Character page for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).
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Max Rockatansky
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The Refinery Settlers
Papagallo
Played by: Michael Preston
The leader of the refinery settlers. He is the one who Max eventually makes a deal with to gain a vehicle capable of hauling their fuel tanker.
- A Father to His Men: He's one of the few wasteland leaders that Max comes across that actually tries to focus on keeping his people alive as opposed to the rape and pillage attitude of the raiders.
- The Leader: He heads up the refinery settlers. He's willing to sacrifice himself for their safety as well, originally intending to drive the truck once Max leaves.
- Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: He dons a hockey helmet for the final chase sequence, though does not elect to cover his body, which leaves him exposed when the Lord Humungus throws one of his triple knives.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He knows that if the settlers give up the refinery that Humungus will have them killed. And even if he doesn't, he asks his followers what they'll do next.
- Sacrificial Lion: He dies during the tanker chase sequence while trying to get the Feral Kid off the truck.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the Novelization, Papagallo reluctantly retreats after thinking he can't save the Feral Kid (whose arm is pinned to the cab by an arrow) and survives.
- Wasteland Elder: A surprisingly young version, he nevertheless is the most experienced of the refinery settlers, leading them in their struggle to find The Promised Land.
The Warrior Woman
Played by: Virginia Hey
One of the refinery settlers, she is one of the few who wants to stand and fight against the raiders. Believing Max to be nothing more than a mercenary, she eventually warms to him.
- Action Girl: Before Furiosa, she was the resident badass female in the Wasteland. She even fights to defend the tanker in the climactic chase, but this doesn't work out for her.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She's initially hostile towards Max, believing him to be nothing more than "Mercenary trash". When he delivers the tanker truck, she apologises to him for her initial reaction.
- Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Like Wez, she wears sports armour, except in white.
- The Stoic: She's always calm and composed.
- Vasquez Always Dies: Compared to the other female characters, who ride safely in the bus, she stands and fights to defend the tanker and pays for it with her life.
Curmudgeon
Played by: Syd Heylen
An aging man in a military uniform whose lost his stomach to fight and feels they should let Humungus have the refinery.
- Battle Trophy: In one scene, the Curmudgeon is carrying a katana that he presumably took as a World War II souvenir (one of his medals is for the Pacific campaign).
- Chest of Medals: Six of them, altogether.
- Commander Contrarian: A member of Papagallo's war council who frequently disagrees with him, until Max reveals that he knows of a big rig truck they can use to haul their oil.
- Dad the Veteran: He's one of the older members of the tribe, and had several World War II medals.
- Dirty Old Man: He shows some excitement at the idea of having "nothing to do but breed" when they reach the coast.
- Lovable Coward: The Curmudgeon wants to bargain with the marauders for safe passage rather than fight them, but he's a friendly man who carries his own weight and never tries to betray the others to save his own neck.
- Plucky Comic Relief: A lot of his role comes down to this, in the end.
- Smarter Than They Look: The Curmudgeon initially seems like a man who's prone to foolish, short-sighted cowardice, but he makes an intelligent point or two during the debate over whether to let Max leave to get a truck for their rig. He also mentions that he tried to convince the others that sending out Nathan and the other scouts would only get them killed, which turned out to be true.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: He believes that Lord Humungus wouldn't hurt an asthmatic old veteran, and is convinced that there is a paradise waiting for them on the coast (although at least the second of those may be right).
Mechanic
Played by: Steve J. Spears
The handyman and mechanical genius of the refinery.
- Feel No Pain: His reaction the remnants of his limbs catching fire is more one of annoyance than anything else.
- Handicapped Badass: He has a broken back and no legs and needs an assistant to move him around on a makeshift crane, relay messages about how long repairs are taking, and do some of the work that he himself can't reach, but he fights the marauders however he can when they attack and rides on the big rig.
- Mr Fix It: He's an expert mechanic with a knowledge of most vehicles; He's able to identify Max's Interceptor and not only fixes up the truck after it takes a .44 Magnum round to the engine block, but also modifies it with a plow so it can be used to ram other vehicles and protect it drom further gunfire.
- The Smart Guy: he is the sole trained mechanic left, and demonstrates his skills in his Establishing Character Moment when he quickly finds and disarms Max's boobytrap, while recognizing and admiring his car.
The Mechanic's Assistant
- Played by: Kristoffer Greaves
- Adaptational Badass: In the novelization, he helps out in the final battle by shooting arrows at the marauders chasing the tanker. In the film, he drives a car that avoids the marauders during the climax and only fights them by pushing a hoist to knock one of them out during the final refinery assault.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He helps with basic repairs, but admits that he doesn't understand all of the technical terminology he relays on the mechanic's behalf.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: He does a lot of hard work around the refinery and wears a tank top.
Zetta
Played by: William Zappa
Papagallo's main lieutenant, recognizable by the shoulder pads and headscarf he wears.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Zetta is very unpleasant to Max throughout the movie, but is loyal to the tribe, showing concern for Papagallo when he decides he'll drive the rig if necessary, and later rides on it himself to defend it.
- Number Two: He's Papagallo's main advisor.
- The Reliable One: Rides on the big rig at the end, and scrambles to carry out Papagallo's orders throughout the movie.
- Spared by the Adaptation: It's ambiguous, but in the Novelization, the firebombs Zetta's carrying don't explode when the parapet he's in is yanked off the tanker, making it possible that he survived the fall.
The Captain's Girl
Played by: Arkie Whiteley
The assistant medic of the refinery group, who the Gyro Captain takes a fancy too.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's well-meaning, and despite having an opportunity to flee with the Gyro Captain, she won't abandon the others.
- Hospital Hottie: She lacks an actual hospital, but carries off the rest of the tropes qualifiers.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: She is against continuing the fight at the beginning, being aware that they may not be able to trust Humungus but feeling that with him getting stronger, and them getting weaker with every attack, there's not much of a choice.
- Morality Pet: her staying causes the Gyro Captain to as well.
Scouts
- Played by: David Downer (Nathan) Tyler Coppin (Defiant Victim), Kathleen McKay (rape victim), Max Fairchild (broken victim), four extras.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Broken Victim spends most of his screen-time crying and pleading to be let go and shouting for the people in the refinery not to fire in his direction.
- Defiant Captive: The defiant victim repeatedly curses Humungus and yells for the others not to blow up the fuel rather than bargain with him.
- Doomed Hurt Guy: Nathan is left badly injured after attempting to get out of the refinery in a land rover, he is taken back by Max after promising him gasoline in exchange for being rescued. He doesn't survive his wounds.
- Foil: The two survivors, one still defiant and the other broken and sobbing.
- Hope Spot:
- Nathan and his female companion almost slip away while the marauders are distracted pursuing the first three cars that left the compound, but once they're noticed, they get chased down pretty fast.
- The first car out of the refinery is moving pretty fast, has a decent head start, but the car and its inhabitants are chased down.
- Nathan is rescued from his executioners by Max and taken back to the refinery after promising to give Max fuel in exchange for helping him. He quickly succumbs to his wounds after getting back to the refinery.
- Red Shirt: They exist solely to fall victim to The Humungus and show his band's depravity. Though Nathan also serves to bring Max into the compound.
The Quiet Man
Played by: David Slingsby
- Badass Normal: He stands out very little and has less combat training than most of the people around him but he can still use a crossbow well.
- Crusading Widower: His reaction to hearing the woman with Nathan died implies she may have been his wife or perhaps a sister, but he is more subdued than outraged by it and he angrily fires after the deparing marauders. Later though, he does seem to support Papagallo's plans at the meeting between Max and the refinery leaders.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He's last seen being thrown off a walkway by Wex, and it's unclear if he survived, although the original script has him being taken into the ambulance with some broken bones. He is shown lying in the makeshift hospital/morgue when Max wakes up, implying that he's probably dead.
Big Rebecca
Played by: Moira Claux
A member of the refinery tribe who seem dejected and cynical after the failure of their scouts to bust past the marauder barricade near the beginning.
- Commander Contrarian: With Papagallo, when he insists they can't trust Lord Humungus to let them go.
- Never Mess with Granny: Downplayed, but she does seem fairly tough, and averts being a Neutral Female.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Implied with her crying over the body of Nathan after the Captain's Girl and the other medic failed to save him.
The Vermin
Lord Humungus
"No one gets out of here alive!"
Played by: Kjell Nilsson
Dubbed by: Henry Djanik (European French)
"I am gravely disappointed. Again, you make me unleash my dogs of war."
A hulking, near-naked, hockey-mask wearing raider warlord who is besieging a fuel-pumping station that Max is led to by the gyro captain. Surprisingly eloquent and well-spoken, but uncaring about how many have to die for him to get the precious fuel he's after.- Aborted Arc: Early treatments of The Road Warrior's script would have included a reveal that Humungus was actually Max's partner Goose from the previous film. Goose was driven to madness by the pain he endured in what appeared to be his death, and would have served as Max's Shadow Archetype. Though the idea was abandoned, hints of it are still present, such as Humungus's servants dressing in battered police uniforms and his head appearing horribly burned.
- A Father to His Men: Implied with the way he comforts Wez after his boyfriend is killed. A far contrast to the psychotic Toecutter from the first movie.Humungus: Be still my dog of war. I understand your pain. We've all lost someone we love. But we do it my way.
- Badass Driver: Gets into multiple shootouts while being an excellent driver.
- Big Bad: He's the leader of the raiders and demands to seize the gas.
- Body Horror: He always wears a mask, but the rest of his head is shown to be completely scarred with scant tufts of hair remaining. Also, if you look closely, he has no ears.
- Cool Mask: His iconic hockey mask.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the Novelization, Humungous survives the wreck of the tanker but his men kill him out of anger when they find sand instead of gasoline.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Lord Humungus' crew includes several women.
- Evil Plan: Lord Humungus seeks to obtain a small colony's fuel supply.
- Faux Affably Evil: Despite his muscular physique, he is far more eloquent and coherent than any of his bloodthirsty followers (excepting only the Toadie), and goes as far as to offer the oil rig defenders an "honourable compromise" in an attempt to end the violence between the two factions. However Lord Humungus quietly confides to Wez that his real plan is to slaughter the defenders after seizing the rig. When Max succeeds in Running the Blockade, he drops the facade and has his prisoners tortured to death in view of the settlement, promising to Leave No Survivors.
- Hand Cannon: Keeps a scoped .44 Magnum as a personal sidearm, though, due to its scarce ammunition (he only has five rounds for it), he only uses it on the truck and the autogyro.
- Hero Killer: During the final chase, he kills Papagallo with one of his triple-bladed throwing knives.
- Malevolent Masked Men: One of the most iconic examples in post-apocalyptic fiction, he's never seen without his signature hockey mask, and many following works paid tribute to it, even more so than his bondage gear.
- Made of Iron: Taking a direct hit from a Molotov Cocktail does little to hamper him. Doesn't save him from being run over.
- Meaningful Name: His name can easily be interpreted as a reference to his large, muscular figure, e.g. humongous.
- Mirror Character: He is hinted at to have a similarly tragic origin as Max himself.
- Large and in Charge: He is a huge, muscular man and has a horde of raiders at his disposal.
- Large Ham Title: Toadie introduces him as "The Ruler of the Wasteland" and "The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!"
- Pragmatic Villainy: Would prefer to Break Them by Talking rather than attempt to seize the pumping station by force.Humungus: There has been too much violence. Too much pain. None here are without sin. But I have an honourable compromise: Just walk away.
- Wasteland Warlord: One of the most influential examples; almost every subsequent work inspired by The Road Warrior will feature a Big Bad inspired by him. Hell, he currently supplies the picture!note
Wez
Played by: Vernon Wells
"You can run, but you can't hide!"
One of the more psychotic members of the Vermin, who completely loses his mind with the need for vengeance after the Feral Kid's bladed boomerang kills his implicit boyfriend.- Badass Biker: During the chase for the rig, Wez is the most proficient rider on the raiders' side, committing many feats of awesomeness, such as jumping to another vehicle in front so he can get closer to the rig, killing more defenders on the rig individually than any other raider, wrecking the tractor of the rig seriously, and managing to throw himself at the tractor and almost climb into the driver's seat, and would have given Max serious trouble if Humungus had not crashed into the rig by accident and killed Wez and himself.
- The Berserker: Goes mental when his boyfriend is killed and wants to go into the refinery compound, Leeroy Jenkins style. The Humungus ends up having him chained like a dog to keep him under control, literally unleashing him for the final battle.
- Depraved Homosexual: He's an out-and-out psychopath who goes berserk when the Feral Kid kills his boyfriend. Although the relationship is more of a Pet the Dog factor than something used to vilify him.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the Novelization, he lives a few minutes longer, riding away from the scene of the final battle with the Feral Kid as a prisoner. Max chases him down to rescue the kid and shoots Wez through the eye with an arrow.
- The Dragon: To Humungus. For most of the story, Wez is more dangerous than his own badass boss.
- Epic Flail: Grabs hold of a morningstar-style weapon and attempts to smash his way into the truck cabin.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The death of Wez's boyfriend drives him to even further homicidal mania.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Inverted. While Humungus himself has no interaction with Max, Wez is out for blood with Max because he got away from him in the opening scene (and indirectly got him a crossbow bolt to the arm).
- Large Ham: Vernon Wells' portrayal of Wez is far from subtle with the majority of his dialogue being angry screaming.
- Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Along with Max's leather jacket, Wez's embellished American football armour is the Trope Codifier.
- Rasputinian Death: The final battle has Wez falling from the speeding tanker, and yet he only dies once nailed to a car that crashes onto a truck.
- Screaming Warrior: He screams loudly more than he actually speaks.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Vernon Wells imagined the character as a survivor of Vietnam, which would have ended roughly 15-20 years before the movie took place. While Wez's backstory is never mentioned, nor is anyone's other than Max, it would explain why Wez is even more stark-raving mad than the rest of the Vermin. Living through War Is Hell, then having the damn apocalypse piled on top would reduce anyone to a psychotic animal.
- Shoulders of Doom: His standard Post-Apunkalyptic Armor has feathers on the shoulder pads, further emphasising them. See his character image for more details.
The Golden Youth
Played by: Jerry O'Sullivan
A member of Lord Humungus' gang, he is a silent figure who most often rides pillion behind Wez on his motorcycle.
- Carry a Big Stick: Wields what looks like a wooden ax handle at one point, though he doesn’t get to use it.
- The Speechless: He’s never shown speaking on-screen, and doesn’t even make a sound when the Feral Kid’s boomerang nails him in the head. Whether he simply chooses not to speak or actually physically can’t is undetermined.
- The Stoic: He never shows any emotion.
- The Twink: Thin? Check. White? Check. Blonde? Boyish looks? Well, he’s not called “the Golden Youth” for nothing.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: His back story is never given, and his lack of dialogue means the viewers don’t get a good sense of who he was as a person.
The Toadie
Played by: Max Phipps
The Lord Humungus' crier, he roams around with the gang and announces the gang's arrival in what few negotiations they attempt.
- Actually Pretty Funny: A particularly dark example of the trope. After he loses his fingers to the Feral Kid's boomerang, the Marauders laugh at him until he is finally laughing at himself. Yes, he has permanently crippled his hand, and even if he doesn't bleed out right then and there, the loss will only make it harder to survive in his brutal world... and he can't help laughing at the madness of it all.
- Butt-Monkey: Loses his fingers and gets laughed at by the other raiders, and eventually gets blown up while attempting to siphon fuel from the Interceptor.
- Fingore: Loses the fingers of his right hand when, against the advice of the entire gang, he attempts to catch the Feral Kid's boomerang.
- Large Ham: As the raiders' crier, this is to be expected. His over-the-top manner is used to introduce the Lord Humungus with his Large Ham Title.
- Non-Action Guy: He's the only one of the raiders who doesn't fight, instead being a mouthpiece for them.
- Sinister Shades: He wears a pair of glasses with one dark lens.
- Sycophantic Servant: As implied by his moniker "The Toadie".
Others
Feral Kid
Played by: Emil Minty (child), Harold Baigent (adult)
An orphan boy who has had to raise himself in the post-apocalyptic Australia, reverting to an almost animalistic level of savagery. He dwells near the pumping station that the Vermin are attacking and escapes with the station's survivors.
- Battle Boomerang: Fittingly enough for a post-apocalyptic movie set in Australia, the Kid's weapon of choice is a metal boomerang, which he uses to kill Wez's boyfriend.
- Child Soldiers: Albeit one by choice.
- Deadly Distant Finale: As a narrator, he makes clear in his opening lines that he is looking back on the events of the film in his final days.
- Free-Range Children: Doesn't appear to have any parents or guardians in the settlement and seems to roam around the Outback by his own volition. Presumably his family had already died in the nuclear war or the direct aftermath.
- Hero-Worshipper: He is instantly drawn to Max, especially after Max gives him the music box. In return, Max protects him during the final chase, implying that Max refuses to let another child die as his own son had. In his narration, he notes that "most of all, I remember the Road Warrior."
- Man Bites Man: As befits someone who's portrayed as little more than a human dog, he bites the Marauder who tries to attack Max in the truck cabin.
- Narrator All Along: The adult man that narrates the opening and conclusion of the second film is in fact the Kid himself, revealed in the final scene.
- No Name Given: Is never given a name, thus "Feral Kid".
- Tagalong Kid: He invites himself into Max's car when he's going to leave, but Max throws him out. Then the Warrior Woman has him removed from the truck before the breakout, but he jumps back on board again and this time Max lets him stay.
- The Voiceless: Presumably can talk, but never does on screen.
- Wild Child: Right at the name! He's pretty much just wandering around, has an unkempt appearance, and wears animal furs as clothing. However the fact that he eventually ascends to leadership of the Great Northern Tribe implies he's not a literal version of this trope, who would lack the social skills to do so.
The Gyro Captain
Played by: Bruce Spence
A motor-mouthed opportunist mechanic who roams the wastes on a homemade autogyro, a primitive one-man flying vehicle. He attempts to steal the fuel from Max's car and is instead captured and roped into Max's fight against the Vermin for his trouble.
- Ace Pilot: He provides air support during the big chase sequence, lobbing Molotov Cocktails at the raiders.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Max is on the verge of killing him when the Gyrocaptain bargains for his life by promising to lead him to the refinery.
- The Beastmaster: He rears venomous snakes and keeps them in his gyro.
- Cowardly Lion: Craven and pathetic as he might first appear, the Gyro Captain turns out to be quite a loyal formidable ally both to Papagallo's tribe and to Max himself.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His role as a Butt-Monkey can make one forget that the Gyrocaptain is quite shrewd. His rearing of snakes to kill others for fuel is highly successful, his suspicion of Max keeps him alive while later in the film, Toadie's killed by the same trap he avoided, and his role as air support is very useful in a world that's mostly grounded. At one point he hits Lord Humongous with a molotov cocktail, badly burning him.
- Death from Above: Being the only person in the entire franchise to be capable of providing air support means whatever side he's on has a massive advantage over their foes.
- Everyone Has Standards: Though he's initially portrayed as something of a backstabbing coward and bandit, he's visibly horrified when watching the Marauders raping and murdering a female scout. This is the first hint that he's actually a decent person.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Him and Max meet one another on the wrong end of a blade, but they eventually develop a grudging respect for each other, cemented when he rescues Max from the wreckage of the interceptor's explosion.
- Friendly Rivalry: He and Max's dog have a thing going.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his portrayal as kind of a sniveling opportunist, he becomes the new leader of the Feral Kid's tribe after their escape and establishes a new mighty tribe in the north.
- I Choose to Stay: Unlike Max, he takes the opportunity provided by the settlers to abandon his life as a bandit and scavenger, even rising to lead the community. It helps that there's a beautiful woman he's smitten with, and when she refuses to sneak out with him the night before the final battle, he decides to stay and fight with the settlers instead.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: He's quite adept at hitting people with things (Molotov cocktails, snakes) that he drops from his gyrocopter while in flight.
- Improbable Weapon User: He's deadly accurate with his ranged weapon of choice - live snakes.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ultimately, he can't bring himself to abandon the tribe and stays to fight for the trailer. In the end, he becomes their leader.
- Kavorka Man: "Homely" is something of an understatement, he looks and acts like a drunk wharf rat, but still hooks up with who appears to be the youngest and healthiest girl in the settlement.
- The Lancer: He thinks he's this to Max. It's not really until the end of the film that Max agrees.
- Lethal Joke Character: Don't let his goofy looks, cowardly personality, and rotten luck fool you: make an an enemy of the Gyrocaptain and those he trusts and you might find yourself subject to death by molotov cocktail or airdropped venomous snakes.
- No Name Given: Like the Kid, doesn't have a name, and is referred to simply by his vehicle.
- Properly Paranoid: He correctly surmises that Max has a concealed weapon next to his explosive trap should anyone try to force him to disable it.Gyrocaptain: A fella, a quick fella, might have a weapon under there. I'd have to pin his head to the panel.
- Undying Loyalty: Almost like a puppy; you treat him even the least bit kindly, you have a friend for life.
Dog
Max's sole companion in the wasteland whom Max took care off some time after the death of his wife and son.
- Canine Companion: He's Max's only companion and assists him in fights.
- A Dog Named "Dog": He's only ever referred to as Dog by Max and the script.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: When Humungus's raiders take Max's car, one unceremoniously shoots him dead.
- Expansion Packpast: The Mad Max fan film Renegade
, which takes place between the first and second movie. As a pup, he belonged to a newlywed couple who were murdered by raiders, and Max adopted him after chasing down and killing the raiders, mostly due to a misunderstanding when the dying woman told him they had taken her "baby", which was the pup's original name. - Heroes Love Dogs: The first indication that Max hasn't lost all his humanity is when he shields the dog from being attacked by the settlers.
- Post-Apocalyptic Dog: The Trope Codifier in film. He follows Max loyally and even dies to defend him from the raiders.
