Max joined the UN Spacy aboard the SDF-1 Macross when Space War I broke out. Assigned to Skull Squadron under the newly promoted Hikaru Ichijo, he quickly proved himself in combat—surprising everyone given how quiet he was. He became crucial to the team's survival after a recon mission went sideways and got them all captured on a Zentradi vessel.
His reputation caught the attention of Milia Fallyna, a female Zentradi ace who showed up looking for a worthy opponent. She attacked the Macross to draw Max out, leading to an intense dogfight that ended with Max damaging her Queadluun Rau and forcing her retreat. Later, the two ran into each other in an arcade inside the Macross. Neither fully realized who the other was, so when Max challenged Milia to a Valkyrie simulator game and won, he managed to score a date with her. Things got weird when Milia showed up with a knife, but Max handled that too. Somehow through all this—the fighting, the games, the attempted stabbing—Milia figured out she was actually in love with him. They got married not long after, becoming the first human-Zentradi couple.
Max stayed with Skull Squadron through the end of Space War I and into the peacetime years that followed, based out of Macross City with Milia. They had a daughter, Komilia.
Eventually promoted to command, Max took charge of the Macross 7 colony fleet, which carried a huge population including his youngest daughter Mylene and his now-estranged wife. Years into the voyage, the fleet faced attacks from the Protodeviln, a mysterious threat. Max had already set up a research program exploring whether music could work as a weapon—something he'd been thinking about for encounters with hostile Zentradi. Turns out Sound Energy was exactly what they needed. He backed expanding the program into Sound Force, which included Fire Bomber's members and, after some resistance, his own daughter Mylene.
Near the end of the conflict, Max led a brutal assault on the Protodeviln's base himself. The team took serious losses, but he made it back. Between Mylene's involvement and everything happening around them, Max and Milia started reconnecting. They ended up fighting together in the final battle against the Protodeviln.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
