History Fridge / MadMaxFuryRoad

** The cords also secure his guitar and help compensate for the weight. The actual prop weighed 132 lbs., the equivalent to carrying a small man. Playing it for any extended length of time without the cords would have KILLLED the actors arms.

* The People Eater's legs are grotesquely swollen, possibly from gout. However, if one takes his name at face value, that he is a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]], another possibility emerges. A real-life effect of cannibalism is, among other things, extreme swelling of the extremities. This is typically caused if the flesh is diseased, such as by AIDS or other diseases that would likely be commonplace in the post-apocalyptic world seen in the ''Mad Max'' films. Conclusion: It is highly likely that the People Eater ''is indeed a cannibal.''

** Or even basic sterilization.

* The gas pedal in Furiosa's rig is a [Brannock Device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brannock_Device], typically used to measure feet for shoes. When she wants to put it on cruise control, she just extends it fully and jams it into place.
* When Max attempts to escape in the opening scene, he bursts through a pair of doors that lead to a BottomlessPit. Looking closely, these doors have a medical [Star of Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Life] indicating they were scrounged from an ambulance. The place Max just left was probably a medical facility used to assess the health of newly captured slaves.

** You don't just need to die, you need to die ''awesomely'' to reach Valhalla. Encouraging a competitive spirit as to who can kill themselves in the most over-the-top fashion. And these deaths must also be ''useful'', defending the Citadel or killing its enemies, essentially invoking CrazyAwesome in all Joe's soldiers.

** "Ride shiny and chrome." Whether it's just regular silver spray paint or something else, whatever they spray on their mouths before the intent to make a CrazyAwesome death almost certainly behaves like any number of substances that impair brain function but give off a "high." Essentially, telling the War Boys to huff paint before their "heroic sacrifice," making them far more likely to actually do it without self-preservation holding them back, and even perhaps be successful, if things like fatigue or pain are ignored or forgotten for a few critical seconds.

* During most of the story, Max goes to great lengths to avoid any personal connection, even refusing to give his name, apparently because of losses that he's experienced in the past. Near the end, he finally tells Furiosa his name after he's connected his IV to her; because he's opening up his heart to her, both literally and figuratively.

* Furiosa's obvious ImprobableAimingSkills aside, there's likely another reason she's able to hit the Bullet Farmer's spotlight while Max fails twice: The rifle, as her personal weapon, has been customised and zeroed with her in mind. There's an extra large foregrip to accommodate her prosthetic and she would have used it seemingly quite frequently. Max, on the other hand, is shown to be more familiar with close range weapons.

* Armor: The plastic armor that Immorten Joe wears is clear and has muscles sculpted into it. Joe's ailing body is flabby and riddled with tumors, but the armor makes it look like he has a healthy, muscular physique from a distance, which hides his dying state from his followers.

* Immortan Joe's past as an Australian Army colonel isn't just evident in the medals he incorporates in his armor. Not only did his military background help him see the strategic value behind using the Citadel as his base of operations, but it also gave him a working knowledge of logistics, which would be instrumental in creating the system of trade between Citadel, Bullet Farm and Gas Town, each dependent on the commodity the others provide.

* Slit is healthier, more daring, older and stronger than Nux, so it doesn't make much sense that he would be ranked below Nux. Until you get to a close-up of his face and notice Slit's deformed right eye. It's likely that Slit isn't a driver because he has bad vision that prevents him from even being useful as a driver, and it's not until they're running fairly low on War Boys that he gets behind the wheel. And immediately dies.

* The long, spindly, thickly clustered spikes on the Buzzard pursuit vehicles aren't just for show. The primary anti-vehicular weapons that Immortan's Warboys use are those grenade-spears. Long spikes have a chance of causing them to detonate prematurely away from the hull of the vehicle rather than directly against the surface. And of course they also do a good job of stopping anyone from jumping onto their cars.

* At first the creepy Dark Crystal-esque things on stilts seem like pure atmosphere, adding to the bizarre madness of the world. Then you start Googling the Stilt Walkers of Landes, where in the 19th Century the land became a bog every time it rained and people, especially shepherds, had to use stilts to get around. It's not hard to see the Fury Road guys as crow-shepherds: they're not just for flavour, they've adopted a supremely practical method of transport for their swamp environment.
* Though there's no shortage of speculation about where Fury Road might be set, right down to east coast vs west coast of Australia, consider the geography we're given: a lone mountain, a line of mountains to the east, then more flat plains before you come to the salt plains where the oceans used to be. That matches up fairly well with the east coast of Australia, with the Great Dividing Range only a day or so inland from the Pacific beach. Which could make the Citadel the remains of Mt Panorama at Bathurst - you know, where Australians worship V8s.

** Of course it would be nonfunctional and corrupted after all this time, but what is actually on it is intriguing. After all, all the other decorations on the breastplate are actual medals, not just throwaway junk. There must be a significance here.

** The War Boys all appear to have assorted medical conditions which will dramatically shorten their lifespans, and this appears to be very common among the general populace (since, you know, post-apocalypse). Promising rewards for a glorious death will keep them from giving into despair over their terminal conditions.
** You don't just need to die, you need to die ''awesomely''. Encouraging a competitive spirit as to who can kill themselves in the most over-the-top fashion. And these deaths must also be ''useful'', defending the Citadel or killing its enemies, essentially invoking CrazyAwesome in all Joe's soldiers.
** You must have a witness to your death. This encourages you to ''be'' a witness, so that when your turn comes others will witness you. Enticing the War Boys to watch all the insane violence and death that will be undertaken, thus desensitizing them to death and killing. It also encourages holding rank and formation. . . go off on your own, you may die gloriously, you may accomplish much with your death, but you'll have no witness, and holding rank and formation is the most basic building block of any effective army, something an ex-Army Colonel would damn sure understand.
** "Ride shiny and chrome." Whether it's just regular silver spray paint or something else, whatever they spray on their mouths before the intent to make a CrazyAwesome death almost certainly behaves like any number of substances that impair brain function but give off a "high." Essentially, telling the War Boys to huff paint before their "heroic sacrifice," making them far more likely to actually do it, and even perhaps be successful, if things like fatigue or pain are ignored or forgotten for a few critical seconds.
** And this all plays into a truth about this style of post-apocalypse: humans are easy to replace, resources aren't. Every War Boy who gleefully offs himself to [=McFeast=] in Valhalla is one less to provide food, clothing, housing, and (very limited) medical care to. And with all the above enticing them to spend their lives ''for something'', you've not only cut down a drain on resources, but gained whatever that War Boy's death bought you.

** Given how old and decrepit she is, and the fact that Joe hasn't gotten rid of her long ago, it's even possible she's not a former Wife (= post-apocalyptic breeder-slave), but his actual ''wife'' ... as in, the woman he'd been married to before the world got nuked.

* Characters mention a plan to drive for 160 days across "the salt." There's nowhere on Earth you could drive 160 days in one direction without reaching the ocean, unless the oceans themselves dried up (or partly dried up) leaving nothing but salt. This was [[ContinuityNod indeed shown to to be the case]] at the end of ''Beyond Thunderdome'' (a result of the nuclear war). That's right, The shithole setting the movie takes place is is likely the garden spot of the planet.

* It's stated in the film that at least one of the Wives (The Dag) is pregnant with Joe's child. Assuming that she decides to go along with the pregnancy, and without the influence of Joe and his followers, the child will likely grow up to be innocent. The FridgeHorror aspect comes from the fact that said child is eventually going to get old enough to start asking questions about his/her father. Which means mommy is eventually going to have to explain to them that daddy was a monstrous tyrant who kept her and the other Wives (who the child may have come to regard as aunts) imprisioned as {{Sex Slave}}s, that they are a ChildByRape, and that Auntie Furiosa eventually ''killed him by ripping his face off.'' Even if the kid takes it well, that's still going to be an awkward conversation.[[note]]Although she ''could'' just lie to the kid; it's not like anyone would think the worse of her for it under the circumstances.[[/note]]

*** Some aquifers, especially shallow ones, do refill from groundwater and rainwater. That said, it's still dependent on the local water ecology.

** During the night before Furiosa, the wives, and The Vuvalini ride off into the salt plains and Max stays behind, briefly, you can see Max drawing the map which leads back to the Citadel. In the morning, Furiosa takes off and Sprog's ghost gets Max to follow after her and tell her his plan to charge through Joe's forces and eventually liberate the Citadel]]. Since Max already had the map before the others left, he was going to take the War Rig, charge through Joe's forces and liberate the Citadel ''alone''.

* When the Citadel's war party starts the chase, they call reinforcements from Gastown and the Bullet Farm with smoke flares - the colors are red and yellow. When the "return chase" begins, the scattered war parties signal each other again, this time with red and black flares. It seems completely random, until you realize that:
** The Bullet Farmer was killed before the last chase and his forces were probably divided between the other two factions. It seems the Farm's color is yellow.
** The Citadel forces had no need to signal their own soldiers at first, since they were grouped together, but now they're scattered and need to be called back. This makes black the Citadel's color.
** The remaining color - red - must belong to Gastown.
*** Which is appropriate, since gas tanks are colored red.

* Several characters in ''Fury Road'' have obvious disabilities but seem to have been granted or found a niche even in their post-apocalyptic societies. For example, the Doof warrior plays music, a wheelchair-bound bandit is a lookout. This is part of an established trend in the Mad Max series. The Mechanic in ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior''is wheelchair-bound but serves an important role in his community. Master Blaster is a pairing of two people with disabilities who work together to become an integral part of their community.
* During most of the story, Max goes to great lengths to avoid any personal connection, even refusing to give his name, apparently because of losses that he's experienced in the past. Near the end, he finally tells Furiosa his name after he's connected his IV to her: because he's opening up his heart to her, both literally and figuratively.

* The Vuvalini reveal that the Green Place has turned toxic, and the trees have died for no immediately obvious reason. Ecologically speaking, the Citadel, the Bullet Farm and Gastown are only a day's drive away from the Vuvalini's location over well-aired sand. According to the comics, Gastown was originally a ''refinery'', not an oil well; the only way they could be drawing oil is by fracking - detonating explosives underground, flooding the cracks with water, then drawing the mixture and separating the oil. The Bullet Farm is a lead mine, which also uses water as part of refining the lead, as well as playing with sulfur and saltpetre. And of course, the Citadel draws water from an aquifer regularly for drinking and agriculture as well as supplying the industries of the other two towns, further depleting the ground water. Any one of those is bad enough, but in light of all three it should be no surprise that the land became poisoned, as referenced by the Vuvalini who say that everywhere they plant seeds, they do not take because the land has turned sour.
* Nux's wants to "die historic," but we know that Immortan Joe's death cult is just a ploy to recruit loyal soldiers who will throw themselves into anonymous deaths for his empire. But in the end, Nux gives his life to block the mountain pass against Immortan Joe's horde. Not only is it a real cause, but it's a death that will actually be remembered.

* Slit is healthier, more daring, older and stronger than Nux, so it doesn't make much sense that he would be ranked below him. Until you get to a close-up and notice Slit's deformed right eye. It's likely that Slit isn't a driver because he has bad vision that prevents him from even being useful as a driver, and it's not until they're running fairly low on War Boys that he gets behind the wheel. And immediately dies.

* Mounting the blood bags on the front of the pursuit vehicles doesn't just turn them into terrifying living hood ornaments. Being tied to the front of a scrapheap car in explosive high-speed chases would send your heart rate and adrenaline skyrocketing - 'high-octane crazy blood', as Nux puts it, that goes straight into the driver behind the wheel.

* Several characters have obvious disabilities but seem to have been granted or found a niche even in their post-apocalyptic societies. For example, the Doof warrior plays music, a wheelchair-bound bandit is a lookout. This mirrors the Mechanic in ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'', who was wheelchair-bound but served an important role in the community.

* Nux wants to "die historic". But another nameless warboy blowing himself up in service of Immortan Joe? That happens every day, utterly unremarkable and forgotten within a week. On the other hand the hero Nux, who gave his own life to block the mountain pass against Immortan Joe's horde; Nux, whose sacrifice bought Furiosa and the others time to liberate the citadel? ''That's'' historic.
** Nux also has the highest body count to his name in the entire series, and possibly the entire setting since the collapse of civilization -- and all the dead were warriors, meaning by any estimation he'd have earned a special place in the Norse Valhalla as one of the greatest fighters in history.
* Joe's sons:
** Two of Immortan Joe's sons are Rictus Erectus, a giant manchild, and Corpus Callosum, a deformed but intelligent dwarf. They recall the pairing of Master Blaster from ''Beyond Thunderdome'', but where Master and Blaster learned to work together to overcome each other's weaknesses with Blaster carrying Master on his back, Rictus and Corpus are always seen separately. It's possible that Immortan Joe has considered how a union between the two could overthrow him and has done his best to keep them divided. While we do not know what kind of a person Corpus is that he was born weak and deformed may have taught him compassion and empathy, which would have made him an unfit heir for Immortan Joe.
** Alternatively, Joe might intend for Corpus and Rictus to succeed him and rule in tandem in the event of his death, which he must have planned for given that he's already [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport on life support]] when the film begins. This is why his wives can't simply wait for Joe to die of natural causes and hope their situation improves; his sons would presumably maintain the status quo. By the film's conclusion, Rictus is dead and Corpus is in no position to complain, eliminating the obstacle of Immortan Joe's dynasty in addition to the man himself.
** More like he was counting on them to rule jointly while the ''healthy'' son he's been frantic to sire grew up. He knew Corpus couldn't reign indefinitely because he's too frail to ever leave the Citadel or hold the War Boys' awe, and Rictus isn't smart or ambitious enough, but between the two of them they could've acted as Regent between Joe's own death and their "perfect little brother"'s maturity. Hence, Rictus's mixed grief and pride at having had (briefly) a healthy baby brother: Joe had indoctrinated his slow-witted son to be such a child's loving protector.

** During the night before Furiosa, the wives, and The Vuvalini ride off into the salt plains and Max stays behind, briefly, you can see Max drawing the map which leads back to the Citadel. In the morning, Furiosa takes off and Sprog's ghost gets Max to follow after her and tell her his plan to charge through Joe's forces and eventually liberate the Citadel]]. Now realize, Max had the map before the others left. Max was going to take the War Rig, charge through Joe's forces and liberate the Citadel ''alone''. Road Warrior much?

* Nux's innocent ignorance of what a ''tree'' is turns out to be more poignant than at first glance. The fact that even the "breeders," who've spent their lives secluded away in their gilded cage, are more knowledgeable of the outside world than a Warboy like him shows just how much fighting for and revering Immortan Joe's warrior-cult is ''all he and others like him know.'' Further highlighting just how he's as much a secluded prisoner in Immortan Joe's domain as the Wives were.

* Joe himself rules over the Citadel while giving the People Eater and Bullet Farmer Gastown and Bullet Farm respectively. You'd think that, being the original commander of the two (hell the People Eater used to be just another innocent bystander in the wastes) he'd prefer the location with the most ammunition. But this plays into his brilliance; Unlike the Bullet Farm or Gastown, the Citadel can survive because it's the only food generator of the three. If something worse than the apocalypse happened, he alone would survive while his two "friends" would die. Moreover, he gave the People Eater Gastown; the People Eater wasn't originally part of his army and thus probably has less of a loyalty to him than the Bullet Farmer, who once respected Joe as a commander; Gastown is the most desirable of the two locations but harder to defend, hence in a protracted war it would be the first to fall. The remaining two towns can conceivably still control their territory without working cars, albeit being slower to respond to threats. The People Eater is expendable, not the Farmer.