Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
This is our Furiosa.
- Generally speaking, the relationship that develops between Capable and Nux. They form a rather cute couple of sorts; done subtly without a lot of unnecessary dialogue.
- Capable finds Nux hiding in the back of the War Rig, suffering a Villainous BSoD brought on by his repeated failure to earn a glorious death. She shows neither fear nor hatred, but instead lies down to comfort him, effectively inducing his Heel–Face Turn with simple kindness.
- Nux abruptly giving Capable a little kiss on the cheek after she cuts off his chains.
- While Capable is dozing off next to Nux, Nux notices a bug on her shoulder. Without waking her up, he gets it off of her onto his finger...and eats it.
- When the film begins, Nux, and the rest of the War Boys, look like straight-up monsters, which is presumably just how they like it. As the coloring wears off throughout the film, however, and he shows emotions besides crazed rage and glee, we begin to see the human he was never allowed to become. In the end, he dies not as a subhuman savage, but as a man.
- Towards the end as Nux prepares for his Heroic Sacrifice he looks straight at Capable and calmly says "Witness me," the shot makes it clear that she doesn't look away.
- Capable "witnessing" Nux by clasping her outstretched hand and pulling it towards her heart—a gesture established earlier in the film as a mourning gesture of the Vuvalini. After an entire film of trying to be "witnessed" in the world of Joe and the War Boys, Nux finally gets his recognition in the new world he helped create.
- Making it better is the track playing during this scene. Walhalla Awaits. Some take this as confirmation that Nux actually did make it to Valhalla, his soul shiny and chrome.
- Although it's indicative of the self-destructive War Boy culture; when Morsov is mortally wounded, Nux looks genuinely upset for his sake and encourages him to get up and go out in a blaze of glory. Everyone but Slit cheers in reverence when Morsov manages to resolve to do just that. They may be brainwashed fundamentalist berserkers but they care about each other.
- Except for Slit (who's mostly an asshole) the Warboys clearly work as a team- you can see them taking care to pull Nux safely onto the truck after he shows the wives' scarf, even though cutthroat villain logic says they should dump him for being a liability due to scrawniness/sickness.
- Morsov shortly before his Heroic Sacrifice is saved by another War Boy on the War Rig from the charging Buzzard car as he and another War Boy are left on a vulnerable bike, by jumping onto the crane and swing around to grab Morsov by the hand and lift him up to the War Rig, even if that still left the other War Boy to die as there was no time.
- The prelude to Morsov's death also counts as when the War Boys notice him chroming up they all start screaming his name, one even giving a Big "NO!" at the realization of what Morsov's about to do. Given the War Boys are practically raised as brothers it becomes very clear that they do care about each other, Slit aside. Then there's what Nux says before the "WITNESS ME!" moment, when he notices Morsov starting to get back up after seemingly dying a simple death.Nux: Get up! You can do it!
- Even Slit gets his moments, if you look at it the right way. Not wanting Nux to drive can be seen as trying to keep a sick friend resting, and his teasing about Nux shouting for Immortan Joe's attention comes across as Vitriolic Best Buds more than anything. This might also apply to Slit's "irreverence" towards Morsov, who showed up more prominently in early concept sketches, with him, Nux and Slit presented as a trio.
- Just the sheer joy of the Warboys seeing Morsov's epic death. Even while embroiled in a battle they take the time to stop fighting, just to cheer and honor him. In their eyes, he got the absolute ultimate in life: he died in a spectacular and incredibly effective attack that took out two Buzzards and their combat buggy, using only two grenspears while mortally wounded. This certainly got him a VIP seat in Valhalla.
- Nux repeatedly tries to get himself killed to get to "Valhalla", which is wanting glory in death for himself. He's successful in his fourth attempt because, to misquote another controversial movie, he's not fighting what he hates: he's saving what he loves. Heartwarmingly, in ancient Nordic tradition, dying in a Heroic Sacrifice makes you one of the Worthy Dead to go to Valhalla.
- The quiet part where we see Max, Furiosa, the Wives and Nux all in the cabin of the War Rig together, with Nux and the Wives enjoying some hard-earned rest together, snuggling together in the back seat. It just shows how quickly they've all grown close together, and what decent people they all really are at heart. It's very sweet to see how their shared suffering has led them to form a close-knit family unit, of sorts, with Max and Furiosa as the long-suffering parents, the Wives as their daughters and Nux like a son-in-law. It's also particularly satisfying to see Woobies Max and Furiosa enjoying some well-deserved rest.
- The cutest part in this scene has to be when Max wakes up in the passenger seat of the War Rig after his Offscreen Moment of Awesome (and what appears to be a doozy of a nightmare), and Furiosa gently tells him it's okay to sleep and "Get some rest." This from a woman who tried to kill Max with a pair of pliers the first time she saw him. Sweeter still, he stays awake so he can be there to help her out.
- A subtle one, but when Nux does his Heel–Face Turn to help them out of the mud, Toast, the Dag, and Furiosa are all understandably suspicious of him at first. But when Capable defends him, they all immediately trust in him and accept him as one of their own. Keep in mind, Furiosa tried to kill Max on sight earlier, but when Capable says that Nux's all right, she quickly allows Nux to join them. If one of her girls trusts him, then he can't possibly be all that bad.
- Really, the way that the movie subtly drives home the point that what makes the heroes truly good is not their badassery or their ability to kill countless mooks, but their compassion. Max turning against his own survival instincts, Furiosa leaving behind one of the most powerful positions in Citadel to do what's right, Nux joining the people he was desperate to kill earlier and the wives accepting an enemy as one of their own. That's what makes them heroes, and separates them from the rest of the madmen, scavengers, bandits, and brutes in the wasteland—and what makes their story so elementally compelling.
- During the chase in the Rock Riders' canyon, Rictus pins Max's hand to the steering wheel with a harpoon, crushing his finger in the metal. Immediately, Splendid Angharad rushes out of the Rig to cut the harpoon chain and risks getting hit by a boulder, just to save Max. Even better, Max immediately turns around to check on her, and sees that Angharad is still clinging to the Rig. Not only does she stop to give him a smile, Max even returns the favor with a small thumbs up and smile, the first time he shows concern for another human in the film. It's then immediately followed by some potent Mood Whiplash when she gets killed not but a few seconds later.
- Furiosa leaves Max alone in the Rig with the Wives after Angharad's death, and while Toast counts bullets, The Dag and Cheedo tell Max about Angharad ("Angharad used to call [bullets] anti-seed..."). It's a short, quiet scene of the girls opening up to this man who wanted nothing to do with them a few hours before, and is the real start of the six of them becoming something of a makeshift family.
- A rare Pet the Dog moment from Max, when Max returns from massacring the Bullet Farmer and his men, he throws Nux a new boot to replace the one he stole from him earlier in the movie.
- What really makes this moment is that after a presumably brutal fight involving at least one explosion and Max having to scramble for supplies as quick as possible on the off chance that reinforcements arrive, he still manages to think to himself: "You know, that scrawny little skeleton kid could use a new pair of shoes." It really shows that under the stoic and brutally violent shell he's had to build around himself in order to survive, there's still the genuinely caring and compassionate person he used to be before the world went to shit.
- Prior to that, Max's If I Do Not Return moment with Furiosa. He seems caught off guard that she'd even think of waiting for him, and bluntly tells her to keep moving regardless of his presence. His blithe willingness to (potentially) sacrifice himself for the others helps solidify his trustworthiness in her eyes.
- Besides, Nux did give Max the extra chain needed to tie the winch cable around the tree.
- Even before that, there's something touching about the fact that neither Nux or Max seem to bear any actual ill will towards each other. Nux clearly likes Max well enough despite holding him captive. Max, although he clearly views Nux as an annoyance, never goes out of his way to kill him despite having the opportunity.
- Fridge Brilliance: Nux is a War Pup, and is always looking to please the alpha. Without Joe, Nux quickly identifies Max as his alpha.
- In its own way, the scene where Furiosa takes the sniper rifle from Max and uses him as a tripod to steady it before using the last bullet to take out the oncoming Bullet Farmer. It's a subtle but powerful moment where the two main heroes—equally talented as Badasses—trust each other to get the shot off.
- Even this is selling it short. She doesn't take the rifle from Max; he gives it to her. He respectfully acknowledges her talent as a sniper with just a look. They don't need words. All he needs to know is to hold still 'till it's done.
- Nux grinning and saying, "I never thought I'd do something as shine as that!"
- Furiosa is surprised when Max tells her that, if he doesn't return in a certain amount of time, they need to "keep moving". At that very moment, she realizes Max is not just a survivor, but a good man.
- When Max comes back from killing the Bullet Farmer, Toast immediately notices he's covered in blood and asks if he's hurt. Considering she's the least trusting of the Wives and he was ready to leave her and her sisters in the desert less than twenty-four hours ago, this is a big about-face. Look at Furiosa's face when she says, "That's not his blood." Her smile is bordering on smug, as if saying, "Yeah, he's a badass like me."
- Watch the way Furiosa asks Max to come with her across the salt flats. It's almost like she's asking him out on a date.
- Furiosa's reunion with her clan, the Vuvalini. Throughout the movie, we've only seen Furiosa showing grim expressions and an overall serious personality. The moment she reunites with her clan is possibly the first time in decades that she's ever been happy.
- Furiosa's reunion with Valkyrie specifically deserves a mention. Valkyrie recognizes her immediately after over 7000 days apart (that's over 19 years!), and quickly runs to embrace her.
- One mixed with Tear Jerker is Furiosa telling the Vuvalini that her mother died. They all make a quick gesture, and she makes it with them. It's unlikely that her mother got any respect or proper rites when she died, or that Furiosa was allowed to mourn, so even that small gesture clearly means a lot to Furiosa.
- On the note of the mourning gesture for her mother, her face almost reads as though she's remembering this small piece of her heritage and culture after so long; a simple salute for a fallen comrade.
- The way the women move greet the wives; it's less like two groups making first contact, and more like a clan of grannies reuniting with their grandchildren. In just their gestures alone, you can tell that even though these women are badass raiders, they are still mothers at heart.
- Max finally deciding to give Furiosa and the Wives a hand willingly and encouraging them to take the Citadel by cutting through Immortan Joe's pursuit force.
- The warm camaraderie that immediately develops between the Wives and the Vuvalini biker-women.
- The Vuvalini, to their credit, are not blindly misandrist. They immediately cast a suspicious eye on Nux and Max both, but once Furiosa vouches for the character of the two men, that's the end of it, and the tribe trusts them without any further question, even deferring to Max's knowledge and experience when forming a plan.
- Cheedo effortlessly tricks Rictus so she can help Furiosa onto Joe's car, and Max runs over the length of the rig to get to them. When Rictus turns on Cheedo and Furiosa, Max attacks him to draw his attention away from them. It's a sign of how far Max has come that even the merest threat of danger towards Furiosa and the wives send him running. Cheedo's little smile when she sees him cements it.
- After commandeering the People Eater's rig and snatching his gun, Max has a shot at Joe. He doesn't take it. He can't and won't, because Toast is in the car with the goddamn tyrant. Max isn't going to make the same mistake he had with Angharad.
- Nearing the end, Furiosa is saved by Max via blood transfusion.
- Just before that, there's the usually very gruff Max saying "hey" to her in a tender tone he's never used for anyone else since his family died. And then there's him fidgeting while he's attaching the IV. Quiet Rapid-Fire "No!" and all.
- Subsequently, "...Max. My name is Max. Mm-hm. That's my name." When he says this to Furiosa while he's performing the blood transfusion to save her from her near-mortal stab wound, it's a powerful moment as Max realizes that ever since the death of his family and the fall of civilization, he's never really mentioned or gone by his name at all, and in fact, after Furiosa earlier asked what to call him, claimed his name didn't even matter.
- The sweetest part is the way he talks to her, telling her that everything is going to be fine. This is a guy who only a few days ago was grunting angrily at everyone. Further driving home that deep down, Max is still the dutiful MFP officer who tried to help people.
- This actually goes even deeper; when we first hear Max tell us his name—listen to how he says it, he's broken—there's little left to the man. When he says his name again, to Furiosa, there's a vastly different feel to his voice and just looking at his expression while he says it; the time spent with this group, with this woman in particular, has brought him back, and helped him find some redemption for himself.
- It's also an echo of his earlier lines in the film. When he's first strapped to the front of Nux's car, he bellows "That's my car!" or "That's my head!" or "That's my jacket." He's all about the immediate reclamation of his stuff. In the end, he realizes, and recovers, the one thing he never even noticed he'd lost: his identity as a human being. And he does it while giving away one of the most important things he has: his own blood.
- Also, in that moment, he is both literally and figuratively opening his heart to her.
- The very fact that the after all the death and destruction, the film's Final Battle concludes not with the brutal death of the Big Bad, but with a life being saved.
- When it's all over, Furiosa quickly realizes Max is no longer on the lift with the rest of the group - when she spots him and realizes what he's about to do, they share a look of acknowledgement; with him nodding in approval and her smiling warmly before he vanishes into the crowd. That brief moment between the two says it all.
- The relationship shared by the Wives. They all clearly care for and support one another and can often be seen showing affection for each other. And when Angharad dies, they're all devastated, and are understandably angry with Max when he refuses to go back for her. More than co-wives—they're more like sisters.
- At the end, Furiosa puts a comforting arm around one of the Wives after they return.
- Blink and you miss it, but when the water turns on at the ending, the women who throw the switch are the women breast milk was harvested from. They've put on clothes and they're all smiling or looking outside in awe. In fact, they are the only ones to wear unconditional, broad smiles in the entire film.
- At the end, when the lift goes up to the Citadel, you see the Wives helping people get on it, with one disfigured man laughing in joy as he's taken up to the top. In the following scene, you can see many more behind them, all crying in joy at finally being able to go up to paradise.
- Nux summing up the movie in three words:"Feels like hope."
