The Mad Max universe has no shortage of incredibly memorable and viciously vile villains that have tried their hand at ruling the wasteland. From Toecutter and Aunty Entity to Lord Humungus, Max Rockatansky has faced some seriously dangerous foes, but none of them could match the threat-level of Immortan Joe – and the origin behind the villain’s nickname proves it.

Mad Max: Fury Road – Nux & Immortan Joe (by George Miller, Nico Lathouris, Mark Sexton, Leandro Fernandez, Riccardo Burchielli, and Andrea Mutti) is the canonical comic book tie-in that tells the origin story of the tyrant of the Citadel, Immortan Joe. Before Joe became revered as a god, he was a colonel named Joe Moore, a war hero who fought in the Oil and Water Wars that led up to the apocalypse. He only became a ‘god’ after taking the area that would come to be known as the Citadel in a way that should have been impossible.

Joe Moore and his gang of rough riders launched a three-day siege on the Citadel when they were refused entry. Unfortunately, the seemingly impenetrable nature of the Citadel (which is a mountainous fortress embedded right into the rock formations themselves) proved too much for them, and every day, more and more of Moore’s men died trying to breach it. However, on the third day, Joe Moore himself – after scaling the walls and seemingly dying fighting for his people – claims victory over the Citadel, thereby establishing the society fans were introduced to in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Joe Moore the Man Became Immortan Joe the God After His Victory at the Citadel

When Joe Moore came out victorious after three days of no one hearing from him, all while practically every one of his fellow warriors died fighting the Citadel’s forces, his story became legend. It was believed that Joe Moore did die during that time, and was reborn as the immortal god Immortan Joe. Obviously, Joe perpetuated these rumors while rebuilding the Citadel as a new society in order to more easily become its dictator. People could overthrow a tyrant, but no one would dare try to usurp a god.

Joe Moore wasn’t just some nobody in the world before the apocalypse who reached his full potential in a post-apocalyptic world. Joe was a colonel and a war hero during an age in human history where people were brutally fighting each other over things like oil and water – meaning there were no peaceful alternatives to combat, only survival of the fittest. Joe Moore had seen the worst of what humanity had to offer before society totally crumbled, making him more than equipped to lead a new society in a ruthlessly proficient and shockingly cruel way.

Immortan Joe is the One Villain Even Mad Max Himself Couldn’t Beat

Immortan Joe was killed by Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, not Max.

In the previous Mad Max films, the titular protagonist is always successful in stopping the villain. Whether that means Max kills them outright (like he did with Lord Humungus and Toecutter) or helps them realize their lost humanity (like with Aunty Entity). Either way, it was always Max who stopped the villain, but in Mad Max: Fury Road, it doesn’t seem as though he’s up for the task. Max was subdued by Immortan Joe’s War Boys right at the start of the film (twice). Then, when the time finally came to put an end to Immortan Joe’s villainy once and for all, it was Furiosa who pulled the trigger.

All things considered, Immortan Joe is an intriguing, multi-layered character with a badass origin story and a monstrously cruel depiction as the main villain in Mad Max: Fury Road. His reign began when he came “back from death itself” following his victory at the Citadel, and ended when Furiosa (not Max) killed him on the Fury Road, While the origin of his nickname confirms why he’s such a great antagonist, practically every aspect of Immortan Joe contributes to that sentiment, making him easily the best villain in the Mad Max franchise.