Mad Max: Fury Street’s iconic heroine Furiosa begins with a severed arm and the new Furiosa: Mad Max saga reveals how she lost her life and how it changed her life.
From its inception, Mad Max: Fury Road focuses on Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, rather than Max Rocktansky. Max, an ex-policeman turned nomad after the collapse of civilization, acts as the story’s partner. The real story is about a field general named Furiosa who escapes from the slavery of her Immortal Joe master and fights for freedom. His screen presence is commanding as Max fades into the desert, and his is the film’s final triumph.
Furiosa: One serves as a prequel to Fury’s Road, answering many of the questions fans have had since the Mad Max saga debuted. The main one is the loss of his left hand, which was replaced by a prosthetic at the beginning of Fury’s path. Furiosa, the new installment in the universe Miller created, shows how it happened: a terrifying event that speaks volumes about who the character will become. This event has a great symbolic meaning that reflects the care and attention that director George Miller puts into all his characters.
The tragic loss of Furiosa’s arm
She first appeared as the leader of Immortal Joe’s forces, tasked with collecting fuel and ammunition from the tributaries and driving the mobile fortress truck “War Rig”. Fury’s Road to Gastown and the Bullet Farm begins a routine mission, but it takes an unexpected turn when Furiosa escapes with Joe’s wives. Max joins them through a mixture of circumstance and fate, but Furiosa has a plan and a destiny, becoming a hero to the troubled Immortal Joe. The title character is more or less a friend on this adventure.
During the preparation for Fury Road, Miller developed extensive backstories for the main characters, particularly Furiosa and Immortal Joe. Some of this information is available in a limited comic series released under the Vertigo imprint that was released alongside the film in 2015. These comics include the story of how Joe captures Citadel and how Furiosa plots to escape from the harem. The comics complement Fury’s trail, making it an extended two-hour chase. Miller makes sure the problems are clear and simple, so the viewer doesn’t get lost.
How does Furiosa lose her arm?
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga details the brutality of her youth when a motorcycle gang leader is kidnapped by his demented henchmen from a green space. Eventually, Dementus becomes commander of Gastown, the oil refinery that Immortan Joe uses to maintain his power. Furiosa is given to Joe as part of the deal, and eventually becomes a Praetorian, guarding the supply routes to Gastown and Bullet Farm.
Meanwhile, Dementus misrules Gastown, blaming Jon for its problems and waging war for control of the desert. The attack begins with an attack on Joe War Rig led by her mentor Praetorian Jack and Furiosa.
Dementus’ forces ambushed the bullet farm and destroyed their team, severely damaging the facility, but managed to escape into the desert. Dementes chases them and catches them, severely injuring her arm in the process. He hangs her by her injured arm and forces her to watch as Jack is slowly dragged to his death. She used the distraction to yank her arm free and leave her leg dangling from the chain. After building his prosthetic arm with the help of a stranger, he is able to return to the Citadel and join the forces of Immortan Joe.
Symbols and functions of the arm
The loss of Furiosa’s arm parallels Max Roktansky’s injury: her left knee is destroyed at the end of the first episode and she wears a brace. In both cases, it represents psychological damage as much as a physical wound, and even the strongest survivors lose parts of themselves to survive.
The strap worked better in the practical effects era, and the arm would benefit from CGI. Also, the loss of the protagonist’s arm cuts her off from her way back home: she has drawn a map based on a reading of the stars and is forced to abandon it in order to survive. Another piece of herself that Dementus had stolen fueled her desire for revenge.
Fury Road doesn’t give much detail about Furiosa’s arm other than that it was assembled from found parts and uses hydraulic power in its operation. She can use it just as easily as a normal arm, and her mechanical grip provides great pressure. Aside from serving as part of his unique look and a reminder of the brutality of life in Miller’s universe, he functions more or less as a flesh-and-blood arm.
The new chapter in Miller’s universe goes into more detail about where he found it and how he built it than just his feelings for Praetorian Jack. His first experience among Immortal Joe’s forces included a long stint in the “House of Sacred Engines” where the war vehicles were built until the beginning of Fury Road.