Mad Max: Fury Road - 20 Easter Eggs, In-Jokes & References

You might think that Furiosa might be somewhat protected status, but Miller's actioner has delightfully little regard for supposedly assured gender expectations in film. In other words, she gets the living hell kicked out of her.

And since Furiosa is basically the protagonist here - replacing Mad Max - she ends up going through basically what Max went through in the earlier moves. And it's definitely no accident that the injuries to her face look suspiciously similar to those sported by Mel Gibson by the end of The Road Warrior.

It has even more relevance to the history of the Mad Max franchise too: Mel Gibson was originally cast in the first film after going to the audition to support friend Steve Bisley (Goose). He'd been in a bar fight and his battered eye got him a callback where he charmed them so much he got the lead.