Hagen and Proximo are killed in the siege while Juba and the survivors are imprisoned. Praetorian guards immediately storm Proximo's gladiator barracks, battling the gladiators while Maximus escapes. Commodus however, suspecting his sister's betrayal, threatens her young son and forces her to reveal the plot. Maximus forms a plot with Lucilla, Commodus' sister, and Senator Gracchus to reunite Maximus with his army and overthrow Commodus. His bitter enemy now known as "Maximus the Merciful," Commodus becomes more frustrated at his inability to kill Maximus or stop his ascending popularity while Commodus' own popularity shrinks.įollowing the fight, Maximus meets his former servant Cicero, who reveals that Maximus's army remains loyal to him. As Commodus votes for death, Maximus spares Tigris, deliberately insulting the Emperor and garnering the audience's approval. Following an intense battle, Maximus narrowly defeats Tigris and awaits Commodus' decision to kill or spare Tigris. The Emperor, unable to kill Maximus because of the crowd's roaring approval for him, sulks out of the arena.Īs the games continue, Commodus pits Maximus against Tigris of Gaul, Rome's only undefeated gladiator, in an arena surrounded by chained tigers with handlers instructed to target Maximus. Commodus descends into the arena to meet the victors and is stunned to discover Maximus as the leader of Proximo's gladiators. In a recreation of the Battle of Zama (incorrectly named the Battle of Carthage) at the Colosseum, Maximus leads Proximo's gladiators to decisive victory against a more powerful force, much to the amazement of the crowd. In Rome, Commodus reopens the gladiatorial games to commemorate his father's death, and Proximo's company of gladiators are hired to participate. As he trains and fights further, Maximus befriends Hagen, a Germanic barbarian, and Juba, a Numidian hunter, the latter becoming a close friend and confidant to the grieving Maximus, the two speaking frequently of the afterlife and Maximus' eventual reunification with his family. Distraught and nihilistic over the death of his family and betrayal by his empire, Maximus initially refuses to fight, but as he defends himself in the arena his formidable combat skills lead to a rise in popularity with the audience. Slave traders find Maximus and take him to Zucchabar, a rugged province in North Africa, where he is purchased by Proximo, the head of a local gladiator school. After burying his wife and son, a grieving Maximus succumbs to exhaustion and collapses on their graves. Maximus narrowly escapes his execution and races home only to discover his family's charred and crucified bodies in the smoldering ruins of his villa. Commodus orders Maximus' execution and dispatches Praetorian Guards to murder Maximus' wife and son. Aurelius informs Maximus and offers him time to consider before informing Commodus, who, in a bout of jealousy, murders his father.ĭeclaring himself the emperor, Commodus asks Maximus for his loyalty, which Maximus, realizing Commodus' involvement in the Emperor's death, refuses. Although the dying Aurelius has a son, Commodus, he decides to appoint temporary leadership to the morally-upstanding Maximus, with a desire to eventually return power to the Roman Senate. Shouting "Roma Invicta!" as his forces attack, General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman Army to victory against Germanic barbarians in the year 180 A.D., ending a prolonged war and earning the esteem of elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
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