The War Boys use a distinctive identifying hand gesture all throughout Mad Max: Fury Road, but the movie never explains what their hand symbol actually means. Director George Miller isn’t in the business of overexplaining the lore of his movies; in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock, Miller is a deeply visual storyteller. Miller wants audiences around the world to be able to understand his films without the subтιтles on, following the story from the sequencing of images alone, and for the most part, he succeeds in doing so.

One of the most distinctive visual motifs in Mad Max: Fury Road, arguably the best movie of Miller’s career, is the hand symbol used by the War Boys. Throughout the movie, the War Boys communicate with one another by interlocking four fingers from each hand (eight total) in the shape of the letter V. This recurring image shows the cult-like camaraderie between the War Boys, but it also has a deeper meaning that taps into the religious fanaticism at the heart of the Mad Max franchise.

The War Boys’ Hand Symbol Is Made To Resemble A V8 Engine

It’s Called “The Sign Of The V8”

The hand symbol used by the War Boys is designed to resemble a V8 engine. V8 engines famously have two banks of four cylinders that share a common crankshaft and are arranged in the configuration of the letter V. The War Boys’ eight fingers are supposed to resemble the eight cylinders of a V8 engine, while their V-shaped poise is supposed to resemble the engine’s V configuration. To hammer this home, the gesture is referred to as “The Sign of the V8.”

The War Boys’ worship of V8 engines has a real-world parallel. In the 1970s, street racers were clamoring to modify their cars with V8 engines, but their desire to drive a car with a V8 was hampered by the V8’s need for high-octane gasoline. Old V8 engines use up a lot of horsepower with their high-compression ratios, so they require 100-octane gasoline, which had stopped being produced at the time. So, these street racers worshipped an engine they could never use, similar to the War Boys.

The War Boys Continue The Idea Of Vehicles As A Religion In Mad Max Movies

On The Wasteland, People Worship Power & Speed

Ever since Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior introduced the post-apocalyptic wasteland, worshipping the cars of the old world has been a major component of Mad Max’s worldbuilding. On the wasteland, people worship power and speed like it’s a religion; since working vehicles are scarce and gasoline is precious, anyone with either of those things is treated like a god. The War Boys’ religious obsession with V8 engines in Mad Max: Fury Road continues that trend.