Max Shreck is introduced in the film as the ruthless and ambitious owner of the multi-million department store Shreck's. His only family is his son, Charles "Chip" Shreck, and it is implied by dialogue that he murdered his wife for unknown reasons.

In the film, Shreck's goal is to build a supposed "Power Plant" for Gotham City's future. Standing in Shreck's way, however, is Mayor Hill, who believes such a Power Plant to be unnecessary. Bruce Wayne is also unconvinced of the need for a new plant, and opposes Shreck's plans.

Later on while Shreck is giving the town a speech, a group of clown-like criminals known as the Red Triangle Circus Gang attack the city and demand Shreck. Chip valiantly defends his father long enough for Shreck to escape, although Shreck is caught in a trap and he falls into the sewer, where he sees the same gang and meets their enigmatic leader: a mysterious Penguin-like creature, about whom unbelieved rumours had been spreading. The Penguin demands Shreck help him make his way to the surface in a positive light, and when Shreck at first refuses, the Penguin blackmails him with incriminating evidence of Shreck's past crimes (the Penguin had been studying Shreck for a while in preparation for this). On the condition that the Pengiun help him out as well, Shreck agrees.

Shreck then returns to his office, where he finds his timid and shy secretaty, Selina Kyle, doing a last-minute check-up for his meeting the next day with Bruce Wayne about the Power Plant. Kyle accidentally reveals that she has found out the true nature about the Power Plant, that it will siphon off power from the Gotham electrical grid and give the Shreck family a hugely profitable energy monopoly. Shreck, fearing that Kyle might let it slip, and refusing to risk what he considers his legacy to his son Chip, pushes her through a window to her death. Unknown to him, however, she survives the fall, and takes up the mantle of Catwoman.

The next day, during a speech, Mayor Hill's baby son is kidnapped by a Red Triangle Circus member, who flees into the sewer, where he is "attacked" by the Penguin, who "rescues" Hill's son and brings him to the surface, becoming a public hero. Shreck witnesses this, and demands the Penguin be granted access into the Hall of Records to search for his parents' names, in the process learning his human name: Oswald Cobblepot. The same day, Shreck meets with Bruce Wayne in his office, who also opposes the idea of the Power Plant and points out that Cobblepot is the leader of the Red Triangle Gang. Shreck denies this, however, and they are then visited by a heavily plastered but "amnesia-suffering" Selina, who displays a more confident attitude and even impresses Shreck, who vows to kill her only if she tries to blackmail him.


Shreck takes aim on BatmanShreck then reveals his plan: to recall the elections by using the Red Triangle Gang's attacks and set up Cobblepot as a candidate for Mayor of Gotham, who will approve of the Power Plant. Meanwhile, Selina, as Catwoman, starts her own revenge crusade against Shreck and blows up an entire floor of his department store.

Later, however, Shreck's plans to make Cobblepot the new Mayor are ruined when Bruce Wayne, from the Batcave, jams the microphones during Cobblepot's speech and plays some rantings Cobblepot had made towards the city while controlling the Batmobile with Batman inside it. Cobblepot's true personality and his schemes are uncovered, and he loses his popularity and is forced to return to the sewer, especially after Shreck abandons him.

At Shreck's annual "Maxquerade Ball", the Penguin crashes through and informs the party that his goons are targeting their first-born sons to murder in the sewer (in an act of revenge for what his parents did to him). His intention is to take Chip Shreck and kill him, but Shreck, in his first and only noble act, begs that he be taken instead, on the basis that it was he, and not Chip, who manipulated and betrayed him. The Penguin accepts, and takes Shreck prisoner, holding him in a cage above a deadly vat of toxic waste, into which he plans to dump Shreck along with the first borns.

When Batman intervenes and tricks the Penguin into firing missiles at Gotham Zoo (under which lies the Penguin's hideout), Shreck manages to escape from the cage, only to be ambushed by Catwoman, who is determined to kill him there and then. Batman arrives, and Shreck attempts to bribe him, only for Batman to push him back and tell him of his impending incarceration. When Batman, however, removes his mask and reveals himself as Bruce Wayne, Shreck takes out a gun and shoots Batman, unaware that he is wearing body armour. He then fires a few shots into Catwoman, who, thanks to her nine lives, is able to survive until Shreck runs out of bullets. Catwoman, using a taser, sacrifices her penultimate life to electrocute Shreck and cause a massive explosion which reduces him to nothing but a burnt, scorched, dead skeletal corpse.