Max Rockatansky
Max Rockatansky is a male film character who features in Mad Max.
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Biography
Max Rockatansky
He was a member of the Main Force Patrol (MFP or "Bronze") officer, who fought for peace on the decaying roads of Australian civilization. Max served as the last line of defense against the reckless marauders terrorizing the highways, driving an MFP V8 Interceptor. With the world about to crumble, Max said little and paid little awareness to his ever-growing reputation as the cop that successfully put away gangs due to his outstanding, and increasingly ruthless, driving skills. In fact, the audience is introduced to Max as he joins the pursuit of the man calling himself "The Nightrider," the self-proclaimed "fuel-injected suicide machine." In order to stop Nightrider's rampage, Max rammed the man's car at top speed, sending it wheeling out of control, into total destruction.
Resigning from the Force Patrol after his good friend The Goose was attacked by the Nightrider's comrade, The Toecutter and his toadying supplicant, Johnny the Boy, Max left with his wife, Jessie, and infant son, Sprog, for a life of solitude in the quiet countryside. But the gang, led by the cunning Toecutter stalked the Rockatanskys. Ruthlessly, they ran down and murdered both his son and wife before his eyes, deaths which had an obviously psychologically shattering effect on Max, transforming him into a bitter being full of hatred and anger. With his lighter emotions vanquished, Max embraced his darker side; he broke out his MFP leathers and commandeered a supercharged black Interceptor prototype called the Pursuit Special, thereby forever more becoming "Mad Max." As Mad Max, he carried out bloody revenge killings of those responsible for his family's deaths -- Toecutter and his crazy gang. Having been reduced to a shell of a man as a result of those deaths, Max then permanently left behind what little was left of this ever crumbling civilization and drove off into the desolate wasteland, apparently never to return.
Around three years later, Max was found surviving the Wastelands in solitude with the sole companionship of a Dog he picked up along the way. By this time, all major cities and urban centres had fully fallen as Australia resulting in the world descending into a complete dystopia. Max's Pursuit Special in this time had become his home as we watch him scavenge the wastes of the Outback for water, oil, and petrol as his daily ritual of survival. One day, Max happens upon a mysterious-looking craft, a Gyrocopter, sitting desolate alongside the road. As Max investigates the lonely gyro, presumably for petrol and anything else at all useful, he is surprised to be ambushed from below as a man simply called the 'Gyro Captain' cleverly emerges from a depression in the ground. This decoy-ploy worked momentarily as it seemed the Gyro Captain had outwitted Max and was about to steal his car and belongings. That was until Max's pet, "Dog," jumped the Gyro Captain, giving Max the advantage. In order to preserve his life, the Gyro Captain told Max that he knew of a place where he could get all the petrol he wanted, explaining that there was a little compound refining it straight from the ground. The Gyro Captain led him to the Wasteland plains, where Max discovered the besieged group of settlers and life changed drastically again for him. With a fortress constructed out of an old oil refinery, these civilised people were constantly terrorised by a tribe of heavy-metal barbarians, led by The Humungus, self-proclaimed "Lord" of these Neo-Barbarians trying to overrun the wayward compound. As Max and the Gyro Captain staked-out the refinery, they witnessed several vehicles leaving the compound in an effort to escape the horde of Humungus. All of the vehicles were destroyed quickly and abruptly. Max and the Gyro Captain witnessed the occupants of one vehicle beaten, the woman raped, and the man shot with steel arrows. Max wastes no time in pouncing upon this event, seizing it as an opportunity to gain trust, entry, and, especially, fuel from the refinery's occupants by rescuing the injured refugees. Unfortunately, Max was able to rescue only the man, Nathan, who had been shot with arrows. Max and Nathan made a deal that if Max saved his life and returned him to the refinery, Max could fuel-up and get supplies. However, upon Max's delivering the refugee to the compound, Nathan died before he could convey the pact to the settlers' leader, Pappagallo, revealing thusly, "If you had a contract, it was with him. And it died with him."
Having no bargain, the compound dwellers, suspicious of Max, treated him as a spy and an enemy, and handcuffed him to some piping. Whilst he was there, Max witnesses a confrontation between Humungus and the compound dwellers, wherein Humungus attempted to reason and bargain with them, telling them that if they walked away from the refinery no one would be killed. Of course, Pappagallo refused to believe those words, but there was internal strife among them, with some wanting to take Humungus up on his offer. Again, seeing an opportunity, Max told the compound dwellers, "Two days ago I saw a vehicle that could haul that tanker. You wanna get out of here? You talk to me." Thus, Max made a bargain to go for the tanker in exchange for all the fuel he could carry as well as some supplies. Under cover of darkness, Max trekked across the wild outback carrying four, large jerrycans of fuel for the truck, at one point using a distraction by the Feral Kid to make it safely. Eventually, he got to the truck and drove it back to the compound. However, Wez, and a few of his cohorts attacked the truck and infiltrated the compound. The refinery dwellers, led by Pappagallo and Warrior Woman, fought back, repelling Wez and his fellow barbarians, but Pappagallo was injured during the skirmish. Max, having fulfilled his part of the bargain, stocked-up his V8 Interceptor like a true mercenary only out for himself with the full intention of leaving. Pappagallo attempted to convince Max to stay and drive the tanker for them, to get back some of his lost humanity, but Max refused. Instead, he screamed-off into the Wasteland in an attempt to escape the marauder horde and put this episode long behind him. However, Wez and other members of the horde chased Max down and attacked him, causing him to wreck the Interceptor at high speed, killing his dog and nearly killing Max, as well; the Pursuit Special was totally wrecked and exploded into a ball of fire, thanks to the little bomb Max had booby-trapped to the tank.
Overview
Personality and attributes
He was sometimes known as the Road Warrior.
Powers and abilities
Notes
- Max Rockatansky was created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy where he featured in the setting of the Mad Max universe.
- In Mad Max 1-3, the character was portrayed by actor Mel Gibson.
- In Mad Max: Fury Road, the character was portrayed by actor Tom Hardy.
In other media
Video games
Appearances
- Mad Max:
- Mad Max: Fury Road:
External Links
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