Hughes in the 2003 anime.
In the 2003 series, Maes first met Edward Elric while he still held the rank of Major on the train to Central, and aided him against Bald (Hughes wasn't on the train in the original manga storyline.[1]). He also introduced his wife Gracia to Edward and his brother Alphonse during their stay at Shou Tucker's home in Central for the State Alchemy exams. He invited the Elrics and Tucker's daughter Nina to his home for Ed's birthday, but was forced to seek help in a blizzard when Gracia went into labor. While Hughes was out, the Elrics and Nina helped deliver his daughter Elicia. After this, Hughes became good friends with the Elrics and helped them as often as he could, most notably assisting Ed with his investigation into Tucker's research. Not long after this, Hughes was called to investigate the scene of Nina's murder and assisted Ed in his attempt to track down Barry the Chopper whom Ed believed to be the culprit. 3 years later after the Elrics and Tim Marcoh survived several attacks from Scar, Hughes informed Ed that Scar was Nina's killer.
After receiving his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, Hughes is placed in charge of the Investigations Division. While investigating the 5th Laboratory incident and the mysterious deaths of the prisoners involved with its experiments, Hughes finds that there is much to suspect about the Führer’s secretary, Juliet Douglas. During the course of his investigation, he is lured by Douglas to a hotel where she had told him Dr. Tim Marcoh is waiting, but on the arrival, Hughes is confronted by both her and another woman matching Edward's description from Lab 5, right down to the Ouroboros mark. Barely surviving, Hughes is only saved by the timely intervention of 2nd Lt. Ross. He flees the building with her, in order to contact Mustang from a public telephone booth. His reason behind calling Mustang directly is to give him information that the Homunculi have infiltrated the top Military ranks and that his life may be in danger. As Mustang is on a train to Central, Hughes is unable to contact him. Hughes then confronts Ross, grabbing out his knife and putting it next to the side of her neck, telling her that the real Ross has a minuscule mole under her left eye. The imposter apologizes before causing the aforementioned mole to materialize into place. The imposter quickly draws out her gun, but Hughes luckily throws his knife at her to slash her throat. Hughes turns to leave, but the imposter gets up and transforms into Gracia. Hughes hesitates to attack, and the imposter uses the opportunity to fatally shoot him. Hughes is posthumously promoted to Brigadier General, ironically attaining a higher rank than Mustang, although the latter later does gain the same rank. His death is stated as 1915 in this series, as opposed to 1914 in both the manga and 2009 series.[2]
In Episode 36, Gracia Hughes informs Winry Rockbell of Maes' demise after Winry returns to Central. Later in Episode 44, Winry and Sheska are forced to restrain the Elrics upon informing them what happened to Maes.
Maes Hughes appears along with Trisha Elric, Nina Tucker, and Scar in a montage of deceased characters whom the Elrics were close to then in a scene depicting him playing cards with his fellow officers in the end credits of Episodes 42-50. Maes also gets a cameo in the 50th episode where Envy shape-shifts into him in a failed attempt to guilt trip Ed into letting him live. He is also quoted as nonchalantly telling Ed to "calm down."
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa[]
Hughes as the police officer.
The Amestrian Maes appears intermittently as part of the opening montage that features several notable scenes and characters from the 2003 Anime. Just like many of the other characters, Maes and Gracia also have alternate versions of themselves living in our world, with the former possessing a slightly looser set of moral standards than his Amestris counterpart. He works as a policeman in Munich, and Gracia is a flower shop owner and the landlady of the place where Edward and Alfons Heiderich were living. By the time of the movie, they are not together, but Hughes is already trying to approach her, and Ed tells him to stop stalking her and confess his feelings to her once and for all. Their relationship starts to cool when Noah starts to live with Ed, because while Gracia supports her, Hughes, a Nazi Party member, tries to dissuade Ed due to Noah's Romani origin. After the Nazis attempt to take over fails, he arrives at the site where a link had been opened between his world and Ed's, only to find Alfons dead and Dietlinde Eckhart arriving back in her ship, having been defeated in Amestris (the world which she believed to be Shamballa). However, Dietlinde is completely transformed by her travels through the Gate and appears to be an inhuman monster, causing Hughes and the others present to reel back in disgust. Dietlinde then tries to threaten Noah to open the Gate again, forcing Hughes to defend the Romani girl he previously slandered. He fatally shoots Dietlinde, and only after her death, does the black miasma from the Gate recede, leaving her recognizable, but also apparently twisted by insanity during her last moments.
By the movie's end, Hughes finally gets the courage to speak openly with Gracia and apparently, they finally come to terms and he leaves the party. His final scene shows him standing beside Gracia at Alfonse's funeral.