The flame-guitar player from Mad Max: Fury Road has a dark backstory…

If you’ve seen George Miller’s immensely entertaining Mad Max: Fury Road, you’ll know two things. Firstly, it’s the most awesome movie you’ll see this year and, secondly, you’ll want to know more about that guitar player that appears sporadically throughout the film.

Miller’s post-apocalyptic romp had plenty to admire but we all left the cinema wanting to know more about Coma, the Doof Warrior, aka the insane guy who rocks out with a flamethrower guitar during the film.

We are treated to a few glimpses of Coma throughout the film but Miller never truly explains who he is. When we first saw the film back in May, we did a little digging on who Coma was but found precious little.

Then, it popped back into our heads that we never found out more about him and decided to revisit the mystery. Finding an interview on ScreenRant via Squareeyed with the actor/musician iOTA, who landed the role, he delves into the fascinating backstory of the eccentric character.

As with many characters in the bleak and desolate wastelands of Mad Max: Fury Road, Coma the Doof Warrior has a tragic and painful tale.

“I knew that George had said that Coma was found by Immortan Joe in a Cave and taken under his wing and he learned to be a musician. I kind of embellished that for myself. Basically, my story was that Coma was found with his mother’s head, after she had been killed, and he was clinging to it and Immortan Joe came and found him and Coma took her face off and made the mask out of her face, to honour her when he went to war.”

“Coma didn’t really have a costume, as such. So there was lots of trying stuff on and I remember thinking that an old farcical onesie would be good with the butt flap hanging out the back. The mask was something that was worked on and influence came from everyone. And certainly Angus Young and AC/DC was an influence.”

He may have been an unforgettable part of Fury Road, but don’t be getting your hopes up too much that Coma will feature in the sequel, Mad Max: The Wasteland. The actor himself stated that he didn’t think it would be a good idea anyway, saying that it would maybe give the audience “too much of a good thing” and that “any more would ruin it.”

It might be easy to regard Doof as merely a guy who plays guitar and raises the decibels, but he actually serves an important function within Immortan Joe’s army, as iOTA goes on to explain here:

“He’s logical to that world. Pre-modern communications, there was always the music of war—the bugle, horns, bagpipes, drummers. Every war culture had some sound to signal the troops… ours is just weaponized, so it’s a flamethrower as well.”

What do you think about Coma’s future in the Mad Max franchise? Did we see enough of him in Fury Road or are you itching for more crazy guitarist in your life?