Real Steel 2 picks up nearly a decade after the events of the first film. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) has retired from underground robot boxing and now trains up-and-coming fighters. Max (Dakota Goyo), now a teenager with a mind for robotics and AI, secretly upgrades Atom, the underdog sparring bot that once captured the world’s heart.

When a new global robot boxing league is announced—fueled by corporate money and enhanced AI—Max enters Atom into the qualifiers without Charlie’s knowledge. Atom begins climbing the ranks with a mix of strategy, heart, and Max’s AI enhancements. But trouble arises when Atom is flagged as “too human” and disqualified, sparking a public outcry.

Meanwhile, a new champion emerges: Ares, an experimental military-grade robot controlled by an aggressive neural interface. Charlie reluctantly steps back into the ring as Atom’s corner man, while Max risks everything to override Ares’s AI from the inside.

In a dramatic final match, Atom battles Ares not just in the ring but through cyber warfare—Max controlling Atom’s empathy algorithm while Ares operates like a killing machine. Atom wins by refusing to kill Ares, earning public praise and forcing the league to rewrite its rules.

The movie ends with Charlie and Max mending their relationship, Atom inducted into the Robot Boxing Hall of Fame, and Max offered a spot at an elite tech institute.