Considering the fact that Tom Hardy’s Max was upstaged in his own movie by the sheer, explosive brilliance of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa, wouldn’t there be a little sense of irony in having Max relegated to a little cameo in the “Furiosa” prequel? That’s the first assumption many will make upon reading George Miller’s most recent tease for the upcoming film, but maybe we should pump the brakes first (see what I did there?) and carefully parse his actual comments. While talking to Empire, the director let slip one key reveal about what Max might be up to while the events of “Furiosa” are taking place. As he put it in response to a question about Max’s whereabouts at the time:
“I won’t give away too much about that. All I’ll say is, Max is lurking there in the background.”
Somebody get Marvel’s notoriously tight-lipped Kevin Feige on the phone because this is a masterclass in saying absolutely nothing at all. Obviously, Max is alive and kicking at the same time that the “Furiosa” prequel is set, but everything we saw in “Fury Road” precludes any real meeting between the two characters before they do so in the 2015 film. So if — and that’s a big if — Max makes an actual appearance at some point in “Furiosa,” that could make things a bit complicated. Of course, Miller could just be saying that Max technically is roaming around somewhere in the distance, but we’ll never see him because, frankly, we really don’t need to.
So there you have it: Almost 600 words later, we still have very little idea about what’s really going down in this movie. If you ask me, that’s kind of refreshing, actually. “Furiosa” roars into theaters on May 24, 2024.