George Miller's Mad Max films are unmatched in post-apocalyptic, gasoline-fueled action, but a Mad Max: Fury Road theory about The Feral Kid in The Road Warrior ruins what made the original Mad Max trilogy special. In the original trilogy, Max (Mel Gibson) comes across a variety of apocalypse survivors, and in The Road Warrior, he helps defend a community against a band of savage outlaws led by The Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). One young member of the community, The Feral Kid (Emil Minty), is enamored by Max and re him fondly after they part ways, leaving Max to disappear into the wasteland off on another adventure.
The violent, high-octane The Road Warrior is bookended with narration by an older man, and it is revealed at the end of the film that the narrator is The Feral Kid grown old, telling a legend about the mysterious Max who helped him when he was young. After his community escapes from the bandits, The Feral Kid narrates, "And the Road Warrior? That was the last we ever saw of him. He lives now... only in my memories," giving Max a mystical quality and suggesting his legacy will live on longer than any mortal man. This prophecy proves to be true; as the world of the Mad Max films evolves but Max remains ageless, still making his way around the land in search of gasoline and reluctantly helping those who need it.
A theory has been posed that The Feral Kid is the Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keays-Byrne) Citadel in Mad Max: Fury Road, and giving that mantle to anyone else takes away from his mystique.
The Feral Kid in The Road Warrior also had a perfect arc in that film that did not need to be expanded on. As he narrates the film, it is clear that he has lived a long life and is on his deathbed. His purpose was that he had a brief encounter with the mysterious Road Warrior, and he spreads the word about Max to inspire hope in the next generations. The community in The Road Warrior left their compound to search for a peaceful life near the water. Based on how aged The Feral Kid sounds in his narration, they accomplished this. It would not make sense for The Feral Kid to abandon his home to have adventures like Max.
The ageless Road Warrior Max Rockatansky works best when he's a mysterious hero of the wasteland, and needlessly connecting The Feral Kid to Mad Max: Fury Road goes against what gave Max his legendary status. He roams the post-apocalyptic landscape like a phantom, looking out for himself while reluctantly helping others, eventually always doing what's right. The loose continuity of the Mad Max films is not an oversight but rather fuels the unique quality of Max being an urban legend who will always be looking out for survivors in the wasteland.
