Unlocking the Power of Gods: ‘The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’

‘The Max Level Hero Strikes Back‘ (Korean: 만렙 영웅님 께서 귀환 하신다!) also known as ‘Max Level Hero is Making a Comeback!‘ and ‘The Max Level Hero has Returned!‘ is a Korean manhwa webtoon released in 2020, illustrated by ‘Yudo‘ (Korean: 유도), based on the web novel by ‘Angmakkori‘ (Korean: 악마꼬리) and originally published by ‘Golem Factory‘ on the Korean platform ‘Kakao‘ and adapted in English by ‘Tapas.io‘.

Dive deep into the world of ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’, where Davey, a prince who trained for 1000 years in the god real, comes back to his original world and begins his journey to success.

Davey Al Rown

Born as a prince of the Kingdom of Rown, Davey Al Rown gets shot by an arrow and ends up comatose, his soul gets sent to the ‘Hall of Heroes’ aka a murim like God realm where past heroes of all races rest after their time living. After enduring a hellish training for a thousand years, Davey’s soul returns to his original timeline, after being comatose for six real life years, Davey’s rise to the top finally begins.

The World of ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’

Most of the story takes place in a fantasy world, on the ‘Tionis‘ continent, to be precise, the Rown Kingdom – where Davey returns to after training with the gods. Some of that training is shown in periodic flashbacks, featuring different gods, and introducing plenty of lore and some fairly interesting sub stories.

Davey’s family is rather cruel. His father is an absent parent whose sole priority is the kingdom. His stepmother, the queen, is even worse, she literally poisoned his mother to death – and then there is his half-brother who was the shooter responsible for putting him into a coma.

After shaking up his family and speaking his mind to the king, he is (more or less) banished to a ‘cursed’ territory called ‘Hines’, which is now his domain. Prince Davey sets out to develop his land, help his people and earn a lot of money.

Characters

His loyal maid Amy is the daughter of a baron family and was the only person who stuck with Davey when he was comatose. She has a heart of gold, and is surprisingly talented in territory management and organizing, becoming Davey’s right-hand woman, quickly and taking over more and more responsibilities as time goes on. Easily one of the most competent assistants you could imagine – she doesn’t have any superhuman abilities though.

Then there are his half-brother Bariss Al Rown and half-sister Winley Al Rown, who were born to another Queen, she didn’t participate in poisoning Davey’s mother and remained neutral.

Both Baris and Winley are on very good terms with Davey, so much so, that Davey’s goal is to make Bariss the new king after his father future resignation or death.

His siblings care about him deeply and will do anything to support their brother. But unfortunately they were banished to a remote territory while Davey was in a coma, and thus couldn’t really help him.

Demon Lord Perserk Von Fallen, who’s somehow got attached to Davey’s soul, while he received a stigma (something like a mark by the gods designating him as a ‘saint‘). Her appearance is close to that of a human, just with horns, or ‘handles’ as Davey calls them.

She is very knowledgeable and quickly starts getting quite fond of Davey and becomes his loyal sidekick nearly right away – ah, and since only Davey (and spirits) can see her, they share an even more special bond than your average summon.

Princess Elena De Fallen, owner of the holy sword, Davey meets her for the first time while on a trip out of the country to watch his brother’s participation in a swordsmanship competition.

She is the contractor of the ‘holy’ ego sword ‘Kaldiras’ and becomes one of Davey Al Rowans friends / rivals / (potential love interests?). Not only that but, she is one of the few people who quickly recognized Davey’s hidden power, thus an interesting dynamic arises.

Red-Flag & Blue-Flag, the twin ego swords (basically human children with the ability to turn into swords) crafted by master craftsman / hero, and one of Davey’s teachers ‘Sword God Haris’. After retrieving Red-Flag & Blue-Flag, Davey finished his teachers blacksmithing work and breathes life into them.

From then on, they are an inseparable team and close family members. Red & Blue are very attached to their ‘Dad’ Davey and ‘Mom’ Perserk, creating a very cute and wholesome family dynamic, loosening the story up a bit further and adding some intense moments too.

Lune, a combat golem, who’s more like a Homunculus with a built-in supercomputer, is one of the character highlights of this webtoon.

Her gluttonous attitude, regular roasts of Davey, ridiculous overpowered-ness and dry expressions make her one of the greatest characters to ever be conceived – sure there isn’t much depth to her, but that doesn’t even matter once you’ll see all her hilarious moments.

Princess Aeria Al Lindis, who got saved by Davey twice, first from a conspiracy and then by curing her deadly illness – she falls head over heels in love with Davey and is very motivated in her pursuit of our protagonist.

Even though she is a royal princess of the most powerful empire of the continent, she has faced a lot of discrimination due to being half beast-man, half human – adding a compelling depth to her character, highlighting the vile nature of the human race when it comes to bullying those who are different. At least her father, the Emperor, loves her very much, and would do anything for his beloved daughter.

Art & Style

’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ does a great job visualising the plot and story in a appealing manner. Especially the weapon designs and styles look really good – plus, characters aren’t overly sexualised or disproportionate, which is awesome, more webtoon illustrators should go this route.

At times scenes are drawn with less detail, which isn’t a big issue since most scenes are quite detailed, this could be a stylistic choice too, leaving a characters face with less details for a certain scene to shift focus to the intended target.

Some very beautiful landscapes are featured throughout the series too, serving as a welcome interlude between loaded action sequences. While nothing special, ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’’s artstyle and illustration does it’s job well, at times looking quite awesome.

What’s great about ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’

The whole webtoon is very wholesome once Davey established himself in a solid position – there are a lot of cute and innocent scenes sprinkled throughout the plot. It’s not exactly ‘Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear’ level cute and wholesome, but it’s a lot closer than your average isekai webtoon/manhwa.

Then there is a lot of action, and it is well made and executed action at that. While following Davey’s journey, a lot of enemies and other problems turn up. Being a prolific badass with over 1000 years of experience, watching Davey handle all those issues with both brain and power brings a lot of enjoyment.

An additional layer of diversity and added complexity to the story line gets introduced to the story through city-/kingdom-building, serving as a break and motivator between many of the action sequences and arcs – for example: Davey’s territory is in desperate need of craftsmen, so he sets out to make a deal with the dwarf tribe, encountering some problems he must solve along the way.

As mentioned before, both action and territory management are balanced very well and play a crucial role in setting a great pace for the story to unfold at, making each arc shine.

Another great point about ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ would be the noticeably slow approach to romance, sure Davey got plenty rizz, but at the same time, he isn’t really chasing after girls, isn’t horny or needy and is actively avoiding romance scenarios, just a ‘Sigma Chad‘ through and through lol.

Should I read ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’?

You should read ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ if you’re a:

Fantasy & Adventure Enthusiast, who enjoys a good read featuring a story set in a faraway alternative universe of fantasy.

Kingdom-Building Fan, that gets intrigued by tremendously intelligent MC’s, who have little to no issue navigating all kinds of logistical, financial, interpersonal, social and diplomatic situations.

Light Entertainment Enjoyer, who doesn’t want to get weighed down by a heavy, sad, or upsetting plot or storyline. ‘The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ manages to be both interesting, funny and light at the same time, Davey is so overpowered, you never really have to worry about him, or anybody close to him for that matter, he’s gonna come through somehow, the excitement lies in seeing how he does it!

Special Features

Davey is a very intelligent protagonist, who’s outsmarting the neighboring nobles and taking over shit – all while being a good person, and respected leader. He is motivated, smart and on a path to success, he’s a multi-talented genius (which can be expected after being thought by gods for 1000 years). Usually, a MC tends to be talented in a specific field or topic, this makes Davey rather unique, since he is one of the most overpowered characters ever created.

Summary

With well-balanced elements of kingdom-building and action, ’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ offers plenty of wholesome moments alongside intense battles and strategic maneuvers. Davey’s overpowered yet relatable character, coupled with diverse supporting characters and a measured approach to romance, makes this series a compelling read for fantasy enthusiasts, kingdom-building fans, and those seeking light entertainment.

Tl;dr

’The Max Level Hero Strikes Back’ follows Davey Al Rown, a prince who returns to his kingdom after training for a thousand years in a hero / god realm. Together with newfound allies, Davey faces political intrigue, builds his territory, and handles adversaries with intelligence and strength. Balanced with action and territory management, (the series offers wholesome moments too), intense battles, and a slow-ish approach to romance, making it a captivating and fun read for fantasy and kingdom-building enthusiasts alike.