List of cultural and pop-cultural references

This page is an attempt to compile every instance of Mutafukaz and its various spin-offs referencing elements of culture or pop-culture. This includes references to books, comic books, music, videogames, films, TV shows and classic literature, but also non-fictitious elements, such as real life historical figures, groups, companies and brands. Since these references are numerous and would likely clutter the "Trivia" sections of other pages, they'll be listed here from now on.

Be warned, this page may contain spoilers of varying severity!

Volume 1:

 * Pipo's fast-food joint is covered in the logo of "Escobar Cola", an obvious spoof of Coca-Cola.
 * One of the children which assault Agent Crocodile after the alley fight is drinking a can of "Dr Dre", both a reference to American rapper Dr. Dre and the Dr Pepper brand of soft drinks.
 * When Angelino and Vinz are forced to move to Palm Hill, they encounter the Bloods, a real life Los Angeles street gang well known for its rivalry with the Crips.
 * A prominent member of the Bloods in Palm Hill, Popeye, is likely named after Popeye the Sailor, an American cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.

Volume 2:

 * In the scene showing the Lucha Ultima gathered in mourning, Jesse Christ's body is drawn to resemble Andrea Mantegna's painting, The Lamentation of Christ. Mantegna's name is also written on the side of the bed, below Jesse's feet.
 * The diner to which Lino and Vinz take Luna is called Shady's Diner, a reference to Eminem's 2000 hit song, The Real Slim Shady. Marshall, a waiter at the diner, is named after The Marshall Mathers LP, the album on which the song is featured. Marshall's appearance is also based on Eminem, with blonde hair, a butch cut, blue eyes and a similar nose.

Volume 4:

 * When Diablo, Espirito, Momia N. and Backquerel Boy mount horses in order to fight the giant mantis monsters, they're openly compared to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelations.

Volume 5:

 * During the invasion of DMC, the pose of one of the scorched human corpses (a mother holding a baby) bears a striking resemblance to one seen in the white phosphorus scene from the 2012 third-person shooter, Spec Ops: The Line.
 * In one of the volume's penultimate scenes, where Luna is seen wearing a red coat in front of a psychic's store, a character resembling Hugo from the Street Fighter series of fighting games can be seen in the crowd.
 * In the televised debate discussing the Events of DMC, one of the attendees wears a Guy Fawkes outfit with a large, deformed mask. This is both a reference to Ghostface from the 1996 American horror film, Scream, and a spoof on the decentralized international hacktivist group, Anonymous, who use Guy Fawkes masks as one of their main symbols.

Mutafukaz (2017 film)

 * The scene in which Lino points out the strange shadow of the man reading a magazine is likely a reference to a very similar scene in John Carpenter's 1998 film They Live. Both scenes have the main character in disbelief as they realise they're surrounded by alien impostors, and both take place on a city street in front of a magazine rack. RUN cites They Live as one of his "ultimate" inspirations.
 * After the alleyway fight against Agent Crocodile, when Lino asks Vinz if he took Randy's gun, Vinz replies with "It's not GTA", a direct reference to the Grand Theft Auto series of videogames.
 * Amazed at his friend's acrobatic abilities during the apartment raid, Vinz says that Angelino must have eaten "a ninja turtle", a direct reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
 * The head of the Grapz in Palm Hill, Shakespeare, is named after 16th century English playwright William Shakespeare. The gang leader incorporates Shakespeare quotes into his speech, mostly from Hamlet but also from As You Like It.
 * In their Palm Hill hideout, Lino refers to the Z-7 as "robocops", a direct reference to the 1987 American action film, Robocop.
 * When the camera shows the interior of the ice cream truck, two stickers can be seen near the ignition: one with "PUFF" written on it and one depicting a character resembling Bubbles from the 1998 animated TV series, The Powerpuff Girls.
 * The ice cream truck stolen by Lino and Vinz is labelled "Ice Ice Baby" a reference to the 1990 hip hop song of the same name by American rapper Vanilla Ice.

Tome 2:

 * The character of Tod Stanton III is a collage of various inspirations, broadly reflecting the American fascination with true-crime and serial killers. His first name, Tod, might be a nod to the infamous American serial killer Ted Bundy, while his nickname, "The Motorway Scalper", could be a reference William Bonin, the "Freeway Killer". His appearance includes various stereotypical features, such as a prominent moustache (William Bonin, John Wayne Gacy, etc.) and large, rectangular glasses (Jeffrey Dahmer, Robert Hansen, etc.). Diablo later sells Tod Stanton's autograph, a reference to the sub-culture of "murderabilia" collectors.

Tome 4:

 * When working the grocery store register, Diablo can be seen drinking from a black can with a large, ragged "W" on it. The font and contrasting colors, alongside the fact that the letter "W" can be read as an upside-down "M", suggest that it's based on Monster Energy, a brand of energy drink.

Tome 1:

 * Guada is shown using a social media network called "Fakebook", an obvious riff on the real-world Facebook.
 * In the summary of events following Guada's fight with Crystal, one panel depicts a video hosting website which resembles a simplified version of YouTube.
 * When researching on her phone, Guada uses a site whose layout, font and colour scheme perfectly match those of Wikipedia.

Tome 4:

 * When refilling his car, Tigre sees an advertisement for a "Warriors" energy drink. This spoof of Monster Energy is even more obvious than in Puta Madre, with a black-green color scheme and the slogan "Unleash the Power", clearly based on Monster's "Unleash the Beast". There are also white and blue cans of Warriors, corresponding to similarly colored variants of Monster.

Mutafukaz 1886

 * Throughout the series, Vinz is often reading a copy of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick, with imagery and narration related to the book being a running motif. The passages don't seem to be quotations from any current French translation of Moby Dick, so chances are RUN is abbreviating them to fit the comic format.

MFK2

 * The plot thread of a populist movement revolving around Omega, an anonymous saviour who reveals government secrets in "drops" and fear-mongers about Satanist cults and "adrenochrome" is a very blunt parody of the American far-right conspiracy theory, QAnon.
 * During Lino's opening monologue, a large billboard in the background advertises the services of the attorney David Goodenough. This character appears as a running gag in the videogame review videos of French YouTuber Joueur Du Grenier.
 * Following the sushi restaurant attack, an intermission page shows the media personality Ωdecryption share their views in something resembling an Instagram story.
 * On the same page, a media personality named Alex John angrily comments on the sushi restaurant attack. This is a jab at Alex Jones, a far-right conspiracy theory pundit and host of InfoWars.
 * The website hosting Alex John's video is called True Tube, its name and layout heavily resembling YouTube.
 * In an intermission page showing a line-up of phones with various social media sites open, one phone case is styled after PTSD, a graphic novel from RUN's fellow Label 619 author, Guillaume Singelin.
 * Archie Krupp, an aggressive right-wing politician with light ginger hair and ambitions to construct a boarder wall between the US and Mexico is an unsubtle parody of Donald Trump. A later scene suggests plans to put pressure on Twitter to ban his account, referencing the real life controversy around the suspension of Trump's Twitter account.
 * Archie Krupp's name and business mascot are references to the Archie comic book series and its main character, Archie Andrews.
 * The Cosmic Gate cult is likely a nod to Heaven's Gate, an American new religious movement infamous for leading 39 of its members to participate in a mass suicide.

Merchandise and other media

 * During an unclear time-frame, "Dark Meat Coffee" mugs were available for purchase on the Ankama shop. These mugs featured a design strongly resembling the logo of Starbucks, a well known American coffeehouse chain.
 * The promotional video for a "MFKZ Burger" set of pins uses a logo strongly resembling the new, simplified logo adopted by Burger King on December 21st, 2020.
 * A short comic RUN drew for an issue of Doggybags depicts an alternate version of Mutafukaz where the world has undergone a zombie apocalypse. The way Angelino wields a katana and uses a chain to drag around an infected, armless Vinz strongly resembles Michonne from The Walking Dead comic book series.