If you'd like to support Media Zealot and gain access to content voting + other perks, please consider signing up on Patreon, or joining as a KZfaq member: www.patreon.com/mediazealot kzfaq.infojoin

FYI about the Guitar Guy : He is based on pre modern communications armies, back then we used army bands to convey orders as well as boost morale and scare the enemy. But as said, most important was that they could convey orders to the whole army fast, if you watch the movie again with this in mind, you realize he changes pace, rhythm when something new is happening as he is conveying orders to the convoy. And yes, it HAD to be that big in order to be heard over the engines. Also it's a real guitarist who's actually playing. He is actually one of the more thought out aspects of this already brilliant movie !

Let's not be too harsh on Immortan Joe, he was just really sad the world ended and he could no longer play his Speed Freaks Orks army in Warhammer 40 000 so he made his own with real people! It was probably cheaper than buying Warhammer 40k minis in Australia anyway.

The "armor" is probably a cast made from a mold of him in his prime. So he wears it to appear as he did when he was big and powerful

You're right on about 90% of this, except one thing: Immortan Joe wanted his harem brought back alive and (mostly) uninjured. Using guns against them would have surely guaranteed their deaths.

Hi. Medical field here. Joe's issue appears to be radiation. He has burns, his innermost circle all seem to have mutations, and the war boys are made to look more skeletal. They mention that one has a half-life, and requires blood. Possibly an autoimmune disease? Possibly leukemia? Him spending all the resources to get them back makes perfect sense though. The girls literally represent the future for him. They are untainted by disease, and are capable of bearing children.

"despite these machines obviously being man made meaning there is absolutely nothing divine about them" *laughs in adeptus mechanics*

"Sending out his entire army over one truck is overkill" No it isnt, you literally just spent like 15 minutes describing how desperate Joe is for a child to succeed him...

Fun fact: the Peacemaker was an extremely impractical vehicle even for filming. It's based on a Ripsaw "Sports Tank" chassis, but because it was a bargain basement version of the Ripsaw EV1 it was unreliable as fuck. It was also a real pain to drive, as the brake-based steering system was twitchy and the Holden car body on top of the tank raised the vehicle's center of gravity a bit. After filming, the vehicle was ceremonially destroyed with much applause.

What about a spin-off series like *Villains too Smart to Lose?* or *Heroes too dumb to win?*

The whole Mad Max universe is too stupid to exist, its part of the reason its so awesome. Some might say, its pretty mad... 🤔

Fun fact: The actor who played Immortan Joe was also The Toecutter in the original Mad Max.

At least he treated his disabled son better than Tywin treated Tyrion!

I've got to disagree here -- most end-of-the-world cults, when the due date comes and the world doesn't end, double down rather than rebelling. Immortan Joe's cult is all too realistic.

Mad Max saga as in on it self is kind of an allegory of how quickly people just turn into dumb, madden and violent animals, when the shit hits the fan.

Fun fact about the flamethrower guitarist, there’s actually a very reasonable utility it has, and is use for. It’s a way for commands to get sent to those in the vehicles around it. I believe the system was the drums send messages to the guitar, and the guitar then sends those messages to the vehicles. Now there’s definitely a more efficient way to do this, but sometimes you just want style.

Wow, Joe could've been way smarter if he'd just made Colossus his administrative leader and Rictus as Colossus's fist.

If it hadn't been for Immortan Joe I'd been married a long time ago Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Immortan Joe?

He should have indoctrinated them into believing he was a prophet not a god. At the very least, a religion doesn't tear itself apart upon the death of its prophet.

Maybe I just imagined it, but as I know, Colossus suffered of sexual impotence and Rictus's lung disease was hereditary; so Joe's idea was to leave both Colossus and Rictus as successors (just like a Master Blaster combo) and ask them to raise their little brother to be teir successor. It's notorious that Rictus trusted Colossus and did as he said.

To be fair, Joe seems like the kind of guy who would run a state with a mixture of spite, whims, and whatever sounds cool.

Machines don't have anything divine about them? I hope the Mechanicus doesn't hear about this.

Scabarus Scrotus was actually the main villain of the video games. Suffice to say, he would make a terrible leader as well. For one, he was wasreful as shit, getting rid of one of the few dogs left in Australia just because it couldn't fight. He also took warboys and raised them like actual no holds barred dogs. He was fucked up.

Joe's army and predicament are just a reflection of himself. It's actually what makes it all so interesting and almost believable. Joe has been nicknamed Immortal and like many real men (especially former soldiers) will continue to view themselves in this light. It's believable that he would piss away his good years not looking forward. When he is finally saddled with the reality of his mortality, late in life, his all consuming desire would be his wives and children. Joe isn't a leader or a ruler, he is a warlord. The radiation and half-life of his warboys is pretty well established, the earth had been irradiated which lead to the current climate. We also get an idea on why he is still the leader even at such an old age, the outsiders who attack Joe are easily dealt with by him and the warboys. Their fanaticism is what makes them dangerous, and there were plenty more back at the Citadel to replace losses, not to mention any real threats. etc... Don't want to prattle on too long, ultimately what make Immortan Joe such a good "bad guy" is his humanity. He is old and vulnerable, his confidence is shaken by Furiosa's betrayal, and he spends the entire movie on the back foot. He is never in a position of power, the Protagonist and Antagonist share a struggle.

This movie is pure visual art.

9:10 The classic mistake of speechifying instead of just pulling the trigger without warning. Instead Joe walks into the room and both barrels take him out before he turns round and sees the old woman. Makes Furiousa's job easier.

The music machine is so the war boys get their commands , it works like drummer boy in the civil war

Scabrous Scrotus, Joe's third son, does actually appear in the Mad Max tie-in game they made for Fury Road. Not sure whether Max kills him before or after Immortan Joe, but I just thought I'd point that out.

Honestly. I get how the religion of Joe in some weird way. First: the immortality stuff. This has worked numerous times in the past. All Joe or his successor would have to do is say that he reincarnates into the successor or that he moves on to the afterlife as a God. If it worked for the Chinese, north koreans, and the Egyptians, it can work for the... Joeans? And second: the Machine part. This hasn't been done before so no really world example to draw on but it could definitely work. Sure, humans made machines but the ability to make them or their actual functionality, through proper indoctrination, could very well be proposed as the divine part. Like, maybe they are taught that whenever they repair a machine whatever god they believe in besides Joe is inhabiting them or.guiding their hands or being awakened in the machine

I just assume the nature of the post-apocalypse has a corrosive affects on people brains, and that’s why so many post-apocalyptic villains act so stupid.

Zealot makes an interesting point here. Namely, the middle and upper classes of the citadel would be far more loyal, if they were invested in the system. Well, know who that sounds like? Aunty Entity. Her top, middle, and probably even her lower people, were all invested in Bartertown, which likely how she commanded their loyalty with such seeming ease. All of her people seemed to have a stake in Bartertown in some way or another.

His giant son the one who rips the supercharger off was once a famous bank robber in Australia .

Got the respirator part wrong. He wears it to breath clean air, basically flexing on the others

Ceaser’s Legion from Fallout: New Vegas would be a nice addition

"Joe responds with the full force of his inadequate army. Leaving his kingdom vulnerable to attack" Just like Sauron in Lord of the Rings. I mean... even a few orcs as guards or maybe a basic wooden door with a padlock would have stopped Sam and Frodo.

I just love the "traveling circus" analogy XD

Honestly when the idea of military tanks came up I just remembered that most of these people are with just basic knowledge in mechanics and basic chemistry, like the formula for gunpowder is only known by a few people so advance military specs would have to be rare and even more so someone who can read it , like max doesn’t even really remember who he was before the war it’s just his instincts that he remembered from advance combat training so yea joe was just some tough guy with a gun and got lucky

In fiction, has there ever been an empire that wasn't evil or incompetent?

Corpus erectus and rictus colossus sound like genotypes.

The bullet farmer's tread vehicle was CONSTANTLY breaking down on set

Boisterous Australian baseball announcer mixed with passionless Vulcan commentary is an interesting dichotomy.

Hey, you may be correct in all this, but let us not forget, the heavy metal rock barge is freaking awesome.

I legit thought his name was "Important Joe" lol Edit: WOW, 229! Pretty sure this is my most popular comment ever! Thanks erry-body!!!

I really have loved this video, but you have forgotten one fondamental point about Joe's personality: putting Furiosa in a so prominent position in his army, his over-reaction to the wives runaway and even the musical truck are manifstations of his hypertrofic ego, self conviction to be a god and ultimally, total insanity. Immortan Joe is crazy as f*ck, it is impossible to expect a lucid behaviour from someone in his mental conditions.

Theres actually a video by "Logos made Flesh" that explains Immortan Joe has actually been attempting to produce an heir for many many years, explaining how the human cows (the fat women who are milked) were actually once his "breeders", but after repeated failed attempts at a healthy son, they were forced to become "milkers", the "Brides" in the movie were his last hope at a healthy son

I was gonna recommend SEELE (Neon Genisis Evangelion) for villains too stupid to win, but then I remembered that they DO win (although not entirely due to their own actions)

"not to mention engines and vehicles are man made machines, there's quite obviously nothing divine about them" >Cult Mechanicus has entered the chat.

The music being louder than the vehicles makes them signals for changes in attack and formation

I never watched any Star Trek on any medium, but the number of fitting dialogue the highly-logical black Star Trek guy has is pretty impressive. He has 4-6 perfectly in-context lines per video.

There are so many good options for these series. I still think the Reapers are a great choice since they do actually get increasingly stupid as the original trilogy goes along.

Idea for Villains Too Stupid to Win: The Skeksis from _The Dark Crystal_ . _Age of Resistance_ depicts them repeatedly fucking up.

Literally right after the " what divine apparatus needs the blood sweat and tears of man to keep it going" line I got a ford commercial 😂

It's a nuclear war, totally confirmed in Mad Max: The Road Warrior's beginning narration. Also Fury Road totally takes some of It's plot points from it. It's a good mix

The funny thing is, the internet there is actually better post-apocalypse.

i feel like every point you made here was correct.. and part of the films purpose. Joe was obviously a short sighted ego maniac and every decision he makes fits that sort of character

I personally theorize that a lot of the rigs that were part of Joe's army weren't so much purpose built as they were pulled of scavengers, wanderers, and raids on other groups. Like, we see what they did with Max's car. Stands to reason they did that with the rest. So, "Where are the tanks?" Easy. They already got blown up.

The really sad part is nothing in the movie even had to happen for Joe to lose. His entire society was built upon his war boys and raiding nearby settlements. Yet the surrounding landscape is utterly barren and his troops are too undisciplined to ever leave survivors or people with resources left. This means eventually there will be no one else to fight. This would leave Joe with a sucidal group of cancer patients who seek glorious combat and death... with no one to fight. Even if the Citadel could fully function without outside resources, most of the middle class and his warriors would probably not do well with idle hands. So even if every thing mentioned in this video didn't happen, the society would still fall.

Why was he not able to hoard military vehicles and equipment considering that he was a high ranking military officer before the apocalypse?

All these evil villain leaders always forget they do have a date with mortality.

Theory. Imortan Joe was never really the true leader, he was simply the mouth piece of The Doof Warrior. How can he not be in charge if he is that frickin cool.

I swear there are more Star Trek scenes used in this video than actually scenes from mad max.

How would *Tuvok* run this Kingdom? He also has the advantage of a much longer lifespan.

11:02 The Cult Mechanicus would like to speak to you

I was today years old when I learned that Mad Max was taking place on Australia this whole time. That explains a lot

Uh oh look out we've got an edgy boy on our hands!! Take that religion this rebel doesn't care! And hes missed a huge part. "They're all cancer riddled and half dead", thats exactly why he doesn't use resources on good war machines because he doesn't have people adequate enough to properly use them. So for him, his followers ravenous dedication to the belief system he created is a more effective weapon. His fighters are frail and half useless. Their best quality is their willingness to die. They don't need resource costly high quality machines to kamikaze.

An idea for Villains too stupid to live: the Robotech masters from Robotech. I give the Protoculture from SDF Macross a pass on your roast lists as they did better than Harmony Gold's stupid ideas.

"5 day old chicken meat wrapped in plastic wrap" lol. Nailed it.

5:20 Fun Fact: Scabrous Scrotus appears as the main villain of the Mad Max video game.

I think the point of Immortan Joe was that he completely bought into his hype, believed he was a god like being and not a warlord that got lucky.

Tuvok is my favorite star trek character and i just love what you did with him. Its pure art

I'm convinced this movie is a philosophical critique of the absurdity of a bunch of dogmas

I mean, give the music car some credit, war drums have been a part of advancing armies for ages.

_* Is the Federation really smart enough to exist? *_ I mean they have good sensors and all but is that really enough?

There were so many Star trek clips that I thought there was gonna be a crossover.

Too be fair the guitar truck isnt just a music machine. It acted as a drummer boy. Bursts of flames and different chords for left, right, flank, move out, and so on.

The music truck is not only for a morale boost. I think they use it to coordinate the army. Like drummers in the past. The music dictates if they should attack, chase, stop or do whatever. But maybe not.

To be fair, since you used the comic, the weapons are really effective in the game. True, not the best if you want to salvage, but they do the job to destroy/disable other vehicles.

I would love to see you roast the elder god from the Legacy of Kain series. That guy sees a point where Kain could one day destroy him, and orchestrates things to the point where that exact thing might have happened if they would make another game in the series.

The Flamethrower-Guitar truck does serve a practical purpose. It's the only thing louder than all the cars, and it acts as war drums, which are mainly used as a form of signaling.

"...But instead imortum joe builds his empire on a house of cards...." So i take you never heard of Consantine the first?

Its pretty much Slipknot if they were in Australia during the nuclear war. Suprised Corey taylor wasn't really joe

Someone has never heard of religion, military, or government. Every point you made has been successful within those three groups for thousands of years. You made a video about how Joe would win for all of human existence and accidentally thought you were making a video about how he wouldn’t win. We have real life proof that everything he does works perfectly.

Mad Max is as much about social commentary as it is about extravagant eye candy.

Whats funny about these is everytime you point how a villain is too stupid to exist I can think of several real life examples of their stupidity. Which is why when I watch fiction stupid villains ring true to me.

To be honest I'm surprised he even survived the early days of the collapse. Because he could've easily came up against a Government remnant faction that could've easily destroy his faction of bandits, Or any faction for that matter

Could you please consider covering Panem from The Hunger Games given that there's a new Prequel book out?

Honestly "Riktus Collussus" might be best idea for a sequel to date.

“Engines and vehicles are man-made, there’s quite obviously nothing divine about them.” The Adeptus Mechanicus would like to speak with you.

Immortan Joe also has some pretty interesting technology that would have been really good for this future, such as the ability to flatten roads, do blood type testing and other mechanical engineering prowess. Why do the smart become such greedy fascists? Hehe

I knew he would come in the list

The actor who played Immortan Joe was the same actor who played Toecutter in the original mad max (Hugh Keays-Byrne)

Quentin Kenihan who played Corpus Colossus passed away on 6 October 2018 (aged 43) may he rest in peace (shiny and chrome in Valhalla)

We germans have a saying. "Nach mir die Sintflut." Joe is living it.

Dont get upset with me, but I accidentally thought the followers were bandits from Borderlands 3

The truck with the wall of music and flamethrower guitar is communication vehicle. By sending out light signals and the music he can issue commands to his fleet much like ships at sea using horns or lights.

"This war $$$ could have been better invested than this wall of noise." ... Explain me bagpipes, then.

How convenient I was just rewatching clips of the movie! Edit: does anyone get an excuse on the account of being absolutely demented?

Well the fact that these man made machines work in the first place can be somewhat seen as divine. Cough war hammer 40k

While I agree with your every criticism of Immortan Joe's organization, I also think it's fair to say that all of those flaws were intentional creative decisions rather than mere oversights, given that so many of those chickens come home to roost within the plot itself.

Classic example of "The bigger they are, the harder they fall". He literally got so big on his own hubris that he didn't even entertain the idea that someone could use it to bring him down. Also, nobody actually worships him.....they just pretend to be devoted to him so he can give them what they need (maybe minus his sons and the grown War boys) The People Eater and whoever the fuck ran the Bullet Farm were his actual siblings, and they talked trash about him and ribbed him to his face knowing what he does to people who question him, and like you said in the video, could have rebelled or cut off resources at any time to bring down this egomaniac....but they didn't, I think that goes to show that even if they aren't loyal, people will put up with anything as long as their boat isn't getting rocked. That goes to show how easily their loyalty changes when the Wretched rip apart his corpse, if they were truly devoted, they would still be worshipping his ideas and continuing his plan to keep them subjugated, like how the Soviet Union didn't end with Stalin. The younger war boys also don't even hesitate to bring up the people who literally killed their prophet, which shows that they were only loyal to the person who controlled the resources. The line "Do not become addicted to water" always gave me the willies, and considering we are still dealing with the fallout of the MAGA administration, I have no issues believing he has convinced some people that water is an addictive substance......despite the fact that any human will DIE if they go 3 days without it! He is literally trying to convince people that something your body cannot live without is something you don't need! Sound familiar? Oh yeah, the American healthcare system!