AlMax

AlMax is the het ship between Albert Rothstein and Maxine Hunkel from the DC Comics and DC Extended Universe fandoms.

Canon
DCEU = Black Adam (2022)

Introduction
Albert Rothstein aka Atom Smasher (Age 20) and Maxine Hunkel aka Cyclone (Age 19) are both recruited into the Justice Society, led by Carter Hall aka Hawkman, and co-led by Kent Nelson aka Dr. Fate. They both are seen traveling to Hawkman's estate for their first mission and both meet for the first time in the council room. They exchange heartfelt excitement and shock with each-other over being a part of the Justice Society. Maxine tells him she has goosebumps and Albert breathes out a nervous but excited sound in agreement. They, alongside Carter and Kent, walk down a long walkway into the hangar where the Hawkjet is kept. Maxine asks Carter what the "op" or operation is and he tells the team that they are headed to Kahndaq to apprehend and contain a CLASS-A, rogue meta-human. Albert cuts in and says he didn't bring a passport with Kent replying that they don't need passports because they are the Justice Society. Maxine is seen briefly looking at Albert with a smile before turning to look at the Hawkjet.

Boarding the Hawkjet
They board the Hawkjet and Maxine asks if the jet is entirely made of Nth metal. Carter tells her that everything down to the screws is made of it and that it's completely indestructible. He tells the rest of the team that he'll be in the cockpit if they need him. Albert quickly says the ship is pretty cool and then abruptly jumps to asking Kent for snacks. Kent looks at him and walks away with Albert responding that it takes a lot of energy to smash atoms. He's left standing there alone and awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as the Hawkjet powers up. He looks up as the lights turn on and begins walking to the area where Maxine is situated. She's seen also watching the jet power up with shock and intrigue.

Albert walks into the room where Maxine is and drops his stuff off in the seating area, glancing at her a few times. It turns out that Maxine was listening to Albert the whole time. She tells him she has a snack and tosses it to him. He catches it, thanks her, and is visibly grateful. She gives a small smile and continues looking at the computer-table device. He introduces himself and tells her his name is Al. She looks down shyly, smiles, looks back up at him, and with a small laugh tells him her name is Maxine. She turns her attention back to the computer-table device and joyfully smiles as she turns it on with her nanobots. He watches as she does this, takes a bite out of his snack, and with a mouthful of food attempts to start a conversation with her. While chewing, he asks her what she does (referring to her powers) while using awkward, goofy hand motions. She smiles at him and responds with "wind", looks down, and back up at him. She then asks what he does with a look of curiosity. He nonchalantly and casually tells her he grows and seems unimpressed with his powers. She looks to the side while nodding her head and pondering his answer. She looks down and grins, telling him that his powers are cool while calmly fangirling with excitement.

Entering Kahndaqi Airspace
The Hawkjet is nearing Kahndaq. Albert, in a curious mood, reaches out to touch Dr. Fate's helmet. It's sitting on the computer-table device. Maxine walks into the room, flipping through and reading her book's pages. She doesn't have to look up to know what's going on and warns him that she wouldn't touch it if she was him. Albert, midway distance from touching it, stops, and with a confused expression asks her why not. Maxine looks up from her book at him and explains to him that the helmet is from another planet. With his mouth slightly agape, he pulls his hand away from the helmet and backs away from it. She continues by saying that it is millions of years old and that it chooses who it lets touch it. She turns her head back to her book. Al circles the helmet with intrigue, keeping his distance from it. He doesn't take his eyes off it and asks Maxine "like kent?", gesturing in Kent's general direction. She looks up from her book and brightly answers him yeah. She explains to him that Kent is literally possessed when he puts the helmet on. Albert, still curious, approaches the helm, keeping his eyes on it, and asks her what happens if he touches it anyway. She looks down at it and hypothesizes that he would probably experience slow-crushing terror. She looks up at him and finishes saying "or something". Thanks to Maxine he's visibly convinced not to touch it. He walks away and gestures to it and as he looks at Maxine, he nervously suggests to her that they should probably put a towel on it "right?". He sits down in the seating area surrounding the computer-table device. Carter's voice interrupts their conversation and both turn their heads in his direction. He walks into the room and tells the two of them that they're coming up on Kahndaq and to ready stations in 5. Al quickly made himself at home in the seating area. He gets Carter's attention with a "hey!" and with irritation and confusion asks him why this Adam dude is so pissed off. Carter corrects him saying that he's not some dude and that he's a weapon of mass destruction. He turns around and sees Maxine raising her hand while looking down and reading her book. He calmly scolds her, telling her that she doesn't have to raise her hand. She states that she has a question, puts her book down, looks up at him, and asks that if he's so powerful how are they supposed to stop him? She is very confused and concerned. Kent walks into the room and says that if they can get him to say Shazam, Teth-Adam will lose his power. He continues saying that they're hoping that since he's had a few thousand years to sleep it off, he can peacefully negotiate the terms of his existence. Maxine retorts that from the footage he and Carter showed them, he doesn't really seem like a peacefully negotiating kind of guy. She says this with a bit of amusement on her face. Kent bluntly tells her she is correct and Maxine's smile changes into confusion and concern. Carter notices something and walks over with Kent to a GPS/MAP device. He tells them all to look alive, they've arrived in Kahndaq.

Arriving in the City of Kahndaq

 * The Hawkjet arrives in the city of Kahndaq. Kent says Black Adam is here. Maxine asks if he can sense his presence. He responds no, says that he assumes that Black Adam is the only person in Kahndaq who can do that, and points outside the window at Black Adam holding mercenaries in the air. The entire team looks to see what he's pointing at and Maxine gasps. The others are taken aback. Black Adam turns to look at the Hawkjet approaching him. Carter tells the team that he and Fate will take the lead. Maxine turns to look at him with concern on her face. He continue telling them to listen and to hang back until he and Fate call them. He tells them that he and Fate are the anvil and that Maxine and Al are the hammer and that they're ready. Al looks nervous and concerned and looks from Carter to Black Adam. Black Adam drops the mercenaries to their deaths. Al alerts the distracted team that he just dropped them and they turn to look at what he's pointing at. Maxine looks and is overcome with shock. Black Adam smirks at the team. Carter yells "shit!", presses the button to the hatch, and jumps through the hole freefalling down to the city to catch the mercenaries. Kent smiles and gives a nod of affirmation to Al and then quickly shifts his gaze to Maxine, then back to Al. He tells them both in a lighthearted but stern way to be prepared. He puts on the helmet of Fate and teleports away. Albert and Maxine are then shown standing next to each-other awkwardly, not knowing what to do while their elders are fighting a battle, and looking around in confusion. She then says um in a bewildered tone and he makes a confused face and makes awkward hand movements.

Fighting Black Adam

 * -|Comics =

In DC Comics, Albert Rothstein (27 years old) and Maxine Hunkel (19 years old) are friends, teammates, and allies. They are both members of the Justice Society. Albert is an old member and Maxine is a new member. Their ship/romantic pairing wasn't a concept that existed until the DCEU.

Fanon
There were many rumors among the DCEU fandom about their relationship. Fans suspected the two characters were going to be romantic interests when their involvement in Black Adam (2022) was announced.

Many moments they shared were shown in advertising and promotional material till Black Adam (2022)'s release. Many fans noticed how flirty, cute, touching, and romantic their interactions were and grew fond of them. It was very clear to fans that they had a crush on each other. This is what started the fandom's shipping of the pairing.

Post the film's release, fans pointed out how cute and wholesome they were in it, with many pleading to see more of them. Some fans were disappointed they didn't get together at the end or kiss. The former is partly due to them having little screentime as a whole in the film but also due to the fact that fans loved the potential their characters had individually and together. There is a slowly growing campaign for them to have a spinoff series together. This is an idea which was created and is strongly endorsed by Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell (the actors who play Albert and Maxine).

On A03, there are very few fanfics about them. However, there is a strong desire among AlMax's small shipping community to write fics about them (especially on tumblr).

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Several scenes of theirs were deleted from Black Adam (2022). A notable example of this is a scene where they meet for the first time in the council room of Hawkman's estate. It was briefly shown in 'The World Needs Heroes' video on the Warner Bros YouTube channel (early 2022). It was also shown in tv spots/promotional material in the days preceding the movie's official release (October 21st, 2022).
 * Albert and Maxine were always intended to be a Gen Z story in Black Adam (2022). Albert is 20 (born in 2002) and Maxine is 19 (born March 1st, 2003), putting them both in Generation Z. "Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid to late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years."
 * Maxine is a Pisces (born March 1st, 2003). "In astrology, Pisces is the 12th sign of the zodiac, considered as governing the period from about February 19 to about March 20"