She is suffering, but instead of giving in she chooses to fight and, more importantly, to keep fighting. “Dear Billy” is a phenomenal episode and in the moment has an air of finality. Max has escaped Vecna, so she is safe from Vecna.
In the battle against Vecna, Max dies. But Eleven — and the power of love — brings her back.
However, within the red smoke of Vecna's Mind Lair, it wasn't the song itself that saved her, but the memories it conjured up. What broke through to Max was the happy, loving memories of her friends, particularly Lucas and Eleven, and these were what truly allowed her to break free of Vecna's grasp and escape.
Though Vecna is now more powerful than Eleven, at the time she managed to escape through a psychic joust. Kali's escape was far more subtle, happening before the massacre could even take place. The series implies that Kali was able to escape by using her abilities.
Is Max actually dead? Max attempts to hold on, telling Lucas that she's "not ready to die" but she succumbs to her injuries and ends up dying in Lucas's arms. Max's death allows Vecna to open the fourth gate, and rip a huge hole in the middle of Hawkins.
There are many questions about Eleven, like whether Eleven created The Upside Down, and in the season 4 finale, she brings Max back to life. Eleven uses her telekinetic powers to get into Vecna's mind and battle him herself.
At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas.
While intending to get his revenge on Eleven and Brenner, Vecna also goes after victims who have dealt with traumatizing experiences in the past (reminiscent of his childhood and his time at the Hawkins lab).
Instead of escaping Vecna's Mind Lair by hearing her favorite song, Nancy is actually released by Vecna himself.
So, Max was nearly murdered like Vecna's three previous victims. Just before Max died, Eleven rallied her strength, defeated Vecna and freed Max -- but the damage had already been done. Even though Max was free from Vecna, she died in Lucas' arms.
Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why it was necessary for a certain character to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4. Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why Max had to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4, volume 2.
Despite Max (Sadie Sink) being left in a coma at the end of season 4, she will be returning for season 5. The actress appeared on Today with Hoda and Jenna, where she opened up about the last season of the show. She told them why it was going to be 'sad and scary' explaining: "It's going to be awful.
Tragically, Vecna succeeds in killing Max, though she's shortly resurrected by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) — or is she? Vecna doesn't just kill, he consumes his victims, absorbing the essence of their minds and souls. Max, who lies in a coma, might have a pulse, but, as Eleven discovers, her mind is empty.
Is Max alive at the end of Season 4? Physically, yes. Lucas tells his friends that Max is in a coma, and we see her wearing casts on her arms and legs. The Duffer brothers have also confirmed that at the end of Season 4, Max is alive yet "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken."
In this case, the "everything" Vecna took was what makes Max the person her friends know and love. The moment she died, Max's essence left her body and became the property of Vecna, explaining why Max is not there to greet Eleven inside her own mind.
Vecna draws power from sad and angry memories and that is the main reason he targets traumatized teens. Those teens are a well of power just there to be absorbed. This is not just a theory, Vecna himself told Eleven about the power that angry and sad memories hold.
Vecna's first big credited kill was Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien). He followed that murder with canonically terrible driver Fred Benson (Logan Riley Bruner) and basketball star Patrick McKinney (Myles Truitt).
Realizing he had tremendous psychic power, he haunted his family with visions before ultimately killing most of them. His father was framed for the murders and locked away in a mental hospital as a disturbed serial killer. Henry then found himself in the care of Brenner, who decided he wanted more kids like the boy.
On the final roll of the dice in Eddie's D&D campaign, Erica manages to roll a 20. It's a critical hit, the party finally defeat Vecna and win the campaign.
Patrick was targeted due to his father's abuse of him. Finally, Vecna targets Max for her trauma from witnessing Billy's death and uses Barb's (Shannon Purser) death as a way to use Nancy.
Brown is likely right in saying that no one created the Upside Down and that the parallel dimension has always existed. And if the boys' science teacher was right in saying there are “infinite variations” of our world in alternate dimensions, there could even be several versions of the Upside Down out there.
Yes, Max is brain dead in Stranger Things. When speaking with Josh Horowitz on his podcast, the Duffer Brothers said that although Max is alive, she is "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken."
"I don't want to die. I'm not ready," Max cries as she succumbs to her wounds — even if only for a minute. Max is clinically dead before being revived by Eleven's powers, but a psychic probe of Max's mind reveals an empty void.
Technically, Max does die from sustained from Vecna's curse during "The Piggyback" before Eleven uses her powers to restart her friend's heart. Before doing so, Vecna breaks Max's limbs and causes her to go blind before she dies in Lucas' arms.