While Mad Max: Fury Road didn’t give the Bullet Farmer much of a role, Furiosa can fix this. The Mad Max franchise is filled with colorful villains, few of whom get the screen time that they deserve. From the original movie’s Toecutter to Lord Humungus from The Road Warrior, the villains of the Mad Max movies are a varied bunch who inform the universe and philosophy of the franchise as much as Max Rockatansky himself.
One such minor villain who was largely wasted in his screen debut, Mad Max: Fury Road, was the Bullet Farmer. While Fury Road never explained Immortan Joe’s Mad Max backstory, the sequel did afford him plenty of scenery-chewing screen time and ensured that viewers knew who he was and how he controlled the Citadel’s resources. In contrast, the Bullet Farmer barely got any screen time, but he is still a classic Mad Max franchise villain — weird, funny, and somehow authentically threatening nonetheless. As such, the upcoming Fury Road prequel Furiosa should bring back Immortan Joe’s right-hand man to flesh out the mythos of the franchise further.
Who Is Fury Road’s Bullet Farmer?
Also known as Major Kalashnikov, the Bullet Farmer was the first soldier to join Immortan Joe’s makeshift army. He helped Immortan Joe take over the Citadel in a brutal siege and became his second in command, eventually being killed by Max during Fury Road’s closing act. While Furiosa has cast Immortan Joe and Dementus, a rival warlord, the prequel's synopsis did not announce whether the Bullet Farmer will appear in the movie. This is a shame, since the Bullet Farmer’s decision to follow Immortan Joe offers an early insight into how the man once known as Colonel Joe Moore managed to convince the War Boys that he was the God-like warlord Immortan Joe and not a mere mortal.
The Bullet Farmer’s Mad Max Backstory Explained
The Bullet Farmer was originally Major Kalashnikov, a fellow soldier who served alongside Colonel Joe Moore. When resources became scarce and wars broke out over water and oil, Immortan Joe’s canon comic backstory explains that he and Kalashnikov took advantage of the ensuing chaos to create a violent militia. The chrome-spraying War Boys then found their earliest iteration in this gang of thugs, who invaded the Citadel and murdered everyone living there in a brutal siege to secure a base with a water supply and infrastructure. In the years that followed, Immortan Joe rewarded Kalashnikov by entrusting him with the Citadel’s lead mine, which led to the Bullet Farmer’s nickname.
The Bullet Farmer set his lackeys to work, using the mine to produce the copious gunpowder and ammunition that fuels the murderous antics of War Boys. This job also indirectly led to the Bullet Farmer’s demise in Fury Road. Loyal to Immortan Joe to the bitter end, the Bullet Farmer attacked imperator Furiosa’s stolen war rig under the cover of night. However, Tom Hardy’s Mad Max killed the henchman after Furiosa blinded him, leaving Immortan Joe without his most loyal follower. This character arc is barely glimpsed in Fury Road, but the Mad Max prequel Furiosa could retroactively render this demise bittersweet by offering a portrait of the man who the Bullet Farmer was before he became an overzealous, unhinged devotee of Immortan Joe.