MovieChat Forums > Max Steel (2000) Discussion > When did Max stop reverting to Josh McGr...

When did Max stop reverting to Josh McGrath?


And why?

reply

[deleted]

I see that this is an old post, but I felt like replying anyway...

In the series Max Steel, Josh McGrath would swap to Max Steel so hide his identity as he fought terrorists (I feel you already knew that).
After the series ended, there was a series of direct-to-DVD movies made. The first one released in 2004, Endangered Species, followed the plot of the series and Max was still Josh's dual identity. However in the 2005 film, Forces of Nature, the plot was slightly retconned and it's hinted that Max Steel is his name and Josh McGrath never existed. There's a flashback to the accident that led to Josh becoming Max, and you can see he has blonde hair. However, the name Josh McGrath is never mentioned and that flashback scene is the only scene you can see Josh at. So, one could assume that the accident caused Josh's/Max's appearance to change and he doesn't have control to swap between appearances like in the series.

In 2008, the film Bio Crisis completely changed the story and the accident that created Max Steel is shown, only it's not Josh McGrath becoming infected with nano-probes, but Max Steel himself.

That's how it goes in the movies. Behind the scenes, however, it was decided to drop Josh McGrath because all promotional material regarding Max Steel only ever showed Max himself. I don't know much about the change, so why they did it is purely guess work. One could guess they did it because it was easier to have Max just Max and not worry about writing the character with a dual life.

There may be more reasons, I just can't find them.

reply