Mad Max: Fury Road’s Immortan Joe is one of the most iconic screen villains in recent memory, but to know his origin and backstory,  you'll need to look beyond the movie. Played by Mad Max veteran Hugh Keays-Byrne (Toecutter in the original), Joe was crucial to the film’s narrative; a cruel tyrant with a harem of wives who quickly become the MacGuffins of the piece - human cargo, fought over across the dreaded Wasteland.

The king of ‘show don’t tell’ filmmaking, director and creator George Miller was meticulous in his worldbuilding - inventing backstories for everything that appears onscreen from the crazy flamethrower guitar-guy, to the smallest of props. In 2015, after the release of Fury Road, Vertigo began publishing a series of comic book prequels in a bid to expand the Mad Max universe - with one of the stories focussing on Immortan Joe’s origins.

Related: Hugh Keays-Byrne Played TWO Iconic Mad Max Villains

Looking strictly at the story revealed in the movie, Immortan Joe is the tyrannical leader of a post-apocalyptic civilization. He controls the flow of water and uses it to maintain power over his down-trodden subjects. Some of the healthier survivors ascend, joining Joe’s cult if they can fight in his War Boy army or be used for breeding. Joe has two sons, Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones) and Corpus Colossus (Quentin Kenihan), but neither are worthy successors to his empire - a worry, given his age and ill-health. As such, he procures five wives and - like the fairytale baddies of old - locks them up in a tower. When Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) smuggles all five wives out of the Citadel, including the heavily-pregnant Splendid (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Joe is furious - chasing Furiosa into the Wasteland with his War Boys in tow. He calls for assistance from the People Eater (John Howard) and the Bullet Farmer (Richard Carter); both leaders of ally settlements. After an intense chase and the death of his infant son, Immortan Joe is killed and the Citadel liberated - with Furiosa its hero.

Immortan Joe holding something in his hands and examining it

In the comic book prequels, we learn the Immortan was formerly Colonel Joe Moore - a war veteran turned gang leader after the fall, with the Bullet Farmer (formerly Major Kalashnikov) as his right-hand man. Their gang grew in size, raiding various Wasteland settlements, before coming across the People Eater - who promised to reveal the location of a fortress, built atop an underground water reservoir, in exchange for his life. Accepting this deal, Joe and his gang attacked the fortress and, against all odds, managed to overthrow its occupants - forming the basis for what the Citadel would become. Over the years, Joe’s legend grew and grew, with many viewing him as a godlike figure. We also learn that he actually had three sons, with the psychotic Scabrous Scrotus appearing in the comic, as well as the non-canon Mad Max video game from 2015. Not that canon is particularly important to this franchise; George Miller himself viewing the continuity as less rigid and more folkloric in nature.

While Joe’s military background is not directly referenced in the movie, the clues are there - with a number of medals pinned to his chest armor, as well as his war club. The latter prop was auctioned off in conjunction with the Prop Store, so Hugh Keays-Byrne recorded a video offering fans a better look at the weapon: studded with army medals and various keepsakes from Joe’s military career. Keays-Byrne (ever the method actor) actually made the prop himself - as Joe would have - attaching memorabilia from his own family’s military past. Additionally, in an interview with Mandatory, he revealed that he was called ‘daddy’ on-set (something that the comic books reference), continuing the odd tradition of kinky Mad Max villains.

Fury Road was a true cinematic achievement, with a wonderful performance from Hugh Keays-Byrne, that launched Immortan Joe into the bad guy hall of fame and actualized the character’s namesake: immortal, shiny and chrome, bound to haunt audiences for years to come. Pretty spectacular stuff, especially considering the actor and director were both in their late 60s when filming took place. Then again, they’re both from Australia, which begs the question: perhaps there’s something in the water?

Next: Is Fury Road A Sequel Or Reboot? Mad Max Continuity Explained