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Max Russo
Max Russo
Max-full
Character Statistics
Gender: Male
Age Group: 12 (season 1)
13 (season 2)
14 (season 3)
15 (season 4)
17 (Alex vs. Alex)
Birthday: c. 1995
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Nickname: Max
Maxie
Maxine
Lives In: New York City, NY
Relationships
Brothers: Justin Russo
Sisters: Alex Russo
Mother: Theresa Russo
Father: Jerry Russo
Girlfriend: Talia Robinson
Ex-Girlfriends: Nancy Lukey
Crushes: London Tipton
Gigi Hollingsworth (former)
Dated: Lisa Cucuy
Jennette Brocolleti
Friends: Harper Finkle
Zeke Beakerman
Juliet van Heusen
Mason Greybeck
Professor Crumbs
Production Info
Portrayed by: Jake T. Austin
First Appearance: Crazy 10-Minute Sale
Last Appearance: The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex

Maximilian “ Max” Alonzo Ernesto Russo is a former wizard and the youngest of the Russo kids. Like his siblings, he is half Mexican from his mother and half Italian-American from his father. He is portrayed by Jake T. Austin.

As a fallback plan for becoming mortal, Max obtains the Sub Station which he seems very happy about.

History

Max often uses his siblings' situations to his benefit. For example, when Alex used magic to go to the Crazy 10-Minute Sale, Max used that time to tell his dad, Jerry, that he had broken his wand. Max is shown to have a C+ in Wizard Class which makes him average. He has a few strange habits such as putting marshmallows with asparagus and he uses his mom's dress as a Darth Vader cape. In fact, this unusual way of thinking allowed him to outsmart (or as Alex said, "out-dumb") a genie into undoing her twisted wishes.

It is unknown if Max has lived at Waverly Place his whole life, but it is known that he has Hispanic heritage from his mother's side. His mother often tries to get the kids to learn about their Latino heritage. From his father's side, he inherited his wizardry powers. He is also half Italian from his father due to the last name "Russo", and the fact that Alex has stated that they are only half Latino.

It is revealed that Max likes Chinese food and pineapple in Potion Commotion.

Max is known to play soccer as Justin is seen practicing kissing on Max's soccer ball in the episode First Kiss. He also likes to make strange sandwiches (which is useful, as his parents own a sandwich shop), and he loves to eat them even more.

Max is a witty and cheeky boy, and when covering for his sister he manages to get sneakers off of her for it. His shoe size is a size 5. He is actually quite clever, and always tries to bend situations to his benefit (i.e. when Alex was in trouble he used the opportunity to tell his dad that he broke the former's wand.) He did not get into much trouble as his dad was preoccupied with Alex.

Max has little regard for safety or forethought. When reading up on the conscience spell, he deliberately ignored the 'please read' notice that went with it listing the dangers, which resulted in his conscience taking on a physical form. He has also shown to have a dark side to himself that equals, or even surpasses Alex. He blatantly told his conscience that when it comes to a choice between right and wrong, he prefers wrong. He would rather sabotage his brother in the contest than study, even when Alex chose to study. When Conscience tried to warn him about the dangers of summoning monsters from Justin's handbook, Max completely ignored his warnings of mass chaos and danger, and proceeded anyway.

In Season 2, he starts to "work" for money with his best friend Alfred. An example is in Smarty Pants, where tries to sell water bottles; and in Beware Wolf, he cared for dogs.

Apparently, he has a crush on Gigi which can be seen in Graphic Novel, and has his first date in Alex Does Good.

As the series progressed Max was flanderized to appear less intelligent with each passing season, though he does seem more intelligent than most give him credit for.

Maximan1

Maximan is a superhero that Max played in the episode "Alex's Brother, Maximan." He wore a cape with sharks on it, his underwear, long blue tights, and a long sleeved yellow shirt with a big M on the front. His dad pretended to be a burglar in an attempt to get his children to work together on a disarming spell, and Alex and Justin came to help Max with climbing up a wall outside of the substation.

Personality

At 16, he is the most mischievous, determined to take his magic "to the Max." When he's not dodging homework and vegetables, Max plays pranks on his siblings. His first spell (on the show) was "Comakus Pancakus" to conjure up a stack of pancakes.

It is very hard to tell at times if Max is eccentric, thinking outside the box, or just plain unintelligent. He takes almost everything said to him literally, he often confuses the meaning of words (such as aunt and ant), he doesn't seem to understand when he's being insulted (even when he's directly told he is being insulted), and he has been known to do some very idiotic things such as shrinking his own brain just so he can store more jelly beans inside of his skull. However, he has been shown to be an average level student despite his intellectual shortcomings. In Season 4's premiere, he claimed to be acting dumber than he really was so no one would believe him if he revealed he was a wizard.

His dumb and goofy personality makes him very innocent and simple. It is proved multiple times. During most problems and troubled times, he doesn't get even the least bit sad or upset. Even when his siblings got to keep their wizard powers, he was content, if not happy, about becoming a mortal. Basically because he never used magic seriously, and it wasn't as important to him.

Physical Appearance

Max is a teenage boy, of Mexican and Italian-American descent. He has wavy medium-short brown hair and matching eyes. While he initially kept his hair straightened, in season two and three Max started to grow out his wavy hair texture. Max is very attractive.

Abilities

Out of the three wizard siblings, Max used his powers the least. He was a fun wizard and mostly used magic irresponsibly, but the majority of the time, he prefers to cause havoc without magic. He lost his powers and became fully mortal in the series finale, due to losing the Family Wizard Competition, the only one of the Russo siblings to not become a Full Wizard.

He is quite mischievous and quick to use magic to solve a situation, much like his sister, and it often leads to disaster. However, in the end, he usually makes things right with his abilities, and help from his siblings. It is unknown if Max is capable of using complex magic without an aid such as a wand. So far, the only wandless spells the audience has seen him use are "Comakus Pancakus" when he was trapped on Mars and said the wrong spell to return to the Lair, "Cambia corporum meum corpora sua numinavi" when he switched bodies with his dance instructor at his sister's Quinceañera, "Soap on a rope, Soap off a rope, Rope shot out of my hand, Rope tie up that man" when he tried to catch a restaurant burglar, and "Literarium Terrarium" when he and Justin stole their sister's magic journal. Though in the movie he used wandless magic several times.

In the episode Potion Commotion, he gets his full powers. He has to wear a horrible looking hat for four days until his powers were in control. In that episode, he also uses the spell "Levitatus Liquidatus" to make a can of liquid float. It is also shown in previous episodes that he is very behind in learning spells while his siblings are way ahead. For example in Potion Commotion, he is learning wizard training exercise #5 while Justin and Alex are learning lesson #372. He also tries to break set records, like in Pop Me and We Both Go Down when his dad's trophy pulls off his underwear and runs away with it, Max says he wore that underwear for a long time, possibly a week. In the later episodes he starts to use more magic such as Pound for pound you're a clown to use on Justin, which backfired and he turned himself into a clown), Roomius fixus (turned Alex's room back to normal size), and also many more spells in My Tutor, Tutor.

Absolutely no one, be they family, friends, or anyone else close to him at all thought he would be or wanted him to be the family wizard. During Alex and Justin's trial, Jerry actually used the idea of Max likely becoming the family wizard as a result of their punishment as part of the defense, which Headmaster Crumbs actually gave some thought to. Theresa did root for him to win, but said she was only doing it so that they could say someone rooted for him.

Despite being behind his in lessons, Max is actually a better magic student than Alex, though only because she puts no effort into her work. She, however, has more natural skill than her brother.

Relationships

Justin Russo

Max and Justin are usually arguing or correcting each other's ideas. Justin is constantly yelling at Max for doing something stupid, or correcting the former's mistakes. The two like to team up and mess with their sister sometimes, which usually results in Alex outwitting the boys twofold. The two generally get along well as brothers.

Alex Russo

Max and Alex have a typical brother-sister relationship in that Alex is constantly annoyed by Max's dumb antics, and Max is always finding ways to mess with his sister. They do genuinely care about each other though, and always show up for each other when they are in need.

Jerry & Theresa Russo

Jerry and Theresa, while they have their hands full with their chaotic and mischievous son, love him very much and try their best to treat him with the same respect they give to their other two children. They can be frustrated, annoyed, and sometimes utterly confused by Max's behavior. However, despite all of this, Max is shown to be very close with his parents.

Jennette Brocolleti

(Kathryn Foley, "Alex Does Good") Max asks her out on a date and tried to impress her. But things didn't go well when Max turned into a clown during the date after trying to turn Justin into one and made Jennette feel disturbed and repulsed by him. It's assumed that Jennette never talked to Max ever again, judging by her never appearing in another episode again.

Nancy Lukey

180px-320maxssecretgirlfriend

(Bella Thorne, "Max's Secret Girlfriend") Nancy was Max's girlfriend, who he was keeping a secret from the rest of the family and lied to her about who he was and had a lot of things in common. When the family found out, Theresa told Max that it was never okay to lie to people. He took his mother's advice, albeit incorrectly, and told Nancy that he and his family are wizards. They try to mislead her by setting up a fake magic carpet ride which Max took her on, and she ends up breaking up with him because she thinks that he kept lying to her to get her to like him.

Lisa Cucuy

152px-Max and Lisa

(Samantha Boscarino, "Alex Gives Up") She has a crush on him after seeing him on a magazine for future family wizards, and briefly dates him. However, at her parents' yacht party, she sees Mason and wants him instead, thereby dumping Max.

Talia Robinson

235px-Capture

(McKaley Miller, Season 4) Talia is Max's most significant relationship. When Max asks her out, she agrees. In "Magic Unmasked," Talia is forcing Max to do things she likes that he doesn't. Theresa is upset by this and tries to get Max out of watching a chick-flick with Talia. Max then later realizes that he truly doesn't have anything in common with Talia. When Max says he loves Lucha Libre wrestling, Talia responds: "No, you don't Max, it's barbaric." Max breaks up with Talia after telling her he doesn't enjoy any of the things she wants him to. Later that day, when Max is at the wrestling match, he sees Talia and she tells Max that she is sorry, and says she's having a good time at the wrestling match. As a result, Max and Talia reunite. In the episode Alex the Puppetmaster, Talia's parents do not approve of the Russo family. To avoid having an uncomfortable relationship with his girlfriend's family, Max uses a spell so they will meet for the first time again. The families like each other after this second "first" meeting. It is unknown if they are still together or not.

Key Episodes

Season 2

  • Alex's Brother, Maximan
  • Make It Happen
  • Hugh's Not Normus
  • Alex Does Good

Season 3

  • Dude Looks Like Shakira
  • Max's Secret Girlfriend

Season 4

  • Three Maxes and a Little Lady
  • Daddy's Little Girl (Maxine's key episode)
  • Back to Max
  • Meet The Werewolves
  • Who Will Be The Family Wizard

Trivia

  • Unlike Alex and Justin, Max is the only Russo sibling who has been absent in all 4 Seasons. Max is absent for a total of 11 episodes: "New Employee," "Fashion Week," "Third Wheel," "Delinquent Justin," "All About You-Niverse," "Daddy's Little Girl," "Everything's Rosie for Justin," "Dancing with Angels," "Wizards vs. Angels," "Ghost Roommate" and "Get Along, Little Zombie."
  • Max takes the blame for almost anything shown in "Wizards Unleashed."
  • Max was the only one of the Russo Trio to not keep their powers, as Alex became the Russo Family Wizard and Justin became the new Headmaster of Wiz Tech thus gaining Full Wizarding Abilities.
  • Max is Kelbo, Justin is Jerry, and Alex is Megan in terms of coinciding personality. If history were to repeat itself, Max could get powers if Justin or Alex were to marry a mortal.
  • Max has (directly) killed Stevie and Gorog, two of the main antagonists of the series.
  • Max is the only Russo that didn't reveal his wizard powers to a friend (Nancy doesn't count as she thinks he was lying).
  • Max is shown to be quite clever, however he acts dumb so if he reveals his powers people will think, "Eh, he is an idiot."
  • He fell in love with one of his own cousins, Francesca, in "The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex."
  • As shown in Wizards and Vampires vs. Zombies, Max has absolutely no fear.
  • Max wore a size 5 in shoes in Season 1.
  • He gave himself a ripping wedgie by doing the clone spell and by Gorog
  • In "Pop Me and We Both Go Down," Jerry's trophy pulls off Max's underwear and runs away with it.
  • He seems to be quite similar to Parker Rooney, from Liv and Maddie, because both are smart, and have a weird taste in food. They also both take advantage of their siblings.

Gallery

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