Mel Gibson was once the face of the Mad Max franchise, but in Mad Max: Fury Road, he was replaced by Tom Hardy, and some fans may have wondered why. One of Mel Gibson’s earliest and most iconic characters was Max Rockatansky, the titular hero from the Mad Max franchise. Gibson first started playing Max in the series’ first film, in 1979. He would go on to play Max twice more, in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. For decades, Gibson was the face of Max, but it all changed in 2015.