Max Steel meets The Iron Giant

**Max Steel meets The Iron Giant**

## Plot

In October 1957, after the Russian satellite Sputnik is put into orbit, an enormous robot from outer space crashes into the ocean near Rockwell, Maine. The robot makes its way inland and wanders into the forest. Nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes discovers the robot one night as it begins eating the powerlines of an electrical substation and electrocutes itself. Hogarth shuts down the power, saving the robot, and returns home. Several days later, Hogarth makes it his mission to find the robot and take a picture. After hours of waiting, the robot surprises Hogarth, who soon befriends him. Suffering amnesia, the Iron Giant accompanies Hogarth wherever he goes. When they come across a railroad, the Giant starts eating the rails. Hearing an oncoming train, Hogarth tells the Giant to repair the tracks. As he does, the train collides, breaking him into pieces. The Giant's parts start to reassemble, and Hogarth hides the damaged robot in his house's barn, where the parts can repair themselves.

Later, after dinner with his widowed mother Annie, Hogarth reads comic books to the Giant. The Giant is impressed with Superman, but discovers the comic 'Atomo the Metal Menace.' Hogarth reassures the Giant, "You are who you choose to be," something he learned from his friend Dean McCoppin, a beatnik who owns a local scrapyard. In the meantime, U.S. government agent Kent Mansley arrives, discovering possible evidence of the Giant and follows up several leads. Finding Hogarth's BB gunnear the substation, Mansley takes a room for rent at Hogarth's home and follows the boy around, hoping to learn more. Hogarth evades Mansley and takes the Giant to beatnik artist Dean McCoppin's junkyard. Hogarth soon has to discuss "death" with the Giant after they witness hunters shoot a stag in the forest. Paranoid about alien invasions, Mansley alerts the U.S. Army to the presence of the Giant. When he and General Shannon Rogard, backed by Army troops, force the investigation, Dean reveals the robot disguised as a scrap-metal artwork. Rogard admonishes Mansley and leaves. Later, Hogarth plays with the Giant using a toy gun, which automatically activates the Giant's self-defence weaponry. Dean saves Hogarth and commands the Giant to leave. Thinking that the giant never meant any harm, Hogarth runs after him. Dean realizes the Giant was only reacting defensively. He catches Hogarth with his motorbike as the Giant reaches town.

In Rockwell, the Giant saves two boys from falling to their death, to the amazement of witnesses. The Army troops see the Giant, return, and attack while requesting Navy and Air Force support. The Giant flies away with Hogarth, but is shot down by a missile from a USAF F-86. After crashing, the Giant thinks the unconscious Hogarth is dead; now enraged he regains his memories and activates all his energy weapons and battles the outmatched Army. Mansley lies to Rogard telling him that the robot killed Hogarth and suggests he can be destroyed at sea with a nuclear missile from the USS Nautilus. Hogarth wakes up and reassures the Giant, causing him to deactivate his weapons. As Mansley keeps telling Rogard to keep attacking, Dean says the Giant never harmed anyone. Seeing Hogarth alive, Rogard has the forces stand down, but before he can tell theNautilus the same thing, a panicked Mansley orders the missile launch. Furious, Rogard reminds Mansley that the missile, currently targeted on the Giant, will also kill everyone in Rockwell. When Mansley attempts to flee the Giant stops him and the Army forces Mansley to stay and die like a good soldier should. Hogarth tells the Giant about Rockwell's impending demise and the Giant makes the decision to fly off, smiling to himself that he chooses to be a hero like Superman. The Giant collides with the missile, causing a massive explosion high in the atmosphere and saving the town. The townspeople are happy to have survived, but are saddened by the robot's sacrifice.

Sometime later in the spring, Annie and Dean are dating and Dean has built a statue in the park to honor the Giant. Hogarth receives a package from Rogard, a small bolt, the only piece of the Giant ever found. That night, Hogarth hears a familiar beeping coming from the bolt, which is trying to get out of the window. He opens the window to let the bolt out. Somewhere on the Langjökull Glacier in Iceland, parts of the Giant approach where his head rests. He wakes up and smiles as the Giant repairs himself.

## Transcript

Max Steel meets the Iron Giant/Transcript