Maximus, a member of the genetic offshoot of humanity known as the Inhumans, was the second son of two of the Inhumans' top geneticists, Agon, the head of the ruling Council of Geneticists, and Rynbda, director of the Prenatal Care Center. Subjected to the mutating Terrigen Mist when he was an infant, Maximus peculiarly showed no outward sign of any physical change. As he matured, he hid his developing psionic powers from the community but was less successful at disguising his antisocial tendencies. |
When Maximus was about sixteen, his elder brother, Black Bolt, was released from the protective chamber in which he had been confined since birth so that he could learn to control his potentially destructive superhuman abilities. Black Bolt witnessed Maximus making a treacherous pact with an emissary of the alien Kree. In an attempt to stop the fleeing emissary, Black Bolt used his forbidden power of the quasi-sonic scream and blasted the alien ship out of the sky. When the ship crashed to the ground, it landed on the parliament building, killing several key members of the Genetics Council, including the boys' parents. The reverberations also affected Maximus, addling his sanity and suppressing his nascent mental powers. When Black Bolt assumed the throne shortly thereafter, Maximus vowed to usurp his rule. |