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Maximillian is a robot who appears in Disney's motion picture The Black Hole.

Contents 1 Technical Specifications 2 History 3 Inside the Black Hole 4 Trivia

Maximillian was constructed by Dr. Hans Reinhardt, effectively replacing the robot trooper S.T.A.R. as Reinhardt's assistant aboard the U.S.S. Cygnus. Speechless, communicating only through his actions and the eerie glow of his single red optical sensor, Maximillian nevertheless served as an effective enforcer of Reinhardt's will. Painted entirely red, Maximillian was taller than humans, only vaguely humanoid himself, with legs that served no evident purpose given that his means of locomotion consisted of hovering several inches off the ground save when at rest. His multiple arms were equipped with high-speed rotary claws, and laser blasters.

Shortly after the crew of the U.S.S. Palomino arrived on board the Cygnus to investigate its presence on the event horizon of the nearby black hole, Maximillian intercepted the crew and targeted V.I.N.CENT, approaching him menacingly until Reinhardt explained to Maximillian that they were not a threat.

Maximillian seemed to have little respect for other robots aboard the ship; this was particularly evinced in the way that he casually knocked Old B.O.B. aside when requisitioning replacement parts for the damaged Palomino. He had little respect for human life as well; after Dr. Kate McCray and Alex Durant learned of the true fate of the Cygnus crew and tried to escape the ship, Maximillian cornered Durant and killed him in a particularly brutal way, despite Reinhardt's protests that Durant was a "good man." Reinhardt himself seemed to fear Maximillian, and at one point he whispered to Dr. Kate that he needed to be protected from the hulking red machine (though this could have merely been a form of psychological manipulation in order to win the trust of the Palomino's crew, and possibly even gain their sympathy).

The degree of Maximillian's loyalty to Reinhardt was unclear. After the Cygnus started to fall into the black hole, the spaceship beigan to break up under the gravitational stress. Reinhardt was pinned by a falling wall panel, but his pleas for Maximillian's help were ignored. The robot instead proceeded to the probe ship as previously ordered. Maximillian then encountered V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B., badly wounding the older robot with a laser blast. Maximillian battled V.I.N.CENT, and appeared to get the better of him, untl V.I.N.CENT produced a tiny rotary saw that burrowed into Maximillian's circuitry. Maximillian was disabled and sent tumbling through a breach in the ship's hull, into the black hole.

Through the eyes of Kate McCray, Maximillian appeared to find Dr. Reinhardt in space outside the black hole, somehow merging together so that Reinhardt was effectively trapped inside the body of Maximillian. Peering through the red-tinted lens of Maximillian's optic sensor, Reinhardt was doomed to spend eternity in a fiery afterlife reminiscent of Hell. Since these events appeared to be taking place in the mind of Dr. McCray only, it is unknown what the true fate of Maximillian might have been.

(An alternate interpretation of the ending is: Dr. Reinhardt has been put inside Maximillian because he had created that robot by stealing the mind of Frank McCrae, the first officer that Old B.O.B. tells us Reinhardt had killed. Therefore he is condemned to hell in Frank McCrae's place, and the figure flying through the heavenly passageway is the escaping soul of McCrae. The fact that Reinhardt asks Kate to help him control Maximillian seems to suggest this.)

In the movie, both a miniature scale-model of Maximillian in addition to a full-scale model were used for filming.

The full-scale model of Maximillian is currently on display at MGM Studios in Orlando, FL.

Strings can be seen attached to Maximillian several times during the fight with V.I.N.Cent near the end of the film.