Tom Hardy‘s recent action movie has proven why, more than ever, he needs to return to the film franchise that propelled him further into stardom than ever before. First gaining acclaim playing the тιтular infamous prisoner in the 2008 biopic Bronson, Tom Hardy’s movies include some iconic action films that make the most of his tough British mannerisms.

Over the course of his career, Hardy has taken part in everything from critically acclaimed shows like Band of Brothers and Peaky Blinders to prestige cinema darlings like The Revenant and Black Hawk Down to blockbuster superhero films like The Dark Knight Rises and the Venom series. But one film, above all others, made him an action movie icon.

The long-awaited fourth entry in the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road is easily one of the greatest action movies ever made. While much of its accolades have to do with the sheer spectacle and audacious barbarity of George Miller’s eccentric vision, Hardy’s take on the beloved Max Rockantasky can’t be diminished in the final product.

His grunting, feral, mostly non-verbal performance as Max not only lives up to the lofty expectations of the role Mel Gibson left behind, but utterly blows them out of the water with its simple, elegant savagery. It’s no wonder that Hardy’s name was elevated to new heights by the role, and he’s still chasing that high all these years later.

Tom Hardy’s Havoc Wasn’t The Action Movie He Deserved After Fury Road

After achieving such a pinnacle of cinema with Mad Max: Fury Road, Hardy could easily be forgiven for seeking other types of work rather than trying to wallow in a genre unlikely to surpᴀss it. His post-Fury Road career mostly consists of historical dramas and biopics, such as Capone, Dunkirk, The Revenant, Legend, and The Bikeriders.

Granted, Hardy took a brief detour among all these award season hopefuls to star in the Venom trilogy, populating the ill-fated Sony Spider-Man spin-off universe with its best films. But the superhero saga can hardly be considered a true return to the same straightforward action movie form that Mad Max: Fury Road embodies.

Enter 2025’s Havoc, the actor’s most recent film and his first traditional action-centric role that doesn’t require him to wear a CGI liquid exoskeleton since revitalizing George Miller’s post-apocalypse. In Havoc, Hardy stars as Patrick Walker, a grizzled detective who springs into action when his son is implicated in a murder connected to a sprawling Triad drug enterprise.

The Netflix-exclusive film was easy to miss during the relatively sparse Spring 2025 movie season, quietly debuting on the streaming service to little fanfare. But its release was quite successful by streaming standards, with Havoc quickly amᴀssing almost 30 million views and becoming the most-watched English-language film the week of its release.

Sadly, this seeming popularity didn’t translate to a warm reception, even by audience standards. On Rotten Tomatoes, Havoc sports a lukewarm 64% critical score and an abysmal 35% audience score. Despite being well-watched, it’s clear that general audiences were more critical of Havoc than professional reviewers.

Detractors of Havoc decry it as being generic, citing the mediocre shootouts, threadbare plot, and continued strangeness of Tom Hardy’s bizarre accent. It’s interesting to see how relying primarily on action, an admitted strength of Mad Max: Fury Road, works against Hardy in Havoc.

A Mad Max Return Can Re-Establish Tom Hardy As An Action Star

Suffice it to say, Havoc is far from the triumphant return to traditional action movies Tom Hardy deserved after collecting his laurels as Max Rockatansky. The film might have done relatively well on Netflix for an original, but it’s not close to the roaring success of a true box office contender.

What Tom Hardy truly needs to reclaim his position as one of the most compelling and gritty action heroes of the present age is a return to George Miller’s maddening post-apocalyptic world. Seeing him come back to the franchise after over ten years would cement him as an all-time great action star, but more films like Havoc will only muddle his legacy further.

Perhaps that is why Hardy’s interest in making Mad Max: The Wasteland has grown recently. He said, “I’d love to do that,” when asked about making another movie late last year as Venom: The Last Dance came out. That came before Havoc‘s release, but perhaps he understood back then how much a Mad Max return could do for him.

Sadly, the prospects of a fifth mainline Mad Max movie are far from guaranteed. Fury Road itself, for all its critical acclaim, only made a very slim profit, and the latest spin-off to add to the franchise’s lore, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, was a total box-office flop. It would undoubtedly be a gamble for studio executives to develop the franchise once more.

That being said, Max Rockatansky is the role he was practically born to play. From his ferocity and grunting, wild-eyed survival instincts to his quiet moments of solace shared with those who actually manage to penetrate his calloused armor, Hardy lends a texture and depth to Max that even Mel Gibson couldn’t touch.

Considering how much interest Max’s brief cameo in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga generated, Tom Hardy‘s return should be prioritized if he’s willing to do another. It’d be the best thing for the post-apocalyptic franchise and a smart career move for the actor after Havoc‘s disappointment.