Uppercut
NAME: Maximo Valez
ALIAS: Max, The Maximum, Uppercut
AGE: 27
BIRTHPLACE: Kings Row, PC
MARITAL STATUS: Dating Knockout
POWERS:
- RAGE FUELED
When his adrenaline levels rise, the Rage drug in his system activates, boosting his strength, speed, stamina, etc to superhuman levels.
Born into poverty, Maximo Velez and his family fought for everything they had. Like most of those in the lower class, Max was looked down upon by his peers and was constantly bullied by the older, bigger children for being poor. Until he started working out and bulking up in his teens, anyways. After a few public demonstrations of his tenaciousness, no one messed with Max and he ended up with a reputation as the type of kid who was good to have in a brawl. While his teachers admonished his behavior, his parents actually encouraged his sticking up for himself. "Never let anyone try and put you down" they told him. That kind of attitude would normally lead one down the wrong road, but they also taught him to never go looking for trouble, but if it came to him, make sure it didn't again.
Max turned his fighting from a need to defend himself into a hobby and then into a career, transitioning into MMA in college and gaining quite a following. After one particular bout, he caught the attention of a fight promoter named Terry Fowler who liked what he saw. Not only was Max a great fighter, but he had the kind of flair and confidence that made fighters into stars. Over the next two years Max was groomed into the next MMA star. His natural athleticism served him well as he earned the moniker of "The Maximum" after a lengthy undefeated streak. His success led to him becoming audacious and cocky, often engaging in trash talking his opponents before their fights. But he always backed it up.
It was that level of tenaciousness that led to his fight with the company's champion - "The Hunter", Danny Hunt. Fowler approached Max before the fight and offered him a dose of RAGE, attempting to convince him that it was harmless and it would give him the little edge he’d need to win the fight with style. To his surprise, Max refused, claiming that if he couldn’t beat him fairly, then he didn’t want to win. But when they threatened his family, he relented.
The fight went on as scheduled, with Max using a full dose of Rage. Fueled by the muscle-enhancing properties of the drug and his own anger, Max won undisputedly, devastating the champion with an uppercut that put him out cold in the second round. Rather than celebrate his victory, he leapt out of the ring to find the crooked promotor but before he could, the after-effects of the drug hit him and he passed out.
Max woke up a week later in the hospital. Apparently the results of his blood testing and that of Hunt's led to the authorities testing the rest Fowler's fighters, and they all tested positive for regular usage of Rage. Hunt exposed Fowler's wide-spread doping of his fighters by intimidation and while he didn’t get his revenge on his promoter, Max had indirectly ruined his career. Unable to return to the ring now that his career was tainted by the controversy, Max turned to the illegal underground superpowered fight scene after he discovered that his body had a strange reaction to the Rage drug. While it faded after that first use, it stayed in his system, activating whenever his adrenaline level spikes, boosting his physical abilities to superhuman levels until it returns to normal.
Now, Max splits his time between being Maximo "The Maximum" Valez, fighter and on occasion, the hero-for-hire known as Uppercut.
For some unknown reason, the initial dose of RAGE (a cocktail of a performance-enhancing steroids and Superadine) bonded with his DNA permanently rather than temporarily. When his adrenaline levels rise, the serum is activated, augmenting his body's physiology and boosting his physical abilities to superhuman levels. His strength, speed, stamina, durability are all enhanced while he's in fight-or-flight mode allowing him to run ten times as fast, hit ten times as hard, and jump ten times as far as an average human being.