You probably remember the spikes. Before the War Boys or the Doof Warrior ever hit the screen in Mad Max: Fury Road, we get this frantic, claustrophobic chase through the sand dunes. Max is strapped to the front of a car like a living hood ornament, and suddenly, these rusted, needle-covered nightmares emerge from the earth. Those are the Mad Max Fury Road Buzzards. They don't have the cult-like devotion of Immortan Joe’s army or the nomadic cool of the Rock Riders. Honestly, they’re just mean. They are the bottom feeders of the Apocalypse, and they might be the most "realistic" faction in George Miller’s entire universe.
The Buzzards don't care about "witnessing" or Valhalla. They just want your tires. They want your scrap. Most importantly, they want your meat.
Who Exactly Are the Buzzards?
Basically, the Buzzards are a tribe of scavengers who live underground. While everyone else in the Wasteland is fighting over "Guzzoline" or clean water, the Buzzards are obsessed with hardware. They are the direct descendants of the people who didn't make it into the vaults or the Citadels. They survived by burrowing.
They speak a broken form of Russian—something George Miller and his co-writers, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, specifically chose to alienate them from the other tribes. It makes them feel foreign. Dangerous. You can't reason with them because you literally cannot understand them.
They’re nocturnal by nature. They hide in the "Sunken Frontier," a region of the Wasteland that used to be a seabed. If you’ve ever wondered why their cars look like hedgehogs, it’s a defense mechanism. In a world where people jump from vehicle to vehicle, being covered in thousands of rusted steel spikes is a pretty solid way to say "keep off."
The Engineering of the Spiky Cars
Look at the "Plymouth Rock." That’s the most famous Buzzard vehicle—the one covered in exactly 1,757 steel spikes. Production designer Colin Gibson didn't just glue those on for a cool aesthetic. Every spike was hand-forged. In the lore of the movie, the Mad Max Fury Road Buzzards use these spikes to impale prey or shredded tires.
They don't use guns. Why waste bullets when you can just ram a car and let the spikes do the work? It’s brutal efficiency.
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The Buzzards also utilize "Excavators." These are heavy-duty trucks equipped with hydraulic claws and saws. Their goal isn't to win a race; it's to dismantle your vehicle while you're still driving it. Think about the terror of that. You’re doing 80 miles per hour across a salt flat, and a rusted crane arm reaches over and starts peeling your roof off like a tin can.
The Language of the Scavenger
One of the coolest details that people usually miss is the dialogue. During the chase scene, you hear the Buzzards screaming at each other. They aren't just making noise. They’re speaking "Buzzard-speak," which is heavily derived from Russian.
Why Russian?
It suggests a history of being outsiders—perhaps sailors or workers caught in the Australian desert when the world ended. It adds a layer of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to the world-building. Miller didn't just want "bad guys." He wanted a culture.
They view the rest of the Wasteland as a grocery store. To the Mad Max Fury Road Buzzards, Furiosa’s War Rig isn't a political statement or an escape pod. It’s a mountain of high-quality steel and a few thousand gallons of fuel. It’s a payday.
Life in the Burrows
We don't see their home in the movie, but the Mad Max comic books and the 2015 video game (though its canon status is a bit "it's complicated") give us a glimpse. They live in tunnels. They are mole people. This is why they wear those heavy leather masks and goggles. Their eyes can't handle the harsh glare of the Wasteland sun.
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They are the ultimate recyclers. Nothing is wasted. If a Buzzard dies, his clothes are taken. His spikes are salvaged. His body is probably... well, let’s just say food is scarce in the desert.
Why They Fail Against the War Rig
You might wonder why such a terrifying force gets wiped out so quickly by Furiosa and Max.
It comes down to tactics.
The Buzzards are used to swarming small targets. They are like piranhas. They find a lone wanderer, surround them, and tear them apart. But the War Rig is a whale. Furiosa is a professional driver, and the War Rig is a rolling fortress.
The Mad Max Fury Road Buzzards also make a fatal mistake: they bring saws to a gunfight. They rely on physical contact. To damage the War Rig, they have to get close. That puts them right in the path of Max’s long-range shooting and Furiosa’s defensive maneuvers.
But even in defeat, they leave a mark. They’re the reason the War Rig loses its rear "plow" and several tires early on. They soften the target for the War Boys. Without the Buzzards' initial strike, the rest of the movie might have played out very differently.
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The Buzzards vs. The Rest of the Wasteland
In the hierarchy of the desert, the Buzzards are outliers.
- The Citadel: Wealthy, religious, organized.
- Gastown: Industrial, greedy, powerful.
- The Bullet Farm: Militaristic, aggressive.
- The Buzzards: Chaos. Pure, unadulterated scavenging.
They don't have an alliance with Immortan Joe. In fact, Joe’s War Boys hate them. To the War Boys, the Buzzards are "vermin." They are pests that need to be exterminated. There’s a deleted sub-plot where it’s implied the Buzzards actually steal from the Citadel’s outskirts regularly.
This makes them a "third-party" threat. In cinematic terms, they serve as a brilliant "inciting incident" for the first big action set piece. They establish that the desert isn't just empty space; it's a place where things are hiding under your feet, waiting for you to slow down.
Actionable Insights for Mad Max Fans
If you're looking to dive deeper into the lore of the Mad Max Fury Road Buzzards, or perhaps you're a cosplayer or a writer looking for inspiration, here is how you can actually apply this knowledge:
- Analyze the Sound Design: Next time you watch the film, turn up the center channel on your speakers. Listen specifically to the Buzzard vocalizations. Notice how they lack the "theatrical" tone of the War Boys. It’s guttural and functional.
- Study the "Plymouth Rock" Design: For model builders or artists, the Plymouth Rock is a masterclass in silhouette. The spikes aren't random. They follow the aerodynamic lines of the car, which tells us that even these "savages" have a deep, intuitive understanding of automotive engineering.
- Explore the Comic Prequels: If you want to see where they live, track down the Mad Max: Fury Road inspired comic series by Vertigo. It provides the visual context for the "Sunken Frontier" that the movie only hints at.
- Look for the "Easter Eggs": In the scene where the Buzzards attack, look at the "buzzard" emblems on their masks. They are made from scrap tin. It’s a recurring motif of "the bird of prey" that defines their entire existence.
The Buzzards remind us that in a world without rules, the most dangerous people aren't the ones building empires—they're the ones who just want to eat your tires. They represent the entropy of the Wasteland. They are the rust that never sleeps.
Next Steps for Lore Hunters:
To fully grasp the scope of the Wasteland's factions, your next move should be investigating the Vuvalini (The Many Mothers). While the Buzzards represent the absolute bottom of human desperation, the Vuvalini represent the last vestiges of "The Green Place." Comparing the two gives you the full spectrum of what humanity becomes when the water runs out. You can also look into the concept art by Peter Pound, who was the original vehicle designer. His early sketches for the Buzzard vehicles are even more grotesque than what ended up on screen, featuring more organic-looking bone structures mixed with the steel.