It is not easy to make sense of Mad Maxs ever-changing age throughout the franchise’s four movies, but the age of his actor and clear chronology of the series can be used to discern this information. The Mad Max Movies are a masterpiece of off-the-cuff world-building. Hard as it may be to believe now, the original thriller was only set in the future to save on production costs and was never even intended to be a sci-fi story.
However, since then Road Warriors iconic villains ensured that the Mad Max franchise essentially invented the post-apocalyptic action movie aesthetic and the series’ sunburned style has endured in popularity throughout the sci-fi genre for decades. Despite this, it is difficult to discern the chronology of these Mad Max Movies in concrete terms, and even harder to work out the history of their stars. Just trying to recognize what age Mad Max is in each movie proves that the franchise is more confused and contradictory than it initially appears to the casual viewer.
If viewers assume that Max is intended to be the same age as his actor at the time of filming, the original Mad MaxThe hero is around 22 years old (as the series stars Mel Gibson during filming in 1978). Assuming that Max is not immortal (as some fans claim) and ages normally, when he returns to screens in Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorHe was 24 like Gibson. According to this logic, in Mad Max: Beyond ThunderdomeThe character is 28, and finally, through the events of Mad Max: Fury RoadThe character should be around 35-36 as his new actor Tom Hardy was during filming. Now, while the ages look right for the character and align with the standard”Mad Max, Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, fury way“Chronology that the series is presumed to follow, they do not tell the whole story.
Mad Max (1979)
Max is in his early 20s when his story begins
Max’s story starts in a relatively recognizable world where, although society is beginning to crumble, the off-screen apocalypse has not yet occurred. Lawlessness is increasingly commonplace thanks to fuel shortages, with writer/director George Miller inspired to write Mad Max By severe climate predictions of the late ’70s. However, since the all-important apocalyptic event hasn’t happened yet, it’s pretty clear why Elder Max is here. While Gibson was only 22 while shooting the movie, Max may be a bit older since he is already married and has a young child. apparently, Max is in his early twenties.
The Road Warrior (1981)
Max didn’t age between his first two screen outings
The wheels soon come loose like this Mad Max Franchise continues thanks to his unexplained apocalypse. The Road Warrior Arrived two years later Mad MaxSo viewers can assume that Max should be in his mid to late twenties In this sequel. This certainly fits Gibson’s real-life age, so while a lot has changed in the franchise’s desolate setting during the intervening two years, it still seems to make sense. However, negotiations become stranger when the next installments are taken into account. yet The Road WarriorEach next Mad Max Movie makes the timing of the series difficult to follow.
Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
The Mad Max timeline gets murkier with the third installment
Beyond Thunderdome was filmed only three years later The Road WarriorSo Max should still be around 28 years old. Indeed, this is the time Gibson is filming the movie, this is the age Max is looking at, and this would explain how the aunt entity and the time to establish an alternative society in the intervening years. However, when Miller told a press conference that the prequel of 2024 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga “Probably” takes place after Beyond ThunderdomeHe inadvertently made the series timeline a complete headache. apparently, Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagas fight happens”45 years” After the apocalypse.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Furiosa’s Mad Max prequel makes Max’s age harder to parse
For anyone still following, Max should technically be at least 67 years old to the time Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga takes place. After all, it was 45 years since the world ended, and he was, at least, around 22 years old before that. This makes it difficult to figure out exactly what age Max is supposed to be in the later movies. To make matters worse, the actor who plays him Furiosa: A Mad Max SagaFormer stuntman James Tomori is 44 years old, 8 years older than Tom Hardy when he played fury ways max.
Fury Road (2015)
Max has definitely aged by the events of Fury Road
Although its star was only 35 years old during filming, according to Miller’s timeline, Maximum should be approximately 83 inches fury way. fury way is set 15 years later Furiosa: A Mad Max SagaWhich is set 45 years after the apocalypse, before which Max was at least 22 years old. As such, he must be at least 83 or, as is more likely, there could be a problem with the franchise’s timeline. fury wayMax looks much closer in age to Furiosa and is older than he apparently should, implying that the series is not entirely clear about its events.
Mad Max: fury ways prequel comics, for example, note that the nuclear war that wreaks devastation on Max’s home country took place in 2015. Mad MaxWhat happened in the “Near future” sometime after 1979, depicts a pre-nuclear war world, and is thought to be set in the mid-’80s. However, the fact that Beyond Thunderdome Is set after the nuclear war and features a character who left his crashed airplane in 1999, confusing the chronology somewhat. As if the uncertain timing of this contentious off-screen nuclear war isn’t enough trouble for avid viewers, there’s also the issue of the cause of the Mad Max Universe’s apocalypse changing from movie to movie.
|
Mad Max Movie |
Max’s age |
|---|---|
|
Mad Max |
22 |
|
The Road Warrior |
24 |
|
Beyond Thunderdome |
28 |
|
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga |
30 (or possibly 67) |
|
fury way |
35/36 (or possibly 83) |
The end of the world has no consistent cause among these Mad Max Movies, with some saying there was civilization collapse due to fuel shortages, some blaming nuclear war, and some implying a combination of both caused the apocalypse. Meanwhile, the fact that both fury way And the much more grounded, realistic original Mad Max The same actor as their main villain even led some viewers to theorize that the world never ended and Max only became more delusional between installments. As a result, it’s impossible to say for sure what age Max is in each movie, because many can’t even agree on whether the apocalypse even happened in Mad Maxs universe. That said, using each movie star’s age as a guide gives a good idea and a satisfactory answer for most Mad Max viewers and also confirm that the movies take place in their order of release (outside of their 2024 prequel).
Source: Polygon