Comic-Con Exclusive: Max Steel’s Director, Writer and Star Talk About the Live-Action Film

Fans of the Mattel-owned Max Steel property, which will debut its first live-action film in 2015, can rejoice that there will be plenty of Elementor action in the new movie. Film director Stewart Hendler told us at Comic-Con on Friday that the massive ‘Ultralink’ monsters that take the form of air, fire, water and earth do play a role in the film. But will we see all of them?

“That’s a good question… we want to kind of tease that mystery out a little bit, but there will be Elementors,” confirmed Hendler. “We know that Dredd is the bad guy in the movie, but his identity has not been revealed.”

In the cartoon, when Max and robot sidekick Steel merge to become the superhero, it is a very dramatic and played up effect. Hendler said the look of Max’s transformations into the various Max Steel incarnations will still be a key visual element, but look different.

“We think we have something fresh and interesting, and feels real world and grounded, but we definitely feel that one of the signature visuals of the movie is his transformation and combination with Steel, so hopefully that will look super neat,” he said.

One test for the film will be to distance itself from the other, current ‘high schooler turned superhero’ franchise – Spider-Man.

“That was our biggest thing… trying to make the two different,” said Ben Winchell, who plays lead Max McGrath. “Peter Parker is a teenage superhero. That was always on our mind. It’s not Spider-Man. The story is different. The characters are different. The powers are different. I love Spider-Man, but I’m hoping that people will not compare the two.”

The movie is an origin story of the hero based somewhat on the recent cartoon series reboot, but the filmmakers say it stands on its own and that knowledge of the Max Steel universe is not necessary, but helpful for moviegoers.

“Fans of the cartoon are going to recognize these characters, these places and these people for sure… all of the bones are there,” said writer Chris Yost. “This is just a more real world take on it.”