The Mad Max Timeline EXPLAINED

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It's tough to keep up, sometimes! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re mapping out the post-apocalyptic timeline for the “Mad Max” film series. Naturally, there will be spoilers speeding ahead – so consider this is your warning.

Transcript

00:00 "Welcome to another edition of Thunderdome!"

00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're mapping out the post-apocalyptic timeline for the Mad

00:12 Max film series. Naturally, there will be spoilers speeding ahead, so consider this your warning.

00:19 "Now pick up what you can and run."

00:21 Paradoxes. Thanks to several movie contradictions,

00:27 the Mad Max timeline can be fairly difficult to interpret. The 30-year filming gap between the

00:32 third and fourth movies certainly doesn't help matters, as it not only recast but

00:38 reimagined the central character. "What's your name? What do I call you?"

00:45 "Does it matter?" In fact, Mad Max series creator George Miller says that the fourth picture,

00:52 Mad Max Fury Road, stands as a sequel/reboot/retelling, all in one.

00:59 This, of course, makes things even more confounding.

01:02 However, looking at each film's juncture in the story's post-apocalyptic world,

01:12 and regarding official resources such as the Mad Max Fury Road prequel comic,

01:17 a general roadmap can be made. "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!"

01:26 Mad Max, the mid-1980s. "Now, if you're lucky, you can hack through your ankle in five minutes."

01:36 Released in 1979, the franchise's premiere outing opens with a caption reading "A few years from

01:43 now." We also get a shot of graffiti on a road sign dated December 1984. With that, we can

01:50 conclusively say the events of Mad Max take place smack dab in the middle of the 1980s.

01:56 However, it's not the colorful excess-laden 80s we know and love. Nope. In this story,

02:11 the world has been thrust into a socioeconomic breakdown of mass proportions.

02:16 This, because of warring in the Persian Gulf. Oil production has been shuttered,

02:21 and martial law has been asserted, making room for brutal road gangs to take over the streets.

02:26 This is where our titular anti-hero comes in. Max Rokitansky is part of the Main Force Patrol,

02:38 or MFP, whose job is to keep the violent roadsters in check.

02:42 After a family tragedy, Max sets out for retribution against those who turned his life

02:57 upside down. By the film's close, it's clear the world at large is in shambles.

03:07 But there is some semblance of order still intact, albeit not much.

03:12 Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior - The Latter 1980s

03:23 It is said that Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior takes place around three years after the end of the

03:32 first installment, clearly placing it in the late 80s. Somewhat confusingly, however, the events in

03:38 The Road Warrior originally preceded the devastating global nuclear war in the timeline. The wasteland

03:44 on display is explained as just more societal decay as a result of widespread oil shortages.

03:50 The Mad Max Fury Road prequel comic altered this, though, making it known that nuclear winter took

04:00 place between the first and second movies. Regardless of the retcon, the world is still

04:11 in rough shape and our hero can be found traveling around searching for gasoline.

04:15 We see Max join up with a peaceful group, all while Lord Humongous rules over a crew of who

04:21 pilfers gas. Mad Max 2 serves as a great setup for the even more dire future on the way,

04:27 one where merciless warlords seek control by any means necessary.

04:32 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - The Early 2000s

04:54 Through some on-screen clues, we can decipher that the events in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

04:59 take place at the start of the third millennium. You see, when the Lost Tribe take Max in,

05:15 they tell the story of how an airplane captain sought a new civilization after the world fell,

05:20 and a date can be seen showing what appears to be the year 1999. And, with that pilot, Captain

05:26 Walker, having been gone for a few years, it places the timeline in the early 2000s. It's

05:33 also made evident that the nuclear apocalypse has already taken place and the wasteland has

05:38 grown more barren. And while tyrannical leaders still wield their power and hold

05:50 archaic battles, we do see attempts to rebuild society. Heck, the movie ends on a surprisingly

05:56 hopeful note with the group looking to build a new civilization. It should be noted that

06:13 the dates referenced in the film conflict with the Mad Max Fury Road prequel comic,

06:17 especially as it relates to when the nuclear war took place. Things will get even more murky

06:23 with the timeline when the fourth film in the franchise arrives decades later. Which brings us

06:28 to… Mad Max Fury Road - Roughly the Year 2050 It's fairly certain that Fury Road transpires well

06:45 after the events of Beyond Thunderdome. However, there are a few things that don't quite add up in

06:50 the timeline. One issue is Max's age. In this fourth installment's introduction, our protagonist

07:00 is shown getting a tattoo of his blood type with other information. The tattoo actually has "The

07:06 Days Since The Fall" marked. It states that it has been 12,045 days, which equals out to 33 years.

07:13 This would mean the movie's Max would have been just a boy or perhaps not even born when the

07:19 nuclear apocalypse went down. One explanation could be that Max in Fury Road is not the same

07:34 Max as the previous films. Another contradiction is the fact that the flashbacks in Fury Road

07:40 show Max appearing to have had a little girl, while the first film shows he had a son. Will

07:45 we get concrete answers to these inconsistencies? Likely not. So, it's probably best to simply

07:51 accept Mad Max as a mythical character. What Fury Road does confirm, however,

08:07 is that the world at large is in full wasteland decline. All remnants of plant life are gone,

08:23 and the totalitarian Immortan Joe has enslaved numerous survivors, all desperate for water.

08:30 Perhaps most importantly, though, Mad Max Fury Road introduces us to a powerful new figure in

08:36 the mythos. Furiosa, a Mad Max saga, roughly the year 2030 and prior.

09:02 The next film in the Mad Max franchise will do something that has yet to be done in the series,

09:15 go back in time. Yep, Anya Taylor-Joy takes over the role of Imperator Furiosa from

09:20 Charlize Theron in the last movie, as we learn the character's origin story. With extended plot

09:26 details being held close to the chest by the folks at Warner Bros., it's not known exactly

09:31 what periods will be covered in the film. From the trailers, however, it's evident that this

09:37 feature will span many years. Given the 20-year age difference between Theron and Taylor-Joy,

09:49 it's a safe bet to assume Anya's parts of the film take place around two decades before Fury

09:54 Road. Whether things go back prior to the events of Beyond Thunderdome remains to be seen.

09:59 Miller and company are also said to be working on another installment in the Mad Max film series,

10:16 subtitled The Wasteland. However, not much is known about this project beyond the fact that

10:21 it will serve as a direct sequel to Mad Max Fury Road. Are you excited to see where the Mad Max

10:38 timeline takes us next? What film in the franchise got your motor running? Rev up in the comments!

10:44 "I am awaited! I am awaited in Valhalla!"

10:50 Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,

10:53 and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

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