Max Steel (2000)

Max Steel is an action/science fiction animated television series which originally aired from February 26, 2000 to January 15, 2002, based on the Mattel action-figure of the same name. Max Steel ran for three seasons, totaling thirty-five episodes.

From 2004 to 2012, direct-to-DVD movies kept the presence of the main character alive. However, the first movie (titled, Max Steel: Endangered Species) was the only movie to keep the continuity of the series. After Endangered Species, the continuity was altered. Endangered Species was the only movie to be made available in America, while later releases were in Latin America.

The voice-acting cast for the series included Chi McBride and Christian Campbell, as well as well-known sports stars, such as Tony Hawk.

After the bankruptcy of Netter Digital and Foundation Imaging, Mainframe Entertainment took over the productions of the third season and the movies. The last episode, "Truth Be Told", aired January 15, 2002. Max Steel was the first computer-generated series to air on Kids' WB.

A reboot series aired on Disney XD in 2013. However, characters and storylines were greatly altered.



Plot
The protagonist, Josh McGrath (Campbell), is a 19-year-old fictional extreme sports teen star, whose parents died some time ago. He was later adopted by his father's best friend and partner, Jefferson Smith (McBride), who works in an extreme sports equipment manufacturing company which is in reality a façade for a secret counter-intelligence agency known as N-Tek.

One night, while Josh was visiting his stepfather at work, Psycho (Szarabajka) broke into the facility. The young McGrath faced him and a brief battle ensued, interrupted when Psycho shot a nearby containment unit of semi-liquid, microscopic Nano-Tech machines called "Max Probes". The nanomachines covered Josh, entering his body, integrating with his organic system, and (as they ran out of energy) started dying, syphoning Josh's life-critical energy as well. In an attempt to save his foster son, Jefferson Smith agrees to submit Josh to a high proportion of the transphasic energy (T-Juice), which the machines need to survive. This saved his life and also gave him superpowers. As a result, Josh took on the identity of Max Steel and fights super-powered villains, mainly Mr. Dread (Jarvis), Psycho's evil boss, and the members of DREAD, his spy organization. Later, in the movies, they fight off mutants, robots, mad scientists and monsters.

Best Friend (Season 2, Episode 11)
When Josh meets a new friend, Garrett Stevens, it turns out Garrett is not who he seems to be. He has been brainwashed to kill Dr Mark Montgomery.