Max Rockatansky

"My name is Max. My world is fire and blood. As the world fell, each of us fell in his way...it was much more harder to know who's more crazier; me, or everyone else."

- Mad Max

"You know, hope is a mistake. If you can't fix what's broken, you'll, uh... you'll go insane"

- Max to Furiosa about hope

Max Rockatansky (also known as Mad Max) is the titular main protagonist from director George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max film series. Max, like all people in the world after the Nuclear Holocaust, is insane and has little qualms about killing to survive however he is not without loyalties to the people he cares about such as Furiosa. He was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the first three films and by Tom Hardy in the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mad Max
Before the apocalypse Max was the top patrol officer out of all of Australia's MFP devision: Never failing to keep the highways of Northern and Western Australia safe from the road gangs that literally owned the Eastern and Southern portions of Australia down to the last inch due to the government collapse during the resource crisis in the early 1970's which in Mad Max's universe continued well into the 80's and eventually would lead to world war 3.

Max's debut is in the first Mad Max film. Here, Max is caught in a brutal Cop VS gang war about a year before the unavoidable apocalypse...He is ordered by his partner Jim Goose to continue the pursuit of a road gang member called The Night-rider, who had killed two MFP officers and stolen their Pursuit Special-the fastest car in the world at the time in Maxs world-and one of the two the MFP own. During the car chase, Nightrider breakdown crying as his girlfriend ask's him 'what is wrong, baby?" to which he responds "Its all gone--no matter what we do it'll all die!" He says this after he learns that Max Rocatansky is the one chasing him and not just some random officer. Max earned his nick-name "Mad-Max" for a reason--He takes no survivors back to the Halls of Justice police station. Being the best officer Max is only called in as a Last resort to take down a road gang member who MUST die, no matter the cost.

During the car chase Max rams Nightrider car--forcing it to ram into a fuel tanker that had broken down a few kilometers away, killing both The Nightrider and his girlfriend instantly in a fiery explosion--during this Max rush's out of his car with an intense look, both a misture of sadistic enjoyment and self horror and disgust.

After this Max goes back to his home, where is wife Jess Rocatansky draws him a bath for the first time in two days and snuggles up with him on the couch after as they watch their toddler son, Sprog Rocatansky (Sprog is Australian slang for  Infantry Soldier--possibly hinting at a military background for Max who possibly chose the name) during this the news is playing and Jess asks who the Nightrider was when he is shown on the news and max says he doesn't know "Just another glory rider i [Max] guess..." after that Max goes to bed early--Jess with a disappointed look on her face knowing her husband is becoming a cold and merciless cop and quite possibly a monster.

The following morning Max is eating a quick breakfast (toast) as Jess has a up-set look on her face, it was Max's day off and yet he was being called into the office by his partner Goose or "The Goose" as Max and Jess call him--during this Sprog is playing with Max's revolver side-arm but Max soon takes it away on his way out of the house after justifying his actions to Jess who say's that she is "Crazy about you [Max]" in her own version of sign language. (in real sign language, especially Australian sign language--Crazy about you is done completely different then what she does in the film)

Upon arrival at the Halls of Justice, Max learns he is being given the Last of the V8 interceptors in all of Australia. This prompts Max into what Goose calls a "Coma!" as he listens to the engine charge up, Max tests the engine then turns it off and ask's in pure shock how the mechanic could even get him this and the mechanic tells Max he "Got [A] piece from and [a] piece from there..." Max looks absolutely shocked but then smiles happily and ask's in pure glee and ecstasy "when can we take her for a ride?!" as the three celebrate Max's new car--we learn that Max has been contemplating quitting the force--except the Police Chief Fifi Macafee, a man with a ruthless attitude towards criminals himself, says he wants to give people back their heroes as Max has become a living Legend in Australia for being the best cop on the force. So, in short Fifi tempted Max with the V8 interceptor.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Approximately three years after the events of Mad Max, we find Max surviving the wastelands in solitude with the sole companionship of a dog he picked up along the way. By this time we are led to believe that all major cities and urban centers have fully fallen as Australia, serving as a microcosm of the world, has become a complete dystopia. As such Max's Pursuit Special has 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 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 civilized people were constantly terrorized by a tribe of heavy metal barbarians, led by The Humungus, self-proclaimed "Lord" of the 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 thus, "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 occupied by the barbarians, 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 the Warrior Woman, fought back, repelling Wez and his fellow barbarians, but Pappagallo was injured during the skirmish.

Max in the tanker, spearheaded the escape, along with those able-bodied men and women from the compound to serve as warrior-escorts of sorts. The horde of Humungus gave chase after the tanker in a thrilling and savage rolling thunder of a battle which saw the deaths of many of the main characters from both sides to include Pappagallo, Humungus, Wez, and Warrior Woman, not to mention nearly killing Max as well. At the conclusion of this savage "road war" the tanker was wrecked and, as Max learned, proved to have been filled with dirt rather than fuel -- when Max sees this, he and the Gyro Captain smirk at each other, with causes Max to almost laugh. The daring blockade run had all been an elaborate decoy to allow the rest of the refinery dwellers to escape, having hidden the precious fuel in their vehicles, wherein, presumably, they could find a new refuge and begin the task of rebuilding society.

Mad Max: Fury Road
In the aftermath of a global nuclear war, former cop now drifter "Mad" Max Rockatansky is captured by tyrannical war-lord Immortan Joe's henchmen known as the War Boys. At his citadel, his long hair and beard are shaven off and he is processed as a universal blood for a sick War Boy named Nux. Max breaks free temporarily and tries to escape. As he tries to escape, his mind is plagued with visions of the people he failed to protect, especially a little girl named "Glory the Child." Trying to hop on a crane to get out, he his recaptured.

Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa, Immortan Joe's best lieutenant, mutinies against Joe by taking his wives to take them to a safe haven called the "Green Place" while on an annual run "Bullet Farm" and "Gas Town." Seeing Furiosa's betrayal, Immortan Joe calls in his War Boys to stop Furiosa and take back his wives. Despite in his ailing condition, Nux goes with the War Boys, but only on the condition that his blood bag, Max, goes with him.