the Nexus High Command his plan to wipe out all technology across the globe except that of Nexus, plunging humankind into an extinction-level event where only those who swear fealty to Nexus will survive. Though thwarted for a time, Terrorax devises a new plan to use Terror Energy as a weapon of mass destruction, travelling to cities and destroying them one by one until the world surrenders to his demands, and, when in his final fuel with Max Steel, Terrorax reveals his dream of bringing mass death and chaos to the entire planet before [[TheStarscream betraying his Nexus masters]], wanting nothing more than to rule over the ashes of humanity [[AGodAmI as a god]].

* [[BigBad John Dread]] is the leader of the terrorist cell "[[NebulousEvilOrganization DREAD]]", an organization dedicated to [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]] no matter the body count involved. Dread controls his organization with a cold ruthlessness, never hesitating to order the deaths of millions of people at a time if it serves his goals, and employs the likes of madmen Psycho and Vitriol in his plans. Blacking out Paris to blackmail it and the rest of the world once the death toll rises, trying to nuke cities to ignite world wars, and nearly destroying the United Nations headquarters being just some of his atrocities, Dread hones his hatred in on Max Steel after the hero scars his face, and takes Max's best friend hostage for an exchange, then [[ILied tries to kill his friend anyway]]. In his final scheme, Dread attempts to wipe out the entire city of Geneva and frame N-Tek for it as revenge against the organization for interfering in his plans one too many times. The root of many of Max Steel's foes, John Dread didn't have the personal animosity with Max that Psycho did, but nonetheless was just as bad as his more psychopathic [[TheDragon Dragon]].

* ''Covert Missions'' (2001 UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast game): [[BigBad Dawn]] is an EvilutionaryBiologist who believes that humankind has grown weak and needs to evolve under her guiding hand. Orchestrating the kidnapping of Jefferson Smith, Dawn [[PlayingWithSyringes performs a variety of experiments]] on people to turn them into monstrous, zombie-like abominations that she seeks to transform all of humanity into, leaving her experiments and own soldiers to die when she flees Max Steel and sets her base to self-destruct. Dawn first tries to launch a missile to wipe out an entire city and transform its population into her zombies, then reveals her newest plan to use a gaseous dispersal plan with an air blimp, hoping to move from city to city until every human is a [[TransformationHorror writhing, twisted creature]] bent to her will.
* [[Film/MaxSteel 2016 film]]: Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles sics an Ultralink on the boy, nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]].

* The aforementioned, [[MeaningfulName appropriately-named Psycho]] is Max Steel's ArchEnemy and a grinning madman with death and destruction always on his mind. Serving the terrorist organization DREAD for [[PsychoForHire the money and chance to indulge in his sadistic desires]], Psycho routinely goes above and beyond his orders to ensure as many casualties as possible and regularly tries to slaughter thousands of innocent people, from freezing them in an icy blaze to unleashing a bioplague and proclaiming he has "six billion hostages" with it. Having a personal hatred for Max Steel, who he created when he tried to murder a defenseless boy with nanoprobes, Psycho tries to torture him to death, dissect him, and takes every opportunity available to attempt to wipe out the hero's loved ones and even entire hometown. Psycho has no true loyalty to DREAD or his own partners, betraying John Dread when it suits him and trying to kill his own accomplices when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they outlive their usefulness]], notably executing Bio-Constrictor while trying to turn every human in the world into his mutated slave, wanting to rule the planet alone. Max Steel faced many villains, but Psycho was his most recurring, most despicable, and most loathed enemy.

* [[TheChessmaster Miles Dredd]] is Max Steel's [[ArchEnemy most personal, hated foe]], with a hammy personality and ambition that eclipses all over villains. Coming to rely on TURBO Energy for sustenance after betraying and trying to murder his heroic partner, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd tries time and again to murder the man's son Max [=McGrath=] by draining him of his TURBO Energy, notably trying to channel TURBO through thousands of people and drain them of their lives and luring Max out by threatening to kill dozens of his classmates. Eventually betraying the entire Earth to the planet destroyer Makino after endangering thousands of people multiple times, Dredd first hopes to become a general in Makino's forces before scheming to betray the warlord himself and go on a galaxy-wide conquest, uncaring that the Earth will be destroyed due to his betrayal. After the end of the series proper, Dredd returns in the Morphos duology, creating the tortured abomination Morphos who he abuses and manipulates into destroying Max, after which he murders the childlike Morphos, denouncing the creature as "nothing" and bragging that he never cared for it, or anyone but himself.
* [[BloodKnight Makino]] is a sadistic intergalactic warlord who [[PlanetEater destroys and consumes entire planets]] to "absorb and expand" his growing Ultralink armada. An AI who murdered his creator, Makino has laid waste to planets across the universe for decades, capturing and using Jim [=McGrath=] as a living battery for several years and he continued his conquest. During his invasion of Earth, Makino tortures the Uktralink Steel to learn how he turned against him, abuses his own loyal soldiers, and draws out his foes' deaths for his own glee, hoping to wipe out the planet while tormenting Max that his family and friends will die. Though seemingly beaten, Makino returns in Wrath of Makino, possessing Max's body, [[MindRape mind raping]] him, and revealing his plans to annihilate the entire Earth out of spite for being beaten, showcasing once and for all that Makino is an independent, actively evil creature capable of ignoring whatever programming his creator gave to him.
* ''Team Turbo'' & ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]] is perhaps the most viscerally horrifying foe that Max Steel has ever faced, despite his sick sense of humor. Once a plain mortal man obsessed with immortality, Mortum invades N-Tek and tortures its hundreds of agents over the course of several hours to get his hands on the reality-altering Connect-Tek device so as to become a god. After being defeated and killed, Mortum uses the Connect-Tek to rise from the grave as a "techno zombie," beginning to feed on the minds of first his own minions, then all citizens of Copper Canyon, turning them into his mindless, monstrous slaves. Attempting to add his own nephew to his victim count, Mortum kills a variety of soldiers that try to combat him before turning the entire world into a wasteland that slowly turns the rest of humankind into his slaves, with Mortum giddily forcing Max Steel to watch as his friends and loved ones are turned and brags that he's going to rule over the apocalyptic Earth as supreme for all eternity.

* [[BigBad John Dread]] is the leader of the terrorist cell "[[NebulousEvilOrganization DREAD]]", an organization dedicated to [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]] no matter the body count involved. Dread controls his organization with a cold ruthlessness, never hesitating to order the deaths of millions of people at a time if it serves his goals, and employs the likes of madmen Psycho and Vitriol in his plans. Blacking out Paris to blackmail it and the rest of the world once the death toll rises, trying to nuke cities to ignite world wars, and nearly destroying the United Nations headquarters being just some of his atrocities, Dread hones his hatred in on Max Steel after the hero scars his face, and takes Max's best friend hostage for an exchange, then tries to kill his friend anyway. In his final scheme, Dread attempts to wipe out the entire city of Geneva and frame N-Tek for it as revenge against the organization for interfering in his plans one too many times. The root of many of Max Steel's foes, John Dread didn't have the personal animosity with Max that Psycho did, but nonetheless was just as bad as his more psychopathic [[TheDragon Dragon]].
* The aforementioned, [[MeaningfulName appropriately-named Psycho]] is Max Steel's ArchEnemy and a grinning madman with death and destruction always on his mind. Serving the terrorist organization DREAD for [[PsychoForHire the money and chance to indulge in his sadistic desires]], Psycho routinely goes above and beyond his orders to ensure as many casualties as possible and regularly tries to slaughter thousands of innocent people, from freezing them in an icy blaze to unleashing a bioplague and proclaiming he has "six billion hostages" with it. Having a personal hatred for Max Steel, who he created when he tried to murder a defenseless boy with nanoprobes, Psycho tries to torture him to death, dissect him, and takes every opportunity available to attempt to wipe out the hero's loved ones and even entire hometown. Psycho has no true loyalty to DREAD or his own partners, betraying John Dread when it suits him and trying to kill his own accomplices when they outlive their usefulness, notably executing Bio-constrictor while trying to turn every human in the world into his mutated slave, wanting to rule the planet alone. Max Steel faced many villains, but Psycho was his most recurring, most despicable, and most loathed enemy.

* John Dread is the leader of the terrorist cell "DREAD," an organization dedicated to world domination no matter the bodycount involved. Dread controls his organization with a cold ruthlessness, never hesitating to order the deaths of millions of people at a time if it serves his goals, and employs the likes of madmen Psycho and Vitriol in his plans. Blacking out Paris to blackmail it and the rest of the world once the death toll rises, trying to nuke cities to ignite world wars, and nearly destroying the United Nations headquarters being just some of his atrocities, Dread hones his hatred in on Max Steel after the hero scars his face, and takes Max's best friend hostage for an exchange, then tries to kill his friend anyway. In his final scheme, Dread attempts to wipe out the entire city of Geneva and frame N-Tek for it as revenge against the organization for interfering in his plans one too many times. The root of many of Max Steel's foes, John Dread didn't have the personal animosity with Max that Psycho did, but nonetheless was just as bad as his more psychopathic [[TheDragon Dragon]].

* The aforementioned, appropriately-named Psycho is Max Steel's Arch-Enemy and a grinning madman with death and destruction always on his mind. Serving the terrorist organization DREAD for the money and chance to indulge in his sadistic desires, Psycho routinely goes above and beyond his orders to ensure as many casualties as possible and regularly tries to slaughter thousands of innocent people, from freezing them in an icy blaze to unleashing a bioplague and proclaiming he has "six billion hostages" with it. Having a personal hatred for Max Steel, who he created when he tried to murder a defenseless boy with nanoprobes, Psycho tries to torture him to death, dissect him, and takes every opportunity available to attempt to wipe out the hero's loved ones and even entire hometown. Psycho has no true loyalty to DREAD or his own partners, betraying John Dread when it suits him and trying to kill his own accomplices when they outlive their usefulness, notably executing Bio-constrictor while trying to turn every human in the world into his mutated slave, wanting to rule the planet alone. Max Steel faced many villains, but Psycho was his most recurring, most despicable, and most loathed enemy.

* Miles Dredd is Max Steel's most personal, hated foe, with a hammy personality and ambition that eclipses all over villains. Coming to rely on TURBO Energy for sustenance after betraying and trying to murder his heroic partner, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd tries time and again to murder the man's son Max [=McGrath=] by draining him of his TURBO Energy, notably trying to channel TURBO through thousands of people and drain them of their lives and luring Max out by threatening to kill dozens of his classmates. Eventually betraying the entire Earth to the planet destroyer Makino after endangering thousands of people multiple times, Dredd first hopes to become a general in Makino's forces before scheming to betray the warlord himself and go on a galaxy-wide conquest, uncaring that the Earth will be destroyed due to his betrayal. After the end of the series proper, Dredd returns in the Morphos duology, creating the tortured abomination Morphos who he abuses and manipulates into destroying Max, after which he murders the childlike Morphos, denouncing the creature as "nothing" and bragging that he never cared for it, or anyone but himself.
* Makino is a sadistic intergalactic warlord who destroys and consumes entire planets to "absorb and expand" his growing Ultralink armada. An AI who murdered his creator, Makino has laid waste to planets across the universe for decades, capturing and using Jim [=McGrath=] as a living battery for several years and he continued his conquest. During his invasion of Earth, Makino tortures the Uktralink Steel to learn how he turned against him, abuses his own loyal soldiers, and draws out his foes' deaths for his own glee, hoping to wipe out the planet while tormenting Max that his family and friends will die. Though seemingly beaten, Makino returns in Wrath of Makino, possessing Max's body, [[MindRape mind raping]] him, and revealing his plans to annihilate the entire Earth out of spite for being beaten, showcasing once and for all that Makino is an independent, actively evil creature capable of ignoring whatever programming his creator gave to him.
* ''Team Turbo'' & ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': Professor Mortum is perhaps the most viscerally horrifying Max Steel has ever faced, despite his sick sense of humor. Once a plain mortal man obsessed with immortality, Mortum invades N-Tek and tortures its hundreds of agents over the course of several hours to get his hands on the reality-altering Connect-Tek device so as to become a god. After being defeated and killed, Mortum uses the Connect-Tek to rise from the grave as a "techno zombie," beginning to feed on the minds of first his own minions, then all citizens of Copper Canyon, turning them into his mindless, monstrous slaves. Attempting to add his own nephew to his victim count, Mortum kills a variety of soldiers that try to combat him before turning the entire world into a wasteland that slowly turns the rest of humankind into his slaves, with Mortum giddily forcing Max Steel to watch as his friends and loved ones are turned and brags that he's going to rule over the apocalyptic Earth as supreme for all eternity.

* Miles Dredd is Max Steel's most personal, hated foe, with a hammy personality and ambition that eclipses all over villains. Coming to rely on TURBO Energy for sustenance after betraying and trying to murder his heroic partner, Jim McGrath, Dredd tries time and again to murder the man's son Max McGrath by draining him of his TURBO Energy, notably trying to channel TURBO through thousands of people and drain them of their lives and luring Max out by threatening to kill dozens of his classmates. Eventually betraying the entire Earth to the planet destroyer Makino after endangering thousands of people multiple times, Dredd first hopes to become a general in Makino's forces before scheming to betray the warlord himself and go on a galaxy-wide conquest, uncaring that the Earth will be destroyed due to his betrayal. After the end of the series proper, Dredd returns in the Morphos duology, creating the tortured abomination Morphos who he abuses and manipulates into destroying Max, after which he murders the childlike Morphos, denouncing the creature as "nothing" and bragging that he never cared for it, or anyone but himself.
* Makino is a sadistic intergalactic warlord who destroys and consumes entire planets to "absorb and expand" his growing Ultralink armada. An AI who murdered his creator, Makino has laid waste to planets across the universe for decades, capturing and using Jim McGrath as a living battery for several years and he continued his conquest. During his invasion of Earth, Makino tortures the Uktralink Steel to learn how he turned against him, abuses his own loyal soldiers, and draws out his foes' deaths for his own glee, hoping to wipe out the planet while tormenting Max that his family and friends will die. Though seemingly beaten, Makino returns in Wrath of Makino, possessing Max's body, [[MindRape mind raping]] him, and revealing his plans to annihilate the entire Earth out of spite for being beaten, showcasing once and for all that Makino is an independent, actively evil creature capable of ignoring whatever programming his creator gave to him.

* [[BigBad John Dread]] is the leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization DREAD]], a terrorist cell that engages in mass death and destruction in the name of [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]]. Dread runs his organization with icy ruthlessness, and regularly places thousands of innocents in harm's way, with notable instances involving trying to flash-freeze an entire city; hoping to blackout Paris and all of its life support systems; attempting to destroy the United Nations headquarters; and disabling a satellite and leaving it to crash into an entire city, all in order to further his plans. Though at first seeming rather professional about his crimes, Dread decides ItsPersonal with [[TheHero Max Steel]] when, after failing to dissect the teen alive, his own face is scarred by Max, leading Dread to kidnap the boy's best friend while promising to exchange him for a vial of powerful nanoprobes, at which point he tries to [[ILied kill the boy anyway]] just to torture Max. As a final attempted atrocity, Dread tries to obliterate the Swiss city of Geneva, killing its entire population plus the gathered world leaders, then [[FrameUp blame the deaths]] on N-Tek, the spy organization made to thwart Dread's crimes. With no empathy, remorse, or limitations to his ambition and {{greed}}, John Dread personified the very worst of the various terrorists Max Steel encountered throughout his missions.
* The [[PsychoForHire appropriately-named]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Psycho]] is an ever-grinning lunatic who is Max's [[ArchEnemy most personal and hated enemy]]. Psycho first met his nemesis when he splashed deadly nanoprobes all over the boy, hoping for them to excruciatingly kill him, unknowing that it would create his worst enemy, whom he would later go on to attempt to dissect, freeze to death, and drop a satellite onto the hometown of. Serving as John Dread's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] for most of the series, Psycho gleefully commits any and all orders given him, the higher the body count the better, and often goes beyond what his orders entail so as to inflict as much pain and death as possible, such as trying to murder two innocent teens for merely stumbling nearby his base, or by trying to annihilate a small village with an erupting volcano he is only supposed to be mining. His loyalty to Dread being simply a pragmatic partnership, Psycho often enacts his own schemes, normally involving acquiring plagues or nuclear missiles in order to destroy any city he wants then hold others for ransom while attempting to kill anyone in his way, an entire cruise ship of innocents being just one instance of this. His own accomplices fare no better than his enemies, as [[BadBoss Psycho]] tries to silence a captured compatriot, abuses his minions, and brutally murders his partner, Bio-Constrictor, even after the latter assists Psycho in attempting to transform all of humanity into monstrous creatures under his control. Nigh-invulnerable and always seeking to one-up Max Steel, Psycho lives up to his namesake as a truly psychopathic madman who proudly embraces his atrocities as if they were ends unto themselves.

* [[TheHeavy Miles Dredd]], the ArchEnemy of [[TheHero Maxwell "Max" McGrath]], is a sociopath defined by his opportunistic and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] personality. Once a scientist who worked alongside Max's father, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd sabotaged one of their TURBO energy experiments, leading to Jim's seeming death and Dredd being afflicted with a sick hunger for TURBO energy as his life energy. After [[CorruptCorporateExecutive founding THI Industries]], a technology corporation he uses as cover for his terrorist activities, Dredd becomes obsessed with Max when he learns the young teen outputs massive amounts of TURBO energy, and during the series, regularly tries to [[VampiricDraining drain the boy of this energy]], always nearly killing him while making disturbing euphemisms about the "rush" it gives him. With mass casualties always being a factor in his plans, including setting an occupied high school aflame, trying to nuke numerous cities, and attempting to drain the life force of an entire city's population, Dredd has no problem targeting young teenagers either, as he threatens a [[BusFullOfInnocents school bus filled with them]], sets an occupied high school aflame, and regularly tries to murder any, namely Max's best friends, that he runs across. Though always an evil lunatic, Dredd graduates to a truly monstrous individual when he destroys Earth's planetary defense grid, paving the way for the planet-destroying overlord [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] to annihilate Earth, in exchange for granting Dredd a high position in his army, at which point Dredd plans to betray Makino and conquer the universe with his army. Even after this master plan fails, Dredd continues to stoop to new levels of depravity when he creates an abominable creature named Morphos, emotionally abuses him into attacking his enemies, then kills him when he becomes too independent, ruthlessly blowing him up and referring to him as a "nothing." Caring for no one but himself, and willing to sacrifice even the entire planet in his schemes, Miles Dredd was the most recurring, and most personal, foe Max faced.
* The aforementioned [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] is the ManBehindTheMan to both the Ultralinks and Miles Dredd, and earns his place as Earth's greatest threat. An artificial intelligence created to "absorb and expand", Makino pushed his programming to his limits when, after possessing his creator, began [[PlanetEater "absorbing" entire planets]] into his ultimate weapon, the Alphalink, effectively annihilating them in the process, a process he has repeated countless times. An utter BloodKnight who displays far more {{sadis|t}}m than remotely necessary, Makino abuses his Ultralink "children", uses Jim [=McGrath=] as a power source, keeping him in constant agony, and brutally beats down his foes with a [[SlasherSmile gleeful grin]] on his face. After capturing Steel, the only Ultralink to turn against him, Makino happily tortures him before attempting to kill him, Max, and his long-lost father once his Alphalink is destroyed. Makino returns in the film ''Wrath of Makino'', where he possesses Max, uses his insecurities and inner thoughts to torment his friends and family, and reveals he plans to destroy the entire Earth, not to absorb it, but simply out of spite for being humiliated. Though at first seeming to perhaps only be taking his programming to the extreme, Makino displays the most needlessly sadistic personality in the series, and shows in the end that he is fully capable of ignoring his programming when, rather than attempt to absorb the Earth as usual, he tries to wipe it out in a petulant rage.
* ''Team Turbo'' & ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]], the [[ArcVillain main villain]], sticks out among franchise villains as a truly horrifying monster. Originally a genius scientist with a great fear of death, Mortum became obsessed with {{immortality|Immorality}}, and to this end, sought to obtain the Connect-Tek, a powerful N-Tek device that would grant Mortum [[AGodAmI godlike powers]]. Capturing hundreds of N-Tek agents, Mortum [[ElectricTorture tortures them all with electricity]] for information on the Connect-Tek, after which he sics many of Max's other enemies onto his hometown of Copper Canyon, ordering them to destroy everything in sight in their quest to locate him the Connect-Tek. After failing to properly handle the Connect-Tek once getting his hands on it, Mortum is killed, at which point the Connect-Tek replaces his mind, turning Mortum into a whole new brand of monster. Now a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent techno zombie]] due to the Connect-Tek, Mortum still retains his original personality, and quickly begins draining the minds of dozens of his own lackeys, transforming them into mindless techno zombies that he uses to infect an entire city, draining all of their minds, after which he tries to inflict the same fate on his own nephew. After numerous soldiers are killed in their attempts to stop him, Mortum captures, tortures, and dissects Max's best friend, the sentient robot Steel, before using his powers to infect all of humanity with his techno virus, transforming the Earth into a barren wasteland, after which he reveals his plans to [[HiveMind absorb all of humanity's minds into himself]], becoming a god and eliminating the "disorder" of human empathy. Quickly graduating from a particularly wicked villain to a full-blown genocidal lunatic between his appearances in the films, Professor Mortum, [[LaughablyEvil despite his sometimes amusing personality]], is easily one of the franchise's most nightmarish and terrifying villains.

WesternAnimation/MaxSteel has faced dozens of terrorists, supervillains, and criminals over the years, but some are [[CompleteMonster above and beyond the usual mold in villainy]].

* ''Team Turbo'' & ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]], the [[ArcVillain main villain]], sticks out among franchise villains as a truly horrifying monster. Originally a genius scientist with a great fear of death, Mortum became obsessed with {{immortality|Immorality}}, and to this end, sought to obtain the Connect-Tek, a powerful N-Tek device that would grant Mortum [[AGodAmI godlike powers]]. Capturing hundreds of N-Tek agents, Mortum [[ElectricTorture tortures them all with electricity]] for information on the Connect-Tek, after which he sics many of Max's other enemies onto his hometown of Copper Canyon, ordering them to destroy everything in sight in their quest to locate him the Connect-Tek. After failing to properly handle the Connect-Tek once getting his hands on it, Mortum is killed, at which point the Connect-Tek replaces his mind, turning Mortum into a whole new brand of monster. Now a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent techno zombie]] due to the Connect-Tek, Mortum still retains his original personality, and quickly begins draining the minds of dozens of his own lackeys, transforming them into mindless techno zombies that he uses to infect an entire city, draining all of their minds, after which he tries to inflict the same fate on his own nephew. After numerous soldiers are killed in their attempts to stop him, Mortum captures, tortures, and dissects Max's best friend, the sentient robot Steel, before using his powers to infect all of humanity with his techno virus, transforming the Earth into a barren wasteland, after which he reveals his plans to [[HiveMind absorb all of humanity's minds into himself]], becoming a god and eliminating the "disorder" of human empathy. Quickly graduating from a particularly wicked villain to a full-blown genocidal lunatic between his appearances in the films, Professor Mortum, [[LaughablyEvil despite his sometimes amusing personality]], is easily one of the franchise's most nightmarish and terrifying villain.

* ''Turbo-Charged'' & ''Turbo-Warriors'': [[MadDoctor Dr. Prometheus Halifax]], known almost solely as [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Terrorax]], is a high-ranking member of the cult known as Nexus, whose goal is ultimate dominion over the world. After stealing the powers of Max Steel and transforming it into "Terror Energy", Terrorax reveals to the Nexus High Command his plan to wipe out all technology across the globe except that of Nexus, plunging humankind into an extinction-level event where only those who swear fealty to Nexus will survive. Though thwarted for a time, Terrorax devises a new plan to use Terror Energy as a weapon of mass destruction, travelling to cities and destroying them one by one until the world surrenders to his demands, and, when in his final fuel with Max Steel, Terrorax reveals his dream of bringing mass death and chaos to the entire planet before [[TheStarscream betraying his Nexus masters]], wanting nothing more than to rule over the ashes of humanity as a god.

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%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok here]].
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%% NOTE 2: A CompleteMonster is an individual character, not a collective. Therefore a faction cannot be listed as one. A faction can attract Complete Monsters and can have them among its members, but cannot be one in and of itself.
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%% Please avoid natter on the article. If an entry doesn't fit, take it to the forum to discuss why, not here.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/professor_mortum.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Undead. No pity, no conscience. [Professor Mortum's] humanity gone. Just an insatiable hunger to consume us all. If you hadn't stopped that soulless monster...I shudder to think what might have happened to the world."]]

->''"If you are your people's greatest hope, then they will surely be disappointed. Nothing will stop my absorption and destruction of this planet...Enjoy your last breaths, thinking of your friends and family, all of whom will soon perish as well! All because you could not save them, for you are nothing but a weak Earthling!"''
-->--'''Makino''', to Max, [[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 2013 series]]

WesternAnimation/MaxSteel has faced dozens of terrorists, supervillains, and criminals over the years, but some are [[CompleteMonster above and beyond the usual mold in villainy]].

![[Administrivia/SpoilersOff All spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
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[[AC:[[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel Original Series]]]]
* [[BigBad John Dread]] is the leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization DREAD]], a terrorist cell that engages in mass death and destruction in the name of [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]]. Dread runs his organization with icy ruthlessness, and regularly places thousands of innocents in harm's way, with notable instances involving trying to flash-freeze an entire city; hoping to blackout Paris and all of its life support systems; attempting to destroy the United Nations headquarters; and disabling a satellite and leaving it to crash into an entire city, all in order to further his plans. Though at first seeming rather professional about his crimes, Dread decides ItsPersonal with [[TheHero Max Steel]] when, after failing to dissect the teen alive, his own face is scarred by Max, leading Dread to kidnap the boy's best friend while promising to exchange him for a vial of powerful nanoprobes, at which point he tries to [[ILied kill the boy anyway]] just to torture Max. As a final attempted atrocity, Dread tries to obliterate the Swiss city of Geneva, killing its entire population plus the gathered world leaders, then [[FrameUp blame the deaths]] on N-Tek, the spy organization made to thwart Dread's crimes. With no empathy, remorse, or limitations to his ambition and {{greed}}, John Dread personified the very worst of the various terrorists Max Steel encountered throughout his missions.
* The [[PsychoForHire appropriately-named]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Psycho]] is an ever-grinning lunatic who is Max's [[ArchEnemy most personal and hated enemy]]. Psycho first met his nemesis when he splashed deadly nanoprobes all over the boy, hoping for them to excruciatingly kill him, unknowing that it would create his worst enemy, whom he would later go on to attempt to dissect, freeze to death, and drop a satellite onto the hometown of. Serving as John Dread's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] for most of the series, Psycho gleefully commits any and all orders given him, the higher the body count the better, and often goes beyond what his orders entail so as to inflict as much pain and death as possible, such as trying to murder two innocent teens for merely stumbling nearby his base, or by trying to annihilate a small village with an erupting volcano he is only supposed to be mining. His loyalty to Dread being simply a pragmatic partnership, Psycho often enacts his own schemes, normally involving acquiring plagues or nuclear missiles in order to destroy any city he wants then hold others for ransom while attempting to kill anyone in his way, an entire cruise ship of innocents being just one instance of this. His own accomplices fare no better than his enemies, as [[BadBoss Psycho]] tries to silence a captured compatriot, abuses his minions, and brutally murders his partner, Bio-Constrictor, even after the latter assists Psycho in attempting to transform all of humanity into monstrous creatures under his control. Nigh-invulnerable and always seeking to one-up Max Steel, Psycho lives up to his namesake as a truly psychopathic madman who proudly embraces his atrocities as if they were ends unto themselves.

[[AC:[[WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 2013 reboot]]]]
* [[TheHeavy Miles Dredd]], the ArchEnemy of [[TheHero Maxwell "Max" McGrath]], is a sociopath defined by his opportunistic and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] personality. Once a scientist who worked alongside Max's father, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd sabotaged one of their TURBO energy experiments, leading to Jim's seeming death and Dredd being afflicted with a sick hunger for TURBO energy as his life energy. After [[CorruptCorporateExecutive founding THI Industries]], a technology corporation he uses as cover for his terrorist activities, Dredd becomes obsessed with Max when he learns the young teen outputs massive amounts of TURBO energy, and during the series, regularly tries to [[VampiricDraining drain the boy of this energy]], always nearly killing him while making disturbing euphemisms about the "rush" it gives him. With mass casualties always being a factor in his plans, including setting an occupied high school aflame, trying to nuke numerous cities, and attempting to drain the life force of an entire city's population, Dredd has no problem targeting young teenagers either, as he threatens a [[BusFullOfInnocents school bus filled with them]], sets an occupied high school aflame, and regularly tries to murder any, namely Max's best friends, that he runs across. Though always an evil lunatic, Dredd graduates to a truly monstrous individual when he destroys Earth's planetary defense grid, paving the way for the planet-destroying overlord [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] to annihilate Earth, in exchange for granting Dredd a high position in his army, at which point Dredd plans to betray Makino and conquer the universe with his army. Even after this master plan fails, Dredd continues to stoop to new levels of depravity when he creates an abominable creature named Morphos, emotionally abuses him into attacking his enemies, then kills him when he becomes too independent, ruthlessly blowing him up and referring to him as a "nothing." Caring for no one but himself, and willing to sacrifice even the entire planet in his schemes, Miles Dredd was the most recurring, and most personal, foe Max faced.
* The aforementioned [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] is the ManBehindTheMan to both the Ultralinks and Miles Dredd, and earns his place as Earth's greatest threat. An artificial intelligence created to "absorb and expand", Makino pushed his programming to his limits when, after possessing his creator, began [[PlanetEater "absorbing" entire planets]] into his ultimate weapon, the Alphalink, effectively annihilating them in the process, a process he has repeated countless times. An utter BloodKnight who displays far more {{sadis|t}}m than remotely necessary, Makino abuses his Ultralink "children", uses Jim [=McGrath=] as a power source, keeping him in constant agony, and brutally beats down his foes with a [[SlasherSmile gleeful grin]] on his face. After capturing Steel, the only Ultralink to turn against him, Makino happily tortures him before attempting to kill him, Max, and his long-lost father once his Alphalink is destroyed. Makino returns in the film ''Wrath of Makino'', where he possesses Max, uses his insecurities and inner thoughts to torment his friends and family, and reveals he plans to destroy the entire Earth, not to absorb it, but simply out of spite for being humiliated. Though at first seeming to perhaps only be taking his programming to the extreme, Makino displays the most needlessly sadistic personality in the series, and shows in the end that he is fully capable of ignoring his programming when, rather than attempt to absorb the Earth as usual, he tries to wipe it out in a petulant rage.
* ''Team Turbo'' & ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]], the [[ArcVillain main villain]], sticks out among franchise villains as a truly horrifying monster. Originally a genius scientist with a great fear of death, Mortum became obsessed with {{immortality|Immorality}}, and to this end, sought to obtain the Connect-Tek, a powerful N-Tek device that would grant Mortum [[AGodAmI godlike powers]]. Capturing hundreds of N-Tek agents, Mortum [[ElectricTorture tortures them all with electricity]] for information on the Connect-Tek, after which he sics many of Max's other enemies onto his hometown of Copper Canyon, ordering them to destroy everything in sight in their quest to locate him the Connect-Tek. After failing to properly handle the Connect-Tek once getting his hands on it, Mortum is killed, at which point the Connect-Tek replaces his mind, turning Mortum into a whole new brand of monster. Now a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent techno zombie]] due to the Connect-Tek, Mortum still retains his original personality, and quickly begins draining the minds of dozens of his own lackeys, transforming them into mindless techno zombies that he uses to infect an entire city, draining all of their minds, after which he tries to inflict the same fate on his own nephew. After numerous soldiers are killed in their attempts to stop him, Mortum captures, tortures, and dissects Max's best friend, the sentient robot Steel, before using his powers to infect all of humanity with his techno virus, transforming the Earth into a barren wasteland, after which he reveals his plans to [[HiveMind absorb all of humanity's minds into himself]], becoming a god and eliminating the "disorder" of human empathy. Quickly graduating from a particularly wicked villain to a full-blown genocidal lunatic between his appearances in the films, Professor Mortum, [[LaughablyEvil despite his sometimes amusing personality]], is easily one of the franchise's most nightmarish and terrifying villain.
* ''Turbo-Charged'' & ''Turbo-Warriors'': [[MadDoctor Dr. Prometheus Halifax]], known almost solely as [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Terrorax]], is a high-ranking member of the cult known as Nexus, whose goal is ultimate dominion over the world. After stealing the powers of Max Steel and transforming it into "Terror Energy", Terrorax reveals to the Nexus High Command his plan to wipe out all technology across the globe except that of Nexus, plunging humankind into an extinction-level event where only those who swear fealty to Nexus will survive. Though thwarted for a time, Terrorax devises a new plan to use Terror Energy as a weapon of mass destruction, travelling to cities and destroying them one by one until the world surrenders to his demands, and, when in his final fuel with Max Steel, Terrorax reveals his dream of bringing mass death and chaos to the entire planet before [[TheStarscream betraying his Nexus masters]], wanting nothing more than to rule over the ashes of humanity as a god.

[[AC:Other Media]]
* ''Covert Missions'' (2001 UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast game): [[BigBad Dawn]] is an EvilutionaryBiologist who believes that humankind has grown weak and needs to evolve under her guiding hand. Orchestrating the kidnapping of Jefferson Smith, Dawn [[PlayingWithSyringes performs a variety of experiments]] on people to turn them into monstrous, zombie-like abominations that she seeks to transform all of humanity into, leaving her experiments and own soldiers to die when she flees Max Steel and sets her base to self-destruct. Dawn first tries to launch a missile to wipe out an entire city and transform its population into her zombies, then reveals her newest plan to use a gaseous dispersal plan with an air blimp, hoping to move from city to city until every human is a [[TransformationHorror writhing, twisted creature]] bent to her will.
* [[Film/MaxSteel 2016 film]]: Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles sics an Ultralink on the boy, nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]].
----

* ''Team Turbo''& ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'': [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]], the [[ArcVillain main villain]], sticks out among franchise villains as a truly horrifying monster. Originally a genius scientist with a great fear of death, Mortum became obsessed with {{immortality|Immorality}}, and to this end, sought to obtain the Connect-Tek, a powerful N-Tek device that would grant Mortum [[AGodAmI godlike powers]]. Capturing hundreds of N-Tek agents, Mortum [[ElectricTorture tortures them all with electricity]] for information on the Connect-Tek, after which he sics many of Max's other enemies onto his hometown of Copper Canyon, ordering them to destroy everything in sight in their quest to locate him the Connect-Tek. After failing to properly handle the Connect-Tek once getting his hands on it, Mortum is killed, at which point the Connect-Tek replaces his mind, turning Mortum into a whole new brand of monster. Now a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent techno zombie]] due to the Connect-Tek, Mortum still retains his original personality, and quickly begins draining the minds of dozens of his own lackeys, transforming them into mindless techno zombies that he uses to infect an entire city, draining all of their minds, after which he tries to inflict the same fate on his own nephew. After numerous soldiers are killed in their attempts to stop him, Mortum captures, tortures, and dissects Max's best friend, the sentient robot Steel, before using his powers to infect all of humanity with his techno virus, transforming the Earth into a barren wasteland, after which he reveals his plans to [[HiveMind absorb all of humanity's minds into himself]], becoming a god and eliminating the "disorder" of human empathy. Quickly graduating from a particularly wicked villain to a full-blown genocidal lunatic between his appearances in the films, Professor Mortum, [[LaughablyEvil despite his sometimes amusing personality]], is easily one of the franchise's most nightmarish and terrifying villain.

* [[MadScientist Professor Mortum]], the [[ArcVillain main villain]] of the films ''Team Turbo'' and ''Team Turbo: Fusion-Tek'', sticks out among franchise villains as a truly horrifying monster. Originally a genius scientist with a great fear of death, Mortum became obsessed with {{immortality|Immorality}}, and to this end, sought to obtain the Connect-Tek, a powerful N-Tek device that would grant Mortum [[AGodAmI godlike powers]]. Capturing hundreds of N-Tek agents, Mortum [[ElectricTorture tortures them all with electricity]] for information on the Connect-Tek, after which he sics many of Max's other enemies onto his hometown of Copper Canyon, ordering them to destroy everything in sight in their quest to locate him the Connect-Tek. After failing to properly handle the Connect-Tek once getting his hands on it, Mortum is killed, at which point the Connect-Tek replaces his mind, turning Mortum into a whole new brand of monster. Now a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent techno zombie]] due to the Connect-Tek, Mortum still retains his original personality, and quickly begins draining the minds of dozens of his own lackeys, transforming them into mindless techno zombies that he uses to infect an entire city, draining all of their minds, after which he tries to inflict the same fate on his own nephew. After numerous soldiers are killed in their attempts to stop him, Mortum captures, tortures, and dissects Max's best friend, the sentient robot Steel, before using his powers to infect all of humanity with his techno virus, transforming the Earth into a barren wasteland, after which he reveals his plans to [[HiveMind absorb all of humanity's minds into himself]], becoming a god and eliminating the "disorder" of human empathy. Quickly graduating from a particularly wicked villain to a full-blown genocidal lunatic between his appearances in the films, Professor Mortum, [[LaughablyEvil despite his sometimes amusing personality]], is easily one of the franchise's most nightmarish and terrifying villain.

HEADER

* [[TheHeavy Miles Dredd]], the ArchEnemy of [[TheHero Maxwell "Max" McGrath]], is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] defined by his opportunistic and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] personality. Once a scientist who worked alongside Max's father, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd sabotaged one of their TURBO energy experiments, leading to Jim's seeming death and Dredd being afflicted with a sick hunger for TURBO energy as his life energy. After [[CorruptCorporateExecutive founding THI Industries]], a technology corporation he uses as cover for his terrorist activities, Dredd becomes obsessed with Max when he learns the young teen outputs massive amounts of TURBO energy, and during the series, regularly tries to [[VampiricDraining drain the boy of this energy]], always nearly killing him while making disturbing euphemisms about the "rush" it gives him. With mass casualties always being a factor in his plans, including setting an occupied high school aflame, trying to nuke numerous cities, and attempting to drain the life force of an entire city's population, Dredd has no problem targeting young teenagers either, as he threatens a [[BusFullOfInnocents school bus filled with them]], sets an occupied high school aflame, and regularly tries to murder any, namely Max's best friends, that he runs across. Though always an evil lunatic, Dredd graduates to a truly monstrous individual when he destroys Earth's planetary defense grid, paving the way for the planet-destroying overlord [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] to annihilate Earth, in exchange for granting Dredd a high position in his army, at which point Dredd plans to betray Makino and conquer the universe with his army. Even after this master plan fails, Dredd continues to stoop to new levels of depravity when he creates an abominable creature named Morphos, emotionally abuses him into attacking his enemies, then kills him when he becomes too independent, ruthlessly blowing him up and referring to him as a "nothing." Caring for no one but himself, and willing to sacrifice even the entire planet in his schemes, Miles Dredd was the most recurring, and most personal, foe Max faced.

* [[TheHeavy Miles Dredd]], the ArchEnemy of [[TheHero Maxwell "Max" McGrath]], is a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] defined by his opportunistic and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] personality. Once a scientist who worked alongside Max's father, Jim [=McGrath=], Dredd sabotaged one of their TURBO energy experiments, leading to Jim's seeming death and Dredd being afflicted with a sick hunger for TURBO energy as his life energy. After [[CorruptCorporateExecutive founding THI Industries]], a technology corporation he uses as cover for his terrorist activities, Dredd becomes obsessed with Max when he learns the young teen outputs massive amounts of TURBO energy, and during the series, regularly tries to [[VampiricDraining drain the boy of this energy]], always nearly killing him while making disturbing euphemisms about the "rush" it gives him. With mass casualties always being a factor in his plans, including setting an occupied high school aflame, trying to nuke numerous cities, and attempting to drain the life force of an entire city's population, Dredd has no problem targeting [[WouldHurtAChild young teenagers either]], as he threatens a [[BusFullOfInnocents school bus filled with them]], sets an occupied high school aflame, and regularly tries to murder any, namely Max's best friends, that he runs across. Though always an evil lunatic, Dredd graduates to a truly monstrous individual when he destroys Earth's planetary defense grid, paving the way for the planet-destroying overlord [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] to annihilate Earth, in exchange for granting Dredd a high position in his army, at which point Dredd plans to betray Makino and conquer the universe with his army. Even after this master plan fails, Dredd continues to stoop to new levels of depravity when he creates an abominable creature named Morphos, emotionally abuses him into attacking his enemies, then kills him when he becomes too independent, ruthlessly blowing him up and referring to him as a "nothing." Caring for no one but himself, and willing to sacrifice even the entire planet in his schemes, Miles Dredd was the most recurring, and most personal, foe Max faced.
* The aforementioned [[GreaterScopeVillain Makino]] is the ManBehindTheMan to both the Ultralinks and Miles Dredd, and earns his place as Earth's greatest threat. An artificial intelligence created to "absorb and expand", Makino pushed his programming to his limits when, after possessing his creator, began [[PlanetEater "absorbing" entire planets]] into his ultimate weapon, the Alphalink, effectively annihilating them in the process, a process he has repeated countless times. An utter BloodKnight who displays far more {{sadis|t}}m than remotely necessary, Makino abuses his Ultralink "children", uses [[spoiler:Jim [=McGrath=]]] as a power source, keeping him in constant agony, and brutally beats down his foes with a [[SlasherSmile gleeful grin]] on his face. After capturing Steel, the only Ultralink to turn against him, Makino happily tortures him before attempting to kill him, Max, and [[spoiler:his long-lost father]] once his Alphalink is destroyed. Makino returns in the film ''Wrath of Makino'', where he possesses Max, uses his insecurities and inner thoughts to torment his friends and family, and reveals he plans to destroy the entire Earth, not to absorb it, but simply out of spite for being humiliated. Though at first seeming to perhaps only be taking his programming to the extreme, Makino displays the most needlessly sadistic personality in the series, and shows in the end that he is fully capable of ignoring his programming when, rather than attempt to absorb the Earth as usual, he tries to wipe it out in a petulant rage.

* [[Film/MaxSteel 2016 film]]: Miles [[AdaptationNameChange Edwards]] is a sociopathic MadScientist obsessed with harnessing the alien power of turbo energy. To this end, Miles betrayed the Earth defense force he was part of, N-Tek, to the evil Ultralink aliens, leading to the deaths of at least 5 of his former partners. In exchange for allying with the Ultralinks, Miles was granted the capability to betray his former best friend Jim [=McGrath=], who constantly produced turbo energy due to his alien biology, and tried to drain him of the turbo energy, leading to the man's agonizing death. Years later, once learning that Jim's teenage son, Max, has begun giving off turbo as well, Miles [[WouldHurtAChild sics an Ultralink on the boy]], nearly killing innocents in the process, and, after failing to trick the boy into giving up his turbo, Miles settles for absorbing the Energy directly into himself, hoping to kill the boy in the same painful way as his father, while brutally murdering numerous N-Tek soldiers who attempt to save Max. Miles is fully aware that the Ultralinks are world destroyers and will invade Earth once the turbo energy is contained by him, but doesn't care one bit, [[ItsAllAboutMe showing no concern for any life or person except the turbo energy he is so obsessed with]].