[4] When he was about sixteen, his elder brother Black Bolt was released from the protective chamber in which he had been confined since birth due to the destructive nature of his powers.

[5] A month later, Black Bolt witnesses Maximus making a treacherous pact with an emissary of the Kree, the alien race responsible for genetically accelerating the Inhumans eons before.

In an attempt to stop the fleeing emissary so that he could be questioned by the ruling council, Black Bolt uses his forbidden power of the quasi-sonic scream and blasts the alien ship out of the sky.

When the ship crashes to Earth, it landed on the parliament building, killing several key members of the Genetics Council, including the boys' parents.

By performing an illegal experiment on the Alpha Primitives, the subhuman worker clones that once served the Inhumans, Maximus creates the Trikon, three bodiless energy beings of great destructive power.

Maximus, hoping to win back the public's affection, activates the Atmo-Gun device he has been working on, a machine he believes will kill the human race and leave all other living beings intact.

Maximus then allies himself with six Inhuman criminals, sentenced for their treachery and subversive acts by Black Bolt with his verdict being interpreted by Oracle.

This substance had certain highly unstable energy absorbing capacities and Maximus intends to use it to usurp the throne again, but Black Bolt overpowers him before he can do so.

Escaping Attilan with his band of renegades in a rocket, Maximus lands in the South American country of Costa Salvador, and attempts to build a will-deadening device similar to his Hypno-Gun.

[volume & issue needed] With his mental powers traumatically submerged, Maximus escapes strict punishment for his treachery by feigning insanity.

He then begins work on his next project to usurp the throne, the construction of the android Omega, whose power source is supposedly the collective guilt evinced by the Inhuman populace over their treatment of the subhuman Alpha Primitives.

Maximus stages his fourth successful coup a short time later after the Royal Family briefly leaves Attilan on business.

Taking Crystal and her husband Quicksilver captive, Maximus forces Black Bolt to give him the crown to spare their lives.

[12] His next plot carried out from his prison cell involves the Inhuman Woz, and almost results in Attilan being conquered by Earth forces.

[volume & issue needed] During the 2007 miniseries Silent War, Maximus again plots his revenge, taunting Black Bolt from his prison and trying to sway a distressed Medusa on his side.

After the enhanced Marines managed to destroy Attilan, Maximus usurps the throne of the Inhumans from Black Bolt, taking Medusa as his queen, and announcing a new plan to conquer Earth.

Maximus is still free and serves as Black Bolt's science advisor, devising war machines for the Kree to use against their adversaries, the Shi'ar.