i ____ you.

“Your secret is safe with me.”

Max says this 2 times in the movie. First where Max runs with Atom, & then finds out that Atom understands people & is not just a robot that is controlled by people. The 2nd time where it is after the battle of Zeus vs. Atom & says it to Charlie. The first time I watched the movie in the theaters, I thought it related to Charlie stating his love for his son, but after today watching it again, I was confused of what it meant. The most outrageous reason I found was Charlie is not the actual father of Max. I started doing more research & it started becoming reasonable. In the beginning of the movie, it shows Charlie bringing up of not seeing his ex-girlfriend for about 10 years, but Max is 11 years old. He asks them if he is 9-10 years old, at first I thought Charlie was just a bad dad bringing up a wrong age, but it can also be the fact that he knows the age should be at 10 or under. He asks Max about his age a few times and mostly brings up the ages 9-10. There was one time where he asked for Max’s age & got it wrong but actually thinks about the math calculation on probably of how it doesn’t add up of him being the father & shakes his head. The next one is where the movies takes place in 2020, while Max is 11 years old that would mean he would have been born around 2009. In the newspaper where Charlie breaks a sweat with one of the fighters, the date is 2007. We know that Charlie left Max’s mother to pursue his dream career of boxing. Which means that Charlie has already left Max’s mother, maybe ever earlier than that. But max was born around 2009. After the battle of Zeus vs. Atom. After Max makes his speech, he looks for Charlie by calling “Dad.” Throughout the movie, Max has always called Charlie by his name. He finally calls him Dad (a few times) & this is the scene where Charlie has to tell Max a secret. Charlie is about to say something with “I…” Causing me to think about that he is stating his love for his son, but after reading so much stuff about this theory, it is possible Charlie wanted to tell Max that he is not his actual father & Max understood what he was going to say that so he said, “You secret’s safe with me.” The confusing part is where Charlie tells Bailey that after Max was born, he ran away. So Max was born already, then he left? This actually makes me believe that Charlie is Max’s father. If the theory of him not being the father is true, why would he lie to bailey? or Did he accept the fact that even though he wasn’t the “real” father he wanted to be one? I really hope the sequel of Real Steel goes into depth of the scene of Charlie & Max’s secret. Not knowing the truth is killing me, like the ending of inception ._____. Can’t wait for Real steel 2 (: