The 1st movie... like 80% of it was about his partner, Goose... until he got killed and the last like 20 minutes or so was about his revenge because the guys that killed Goose killed the his wife and child. It was AFTER he got his revenge is when he became Mad Max.
Believe it or not, HARDY's Mad Max has the MOST character development of all the Mad Max movies, because in the previous 3 films, Max was never truly "Max". He never was crazy in the head or anything of that nature. In Fury Road, it shows a Max that's truly just... OUT THERE. Keep seeing visions... always having a long blank stare... just having overt post traumatic stress. Before, he was just a drifter that doesn't really want to be bothered, but reluctantly finds himself in these situations that never directly involved him.