Main Characters
Max
Maximum Ride, better known to her flock as 'Max', is 14 years old (turned fifteen in Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel)and is the oldest of the avian-human hybrids and the leader of the Flock. She has brown hair with chunks of pink highlights thanks to a hairstylist in New York. Her special powers are "warp drive" when flying and breathing under water. She also has a voice in her head, aptly named "The Voice", that gives her advice. Her biological father is Jeb Batchelder, who she believes is secretly The Voice. Max's biological mother is Dr. Martinez. Her daughter, Ella Martinez, is Max's younger half-sister. Max's best friend and her "right-wing-man" is Fang, who both later develop strong non-brother-sister feelings for each other.
Fang
Fang, like Max, is 14 years old (turned fifteen in Fang) and is commonly the second in command of the Flock. He is able to virtually disappear but, by staying perfectly still, he can also walk while invisible if he breathes very slowly and is the same speed with everything in his body (like a heartbeat, etc.). Fang is commonly described as a strong and silent person. He is also able to breathe underwater. In the course of Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Fang begins to develop feelings of love for Max.
Iggy
Iggy is the sarcastic, wisecracking member of the flock and is slightly younger then Max and Fang. He is blind due to the experiments done on his eyes when he was young, but Iggy can see if his surroundings are white. His powers include being able to "feel" colors. Iggy and Gazzy are best friends, but are always creating bombs out of virtually anything. Iggy is very smart and even though he is blind, his extremely sensitive fingers make him the flock's best doctor, as well as their pretty-much-anything-that-takes-a-lot-of-concentration-and-we-wouldn't-have-a-clue-what-to-do guy and also the best cook in the flock. Iggy's birth-parents are the only ones so far found by the flock -other then Max's- but he left them to rejoin the flock because they seemed to care more about the money they could make from his story then Iggy himself.
Nudge
Nudge is an eleven (turns twelve in Fang) year old of African descent. She finds out that her real name was Monique as a baby and she loves to constantly chatter. Nudge can hack into computers with her ability to sense leftover emotions and can also draw metal to her by will. Nudge is described as Max's best supporter, the peace-maker, etc. In Max: A Maximum Ride Novel, Nudge leaves the flock to attend a school, because her heart just wasn't in to saving the world. Not long after she leaves though, Nudge returns to the flock and tells them about how her taste of a 'normal life' wasn't worth losing them, and how she missed them far to much to stay apart.
Gazzy (The Gasman)
The Gasman is eight years old (turns nine in Fang), and he earned his name by being born with a strange digestive system. He therefore has a problem with flatulence, which eventually develops into a power. This power is a sort of 'mushroom-cloud' that erupts like a volcano. Gazzy can also imitate any voice or noise flawlessly. Gazzy is just as mischievous as Iggy is, and is a pyromaniac as well. At birth, both Angel (The Gasman's biological sister) and Gaz were sold by their parents for $10,000 to Itex.
Angel
Angel is the Gasman's six-year-old blood sibling. She obtains seemingly random powers at random times; breathing underwater, talking to fish, being able to read minds, being able to control minds, and changing her appearance. In "Max: A Maximum Ride Novel", Angel claims to be seven years old. Angel, though as innocent as she may look, is actually very dangerous and really smart. Angel's ability allows her to control peoples' minds to her will.
Dylan
Dylan is another beautiful, super hot, winged boy who, in Fang, is introduced to the flock. Dylan claims to have been raised in a lab in Canada. He has dark brown, chocolate colored wings, and has a fifteen foot wingspan.Dylan has been cloned from another Dylan, who "died in a car crash or something". This means that he is very young, just eight months old. Dylan has yet to learn to fly, amongst other things. Like the Flock, Dylan has an extra gift. He says that he has amazing sight, that he can "see things happening far away, can see people across oceans- maybe even across time."Dylan is apparently extremely good looking. He is over six feet tall, with dark, honey-colored hair, and turquoise eyes the color of the Caribbean. According to Max, he could be "on the front cover of People Magazine's Sexiest People issue". He is bulkier and more muscular than Fang, but this could be just that he "has a more regular access to food."Dylan has two known special powers; he can heal himself (cuts, scrapes, etc.) with his saliva, and has super eyesight (example: he can see the ISS from the ground).Max's Voice told Max that Dylan was "designed for" her, citing him as being her "perfect other half." Dylan seems to, in the preview of the book Fang, believe this to be a fact.
Total
Total is a black dog that was saved from the Institute by Angel at the end of The Angel Experiment. he is described to have the characteristics of a Scottish-terrier. Total's character is not fully developed until School's Out - Forever, when it is discovered that he can talk. Total is usually the comedy in the flock and also has the greatest appeal for culture, even more than Nudge's own fashion sense. Total later meets an Alaskan Malamute, named Akila, on the flock's Antarctica trip in The Final Warning. The two fall in love and finally get married in Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel.
Jeb Batchelder
Jeb Batchelder is a brilliant scientist. He used to work at the School where the Flock was experimented on. He rescued the Flock and brought them into the mountains, where he raised them as their father for 2 years. Then Jeb disappeared, leaving the Flock very distressed and to survive on their own in refuge. In The Angel Experiment, the flock discovers Jeb back at the School when they were captured. This originally led to Flock to believe he was a traitor. Jeb is Ari's and Max's biological father, although Max does not trust him at all after rediscovering his identity. Jeb is shot upon in the sixth book, but he is shown to be making a steady recovery.
Ari
Ari is Jeb Batchelder's son and also Max's half-brother. When he was very young, he admired Max when she was at the School. At the age of seven, he became an Eraser when Jeb left him to protect Max and the others. He never knew that he was Max's brother and tried to kill her multiple times. This backfired when Max killed him by snapping his neck in the first book. Ari is brought back to life in the second book and surprisingly becomes a better person in the third book, going so far as starting to like Max. Ari dies by Max's side for good when his expiration date passes, and his funeral is held in The Final Warning.
Erasers
The half human half wolf Erasers were bred by the School to be guards, but their bigger mission now involved hunting the flock. They have the ability to morph into wolves, have superhuman strength, and eventually gain wings that they have little experience with. Jeb's son, Ari, becomes an Eraser before the story is told, and is the last one to die when Itex "retires" all the Erasers and replaces them with the Flyboys. Erasers make an appearance in Fang when they attack all of the flock but Max and Fang. It is believed that when Itex was disbanded, some scientists took Eraser DNA with them, creating these new Erasers, though they are never mentioned after the events of the battle.
Flyboys
Flyboys are the replacements of the Erasers, first introduced in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. They are robots that constantly look like Erasers in full morph, some with guns attached to their hands, that are sent to finish the Erasers' jobs. Fang, Iggy and Gazzy had to fight off Flyboys in the third book after the flock split up and they were at an abandoned airplane hanger. They nearly get shot, but then Fang starts shooting back with a gun that he stole from a Flyboy (shooting holes in Gazzy's trousers too close for comfort).Flyboys are strong and fast, as well as extremely nimble, in the air as well as on the ground. However they do not adapt well to different situations, and lack quick thinking, which works to the advantage of Fang's mini-flock in the third book while being chased in Hollywood, when Fang, Gazzy and Iggy make them fly into the Hollywood sign. Another point where they proved their low intelligence near the end of the third book with Fang's mini-flock, when Fang draws them into the water, effectively killing them all. Then, a little later, when the director of Itex tells the Flyboys to kill some non-experiment kids that are rioting outside the Itex headquarters, they fly upward into an electric net that the Director had forgotten to turn off. Naturally, this electrocutes them.The Flyboys are never mentioned after Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. Perhaps they all perished at the battle in Germany, or maybe were shut down due to their stupidity. Any way, they have been replaced.
M-Geeks
M-Geeks are robots that serve Mr. Chu in the fifth book. They have a human form and human-like faces, except for their glowing green laser like eyes. They appear to be stronger and faster than humans. They have several weakness, such as their ankles, the tops of their heads and their spines. At the beginning of the fifth book, they have no weapons, but later, a new version appears. This version of M-Geeks have Uzi machine guns attached to their arms. Max gives them the nickname 'M-Geeks' when she encounters them. The M-Geeks have almost no difficulty operating under difficult terrain including the crushing depths of 1000 meters, (3000 ft) below sea level. Some display emotions like pride in their abilities. Both Max and Mr. Chu state they are more robotic than humans. The M-Geeks appear as if they were originally human but then had Cyborg bodies build inside of the living flesh. Despite being mechanical, Angel was able to order them away during an attack, meaning it is possible some organic components (a human brain) remain behind in the M-Geek’s bodies.Max also describes the M Geeks' two main weaknesses. Their ankles, which Max describes as 'trim' and that when attacked on that certain part they immediately crumple over. The M Geeks' other known weakness that Max discovers is that when she karate chops her hands down on their heads, about 1/3 of the head surface apart from each other, that their head splits down underneath her hands, apparently like an orange. She describes this as 'gross' and calls it their 'orangey weakness'. She also discovers this while she was next to Dr. Brigid Dwyer (see above), to her pleasure and quote ' Who I was standing next to when I discovered the M Geeks' orangey weakness'.
White Coats
White Coats are nicknames for scientists who work for the School or the Institute. They perform experiments on animals & humans and created the Flock, Erasers, Total the talking, flying dog and many other genetic misfits. The majority of experiments do not survive. The White Coats also "retired" the Erasers and created the robotic "Flyboys".
Ella Martinez
Ella is the daughter of Dr. Martinez and the half sister of Max. She is 12 and a half years old. Throughout the series, Ella wishes that Max is her sister and is thrilled at the end of Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports to find out that Max is her half sister. Max first meets Ella in The Angel Experiment when Max stopped bullies from beating Ella up. While fighting for her, Max is shot by one of the bullies. Max asks Ella for help, and spends two days recuperating at Ella's house.Ella appears twice in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, once when Max asks to see Dr. Martinez, and Ella comes with her, and the second time at the end of the book.Ella only appears once in the The Final Warning, when she is present at the ribbon cutting of the new school intended for the flock.In MAX, Ella is hysterical when Dr. Martinez (her mom) is kidnapped. When they are reunited, they both start crying.Ella is said to have some relationship with Iggy, but nothing has been mentioned apart from a small paragraph at the end of the 3rd book.
Dr. Valencia Martinez
In Maximum Ride: The Final Warning',Dr. Martinez also known as maxes mother is at the first meeting with the flock and the government, and she introduces the Flock to Dr. Brigid Dwyer. The last time she is seen is at the ribbon cutting for the new school intended for The Flock.In "Max: A Maximum Ride Novel" she is kidnapped by Mr. Chu and his M-Geeks. They tortured her for days in an attempt to force her to denounce her actions to of Ecological protection out of fear that their illegal dumping of radio-active material would be found out. Dr. Martinez refused and was starved, electrocuted, and nearly killed by Mr. Chu’s second in command until she was saved by Max and Angel. She was last seen in a United States Navy infirmary recovering from her wounds.
Akila
Akila is a snow-white Malamute that Total falls in love with in the fourth book. Though some may say she isn't really part of the story, she plays a small role. Akila was with the flock when they were taken by Gozen to the auction that the Uber-Director had planned, and she was with them inside the hurricane that destroyed the Uber-Director. For a little while she was thought to be dead until she was hurled out of the hurricane's eye wall, landing squarely on Max's back. Akila was a liability to the flock in the fact that she weighed at least eighty pounds; in other words she was very difficult to carry, and that is why Iggy and Fang had to drop her when they were inside the hurricane, because they just could not carry her weight. Total, Angel's dog, found her alive and in book 5, MAX, Total talks about someday leaving the flock to marry Akila. In Fang:A MAximum Ride Novel, in the first epilouge, Fang, MAx and the rest of the Flock attend Total and Akila's wedding.
Other Characters
Max II
Max II is a clone of the original Maximum Ride who attempts to destroy the flock by killing her predecessor. At the very end of School's Out Forever Max asks Fang how they knew that the other Max (version 2.0) wasn't her (Original Max). Fang replies, "She offered to cook breakfast" and they both start laughing. It is noticeable that she has not been properly informed on the flock when she wondered "Why is the blind guy cooking?", referring to Iggy. She was also exposed by not knowing many things about the flock, such as Angel being able to read minds.At the end of School’s Out- Forever Max II fought what was supposed to be a deathmatch with the original Max, but was spared (Max refused to kill her clone, telling the whitecoats she wouldn't sink to their level) while she had no intention of doing the same. Max regards her clone as another person when speaking to the scientists after the fight was over.Max II's whereabouts after the bomb at the Itex building were unknown until the 3rd book when the flock found her at the headquarters of Itex in Germany with other mutants preparing for termination. She warns the original Max about how fast Itex is killing the mutants while they are being "exercised" in a courtyard, and says that they have about a day before they, too, are terminated. It is uncertain what happened to her at the end of the third book.She is known to hang around with Ari in suspicious ways, on rooftops and other places, as told in The Maximum Ride. Ari enjoys Max II's company since she bothers Jeb and since she is identical to the original Max. Max II seems convinced that the original Max is full of herself, but speaks with empathy when observing her secretly in the second book.Unlike the original, Max II is oblivious to some the talents of the Flock and seems to dislike them all. She made several mistakes the first morning she replaced Max, offering to cook breakfast, wondering why Iggy was cooking breakfast when he was blind, offering to fix Nudge's hair, and ordering Total off of the bed. When the flock left to break into an Itex building, she found it bizarre that they were bringing Total (who she didn't know had the human intelligence and the ability to talk) with them and mentally commented "Okaaaay, I'm beginning to put my finger on why you're slated for termination".Max II is annoyed by Nudge's constant chatter (she is aware of Nudge's skills with computers, although underestimating her), a thing that only slightly irritated the original Max. In addition, she is annoyed by the Gasman, and finds Angel to be "creepy" as well as Iggy. She had not been given information on Angel's mind-reading abilities, and is thus unaware of them, leading to her exposure as a fraud. Max II never seems to discover anything especially irritating about Fang, besides his silence.
Lissa
Lissa is a 14 year old girl who goes to the school that the Flock temporarily attends. Max calls her the Red-Haired-Wonder. Lissa's only part in the series was during Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever, in which she is a minor love interest for Fang (she kissed him). Max is jealous of her because she wants (Max doesn't realize that they love each other yet, neither does Fang) a relationship with Fang, but Lissa is unaware of this, and under the impression that Fang and Max are brother and sister. In MAX and Saving the World and other Extreme Sports, Max remembers "The Red Hair Wonder" as one of the times she felt extreme jealousy over Fang, and that Fang has a thing for red hair.Despite having a mostly-innocent role in the books, Lissa is hated by many in the fandom for 'splitting up their One True Pairing'.Most in fanfic writers are actually disapproving of any one that "splits the one true pairing" as well as more people who like max and fang together.
Sam
Sam is a 14 year old boy that goes to the school that the Flock temporarily attends in book 2, School's Out - Forever. Max finds him attractive, describing his tortoiseshell eyes and his chestnut hair that "kind of fell across his forehead" as pleasant. He first confronts her in the library of their school, and then later invites her on a date. Max accepts the invitation, and they have a "nice" date, until Max sees Ari at the window of the ice cream shop which Max and Sam are at for their date. At the end of their date they kiss on Anne Walker's front porch.As Max took a disliking to Lissa, Fang also takes a disliking to Sam because even he still has feelings towards Max, although Sam doesn't seem to realize the jealousy Fang has towards him (Fang says "[...]a half-dozen flashes of memory cycling through his brain[...]Max kissing that wiener Sam[...]. Gritting his teeth[...]" in book 3, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports). Also, Sam thinks that Max and Fang are siblings.While Max is trying to escape the evil teachers in the school, Sam tries to get her to hide in a classroom. She thinks he is beginning to resemble an Eraser, but this is most likely due to paranoia, because Ari (while spying on Max's date) called him 'a fragile little human'.
