Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Mounts – The Road Warrior’s Chopper

The Road Warrior’s Chopper – Max Rockatansky, the Road Warrior
and The Ghost Rider
https://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Mount:Road_Warrior%27s_Chopper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Rider

This is my 300th Wizard101 pop culture post. Thank you to KingsIsle, Sparck, and Kyle IceWielder for helping me celebrate this milestone. Today’s post takes a break from the multitude of Azteca references and looks at one of my longed-for mounts. The Road Warrior Chopper is a single-wizard mount and is a possible reward from the Road Warrior’s Hoard Pack. When introduced, it was advertised as being the fastest Mount in the game (permanent version at 50% compared to the usual 40% of most other permanent Mounts). We here at the database (thank you KI) gave away one of these elusive mounts on Friday June 16th to one lucky person. Congratulations to Scion of Bartleby.

The Road Warrior Chopper has two inspirations from Pop Culture. The first is the name and the second is the look. The name alludes to the Mad Max films and the looks is reminiscent of the Marvel super hero, Ghost Rider.

Mad Max is an Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with Mad Max, and was followed by three sequels: Mad Max 2 (1981, released in the United States as The Road Warrior), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson portrayed the titular character Max Rockatansky in the first three films, while Tom Hardy portrayed the character in Mad Max: Fury Road.

The series follows the adventures of Rockatansky, a police officer in a future Australia which is experiencing societal collapse due to war and critical resource shortages. When his wife and child are murdered by a vicious biker gang, Max kills them in revenge and becomes a drifting loner in the Wasteland. As Australia devolves further into barbarity, Max finds himself helping pockets of civilization, initially for his own self-interest, but his motives always drift into more altruistic ones.

The series has been well received by critics, with each film marked “Certified Fresh” on the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes; Mad Max 2 and Fury Road in particular have been ranked among the best action films ever made. The series has also had a significant influence on popular culture, most notably apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and encompasses works in additional media, including video games and comic books. In 2016, Fury Road became the first film of the Mad Max franchise to receive Academy Award recognition, winning six of its ten nominations.

Ghost Rider is the name of multiple superheroes or antiheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider.

The first supernatural Ghost Rider is stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, who, to save the life of his father, agrees to give his soul to “Satan” (later revealed to be an arch-demon named Mephisto). At night and when around evil, Blaze finds his flesh consumed by hellfire, causing his head to become a flaming skull. He rides a fiery motorcycle and wields blasts of hellfire from his body, usually from his skeletal hands. He eventually learns he has been bonded with the demon Zarathos. Blaze is featured in the series Ghost Rider (vol. 2) from 1972 to 1983.

The subsequent Ghost Rider series (1990–1998) features Danny Ketch as a new Ghost Rider. After his sister was injured by ninja gangsters, Ketch comes in contact with a motorcycle that contains the essence of a Spirit of Vengeance. Blaze reappears in this 1990s series as a supporting character, and it is later revealed that Danny and his sister were Johnny Blaze’s long-lost siblings. In 2000s comics, Blaze succeeds Ketch, becoming Ghost Rider again. In 2014, Robbie Reyes becomes Ghost Rider as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative.

In May 2011, Ghost Rider placed 90th on IGN’s “Top 100 Comic Book Heroes” list. Nicolas Cage starred as the Johnny Blaze incarnation of the character in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and its 2012 sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Gabriel Luna and Tom McComas portray the Robbie Reyes and Johnny Blaze incarnations in the fourth season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ghost Rider’s motorcycle has been depicted variously as a standard Harley Davidson V-Twin to a demonic looking custom chopper. The Road Warrior Chopper mount is mainly inspired by the 2007 film depiction of the bike.

This is the first Mount article. All other Wizard101 pop culture articles can be found here.

Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages.

The Road Warrior’s Chopper image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.

Mad Max and The Road Warrior movie posters are borrowed from the IMP Awards website and are copyright Kennedy Miller Productions.

Ghost Rider #1 Cover and Ghost Rider Chopper images are copyright Marvel the chopper image is jointly held along with Columbia Pictures.

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.