During both seasons of the series, Max was portrayed by Jessica Alba; Geneva Locke played the character during flashbacks to her childhood.

"[1] Max followed a long line of strong female characters in films directed Cameron, including Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.

[2] More than one thousand young actresses were considered for the part of Max before Jessica Alba was chosen;[2] Cameron started reviewing audition tapes when it had been narrowed down to 20 or 30 applicants.

Cameron said he was not overly impressed with Alba's acting skill or appearance in her audition tape, though he kept coming back and watching it as there was something about her attitude that he liked, eventually deciding he needed to see her in person.

[4] Max is the lead character in both seasons of the TV series Dark Angel, where she is portrayed primarily by Alba but also by Geneva Locke as a child in flashbacks.

[11] She also has enhanced hearing, can leap up or down from great heights with ease, can hold her breath underwater for extended periods and can dodge bullets with her super speed.

[13] Max's forms 'family' bonds with her best friend and flatmate Original Cindy, her ally Logan Cale and her fellow X5 escapees.

[9] Several months later terrorists detonate an electromagnetic pulse weapon in the atmosphere over the US, destroying all electronic devices in the country and throwing it into chaos and poverty.

Max holds a job as a bicycle messenger for the company "Jam Pony X – Press", and also operates at night as a burglar,[21] explaining, "I steal things in order to sell them for money.

Cale notices and recognizes Max's barcode, and offers to help her locate her Manticore brothers and sisters if she agrees to team up with him.

In season two Cale exposes Manticore to the world, and Renfro torches the facility in an attempt to cover up the evidence, though she is killed in the process.

National Security Agency agent Ames White, who is also a member of a secretive cult that wishes to eliminate transgenics, is tasked with recapturing the Manticore escapees.

Both the authorities and cult members pursue Max, though she escapes to Terminal City, an abandoned part of Seattle where hundreds of outcast transgenics have been hiding.

Max eventually leads an assault on the cult's headquarters, which frees Cale and results in White's death and the compound being set on fire.

Writing for the University of Melbourne, Bronwen Auty considered Max to be the "archetypal modern feminist hero – a young woman empowered to use her body actively to achieve goals", citing Max's refusal to use firearms and instead using martial arts and knowledge as weapons as contributing to this status.

[24] Writing in Science Fiction Film & Television, Clarice Butkus noted Max has been considered a "distinctly millennial post-third-wave feminist warrior",[25] and considered Max's relationship and dialogue with Original Cindy, an African American lesbian, to convey female empowerment.

For example Cindy encourages Max not to feel guilt over her sexual behaviour and instead to embrace a traditionally masculine approach to sex.

In October 2000 Howard Rosenberg commented "If pouty faces and sexy walks could destroy, the highly arresting Max would be wiping out the entire planet.

"[22] Hal Boedeker from the Orlando Sentinel gave a positive review of Max, and compared her skills to those of Catwoman, Xena, Emma Peel and Wonder Woman.

[27] Time commented favorably on Alba's physical skills portraying Max, though stated she had "an emotional range unusual among action babes."