The story of Max Payne follows a New York detective who becomes a vigilante
after his wife and newborn daughter are murdered by addicts of a new designer drug called Valkyr.
With the odds stacked against him, he seeks to topple the criminal organizations
and secret societies responsible for this drug, and therefore avenge the death of his family
through his own brand of personal justice. Let's break down the Myth of Max Payne.
I'm SuperbowlPants. I have a graduate degree in Fiction. I'm a published author,
and I've been studying stories for the last 15 years. I started "The Myth Of…" series to
explore The Hero's Journey framework, which can help you better understand the purpose
of a story and better understand yourself. The Hero's Journey is a story framework theorized
by Joseph Campbell. He studied thousands of ancient myths and discovered that these
stories followed a pattern of 12 plot points. He hypothesized that this pattern emerged because
all human beings share the same formative psychological moments, such as leaving home
or building new friendships. Today, the Hero's Journey has been adopted by screenwriters and
authors as an aid to plot their stories with notable examples from Pixar and Marvel studios.
The Ordinary World is a time when the internal and external conflicts of the hero are revealed. The
ordinary world is static yet unstable. Max Payne is excelling in his career, and he's starting
a new chapter in his domestic life, building a family with his wife and newborn daughter.
He's portrayed as a man for whom everything is going right, which indicates that the
world is imbalanced and due for a correction. The call to adventure can sometimes be the loss
of a need or necessity, and the call is the hero being driven to reclaim or replace that necessity.
Max returns home from the job to find that his wife and baby have been murdered by addicts of
a new street drug called Valkyr. Previously, he had turned down promotions so he could stay at
home and be a better father and husband. The loss of his family has completely overturned his life;
not only were they his support system, they were his future.
The refusal of the call is a time when the hero reveals that they are frightened by
the adventure ahead. After Max discovers the lifeless bodies of his family, he holds his
wife in his arms and screams "No" in a symbolic refusal. He doesn't want to accept their loss,
and he doesn't want to begin his journey for vigilante justice.
The mentor is someone who provides information and guidance to the hero throughout the adventure.
Some genres subvert this part of the hero's journey. Horror movies will forego a mentor
because the unknown is more threatening, and mystery or noir stories will forego a
mentor as this leaves more questions unanswered, driving the hero to find the answers for himself.
After the death of his family, Max accepts an undercover position with the DEA,
and he infiltrates the Punchinello Crime Family. They are suspected as being responsible for
the Valkyr epidemic and therefore, indirectly responsible for the death of the Payne family.
Max's partner and undercover handler, Alex, would have been Max's mentor. He helped build
the case against the Punchinello Crime Family, and he could have provided case notes, weapons,
and backup to Max while he was undercover. After all, Alex was one of only two people who knew Max
was undercover. However, just before their secret meeting, Alex is shot by an unseen gunman.
The crossing of the first threshold is a time when the hero can no longer turn back and must
commit wholeheartedly to the adventure. Some mystery or noir stories will frame the hero to
force them across the threshold and prevent them from turning back or fleeing the case. They must
commit to the adventure to clear their name. Max is framed for the murder of his partner,
Alex. The NYPD and deputy chief Jim Bravura target Max in the name of justice.
Meanwhile, the Punchinello Crime Family is informed that Max is an undercover cop.
To clear his name and avoid being arrested or killed by law enforcement,
Max must continue the investigation. This is the moment when Max has few
friends and many enemies. His resolve is tested, and he's forced to forge ahead.
Enemies Jack Lupino – Max's first
lead in his investigation is Jack Lupino, a boss in the Punchinello crime family.
During the investigation, Max discovers the Punchinello's are in a turf war with Vladimir Lem,
a Russian crime family. Lupino's capo is captured and beaten into confessing
Lupino's location at club Ragna Rock. Here, we battle and execute Lupino.
Angelo Punchinello – Angelo Punchinello is the don of the Punchinello crime family,
and he is responsible for distributing Valkyr on the streets. He's married to Lisa Sax,
Mona's sister. Max Payne considers Angelo responsible for the death of his family.
Nicole Horne – Nicole Horne is an even worse enemy.
She murders Angelo Punchinello before Max can, stealing his opportunity for vengeance. She is the
CEO of Aesir, a corporation that is responsible for the production of the Valkyr drug.
BB – BB is initially described as an ally. He was one of only two people who knew Max
was undercover. However, allies are not always what they seem. We'll discuss B.B. later.
Allies Mona Sax – After murdering Lupino,
we meet Mona Sax. Mona has become an assassin. She's on a mission to rescue her sister who is
also Angelo's wife. She informs Max that Angelo orcehstrated the murder of his handle and mentor,
Alex, and framed Max for the crime. She doses his drink to prevent him from interfering with
her mission to save her sister. This sends him into a drug dream about his dead family.
Vladimir Lem – Vladimir requests a temporary alliance, providing Max with firepower in exchange
for reclaiming his shipment from the Russian ship, the Charon, and murdering the mutineers. In this
way, Lem is an ally who helps Max arm himself. Alfred Woden – A senator and whistleblower
who gives Max key information about Nicole Horne, the Aesir Corporation,
and the Inner Circle (read as the illuminati). Vladimir Lem tasks Max Payne with battling the
entire crew of the Charon ship singlehandedly. Max attempts to assassinate Angelo Punchinello by
setting up a meeting with him at Angelo's restaurant, Casa di Angelo. However,
he is outwitted by Angelo, who instead burns down the building while Max is inside.
The approach to the inmost cave is a time for the hero to make plans,
do reconnaissance on the enemy, reorganize or thin out the group, fortify and arm themselves.
Max believes his battle with Punchinello will be the end of his journey for vengeance. He believes
Punchinello is responsible for Valkyr and for the death of his family. He secures weapons on the
Charon as part of his deal with Lem, which is his attempt to fortify and arm himself. After failing
to assassinate Punchinello at his restaurant, Max attacks Punchinello manor. Here, Max defeats
the infamous right-hands of the mafia don, The Trio, who serve as threshold guardians.
Just as Max finds and confronts Angelo, professional hitmen in suits arrive alongside
a new foe, Nicole Horne. She injects Max with a dose of Valkyr and murders Punchinello before
Max can get a chance. Previously, Max thought the murder of Punchinello would have been his Ordeal,
the purpose for his journey. However, when Nicole Horner is revealed as an even worse enemy.
Max must pass into a Special World within a Special World, one where Nicole
is the archenemy, not Punchinello. Max continues to do reconnaissance on
his this new antagonist. Max discovers Horner was contracted by the Army for chemical development of
a serum that would create super soldiers. This was called Project Valhalla. Horner failed the Army,
but she continued to develop the drug, which came to be known as Valkyr.
In his investigation, Max discovers that Valkyr test subjects were sent to the Payne home to
murder his wife. Mrs. Payne was a District Attorney who had discovered Horner and Aesir
were responsible for the Valkyr epidemic. This information is confirmed by a tipster,
Alfred Woden. He informs Max of an Illuminati-type organization,
the Inner Circle. They are more powerful than the Punchinello Crime Family, and Woden says they have
been blackmailed by Horner to expunge her record and erase any trace of Mrs. Payne's investigation.
Woden offers to clear Max's criminal history if he can defeat Horner.
The Ordeal is a moment when death must seem as imminent and inescapable. The hero may die,
witness a death, or cause a death during the Ordeal.
Max enters the Aesir building and discovers evidence that the Inner Circle is much more
far-reaching, influential, and diabolical than the Punchinello Crime Family.
Max briefly meets Mona Sax, who has evaded death throughout her battle with Punchinello. Here,
she's shot in the head during a brief gunfight before disappearing into a closing elevator.
This indicates the enemies here are more powerful, and the stakes are higher.
Max battles through the building against Horner's well-staffed and well-armed security forces.
As Nicole Horner attempts to escape via helicopter, Max shoots the stabilizing cables
of a radio tower, which topples and collides with her helicopter before it can take off.
Here, Max has defeated his greatest adversary and successfully survived the Ordeal.
The Reward is a time when the hero finally seizes what was being sought for so long through
the adventure. For Max Payne, his reward was vengeance for the murder of his daughter and wife.
He had answers to all the questions that came with their murders, and he successfully brought
justice to nearly all of those responsible for the creation and distribution of Valkyr.
The Road Back is a time when the hero returns from the Special World back to the Ordinary World.
Max has delivered his brand of vigilante justice, and he surrenders himself to the police as a
method of returning to the ordinary world. Max is in the backseat of the police cruiser, headed
down the road toward the jail and courthouse, symbolically returning from his own brand of
justice to more conventional forms of justice. He assumes he will have to answer for the crimes he
committed (and crimes he didn't commit). The resurrection is a time when the hero is
reborn as a result of the adventure. Max has been resurrected as someone new,
no longer obsessed with vengeance or willing to lose his life in its pursuit. He is no longer
solely define by the loss of his family. He will have to redefine himself moving forward. And,
his resurrection is further completed by the surprise during The Return With The Elixir.
The return with the elixir is a time when the plot is completely resolved,
but not without a sudden revelation or surprise. Just as Max is placed within the police cruiser,
he sees Alfred Woden. The man was not killed during the raid on the Inner Circle,
and Max thinks to himself that Woden better keep his word and clear his name.
So that's the myth of Max Payne. Come join me, SuperbowlPants, on Twitch
for live playthroughs. If you have questions or requests, post them in the comments below.
More of The Myth Of series can be found right here.