Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Fast X.
It’s been a long time since The Fast and the Furious franchise promised “one last ride” with Furious 7, because the series has only gotten bigger, crazier, and more complicated ever since. Fast X was promised to be the final installment in the series, but of course it was expanded into a two-part feature that is now a trilogy. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) wouldn’t have it any other way! Fast X brings in director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Now You See Me) as the new shepard of the series, and he’s certainly set up what he’s planning for the next two films by leaving the viewer with a surprising post-credit scene.
Fast X follows up with Dom as he attempts to teach his son Brian Marcos (Abelo Perry) with Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) at his side. However, Dom is about to face a new muscle bound antagonist, as the vengeful criminal mastermind Dante Reyes (Jason Mamoa) has his eyes set on tearing Dom’s family apart in an act of revenge; Dante lost his father and family fortune during the Rio de Janeiro heist in Fast Five, and he’s willing to kill Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Mia (Jordana Brewster), and Jakob (John Cena) in order to do so. However, his first goal is to steal Brian from his father, forcing Dom to become a mourning father, just as he had become a mourning son.
Fast X is packed with familiar faces from throughout the franchise, with former villains like Jakob, Queenie (Helen Mirren), Shaw (Jason Statham), and Cipher (Charlize Theron) all popping up. The “family” is getting bigger than ever, and so the next two installments will certainly have a lot of stories to wrap up, unless Diesel once again finds a way to keep the series going. Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast and Furious saga have begun incorporating post-credit scenes as a way of building up hype. The final moments from Fast X reveal one big surprise, but the post-credit moment is an even bigger shocker.
A Series Of Cameos
The film’s final scene teases that Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) is alive and in league with Cipher (Charlize Theron), having used the submarine to travel through Antarctica to save Letty. However, the bigger shock is left for a brief moment that plays after the main credits. A shadow figure walks through one of Dante’s many surveillance stations as the maniacal warlord taunts him over the phone. The final shot reveals that this masked man is in fact Lucas Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), whose life is also threatened. Dante in particular is passionate about killing Hobbs; he was the one that actually pulled the trigger and executed his father.
Hobbs was last seen in the franchise spinoff Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which concluded with him receiving a call from his ally CIA agent Victor Locke (Ryan Reynolds) informing him about a new potential virus. Hobbs had managed to work with Shaw and his sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) to take down the superpowered terrorist Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), and the assumption was that they’d all be in league together at some point for another mission. Considering Shaw is on a personal mission at the end of Fast X to save his mother from potential threats from Dante, it’s possible that Hobbs may go to assist his former partner in his time of need.
However, Hobbs also has his own family to protect, as he had been raising his daughter and returned to his homeland in Samoa to raise an army to take down Brixton. The trip allowed him to both honor his heritage and reunite with his family, but it’s evident that Dante’s skill is targeting his enemies on a personal level by threatening their closest loved ones. It’s likely that he intends to put Hobbs’ entire family in danger, particularly his daughter, as children in peril is clearly a tactic that he frequently uses. However, Hobbs seems defiant enough that he can take down Dante and once and for all bring the entire Reyes clan to justice.
That may prove difficult, because Dante likely has additional information about Hobbs thanks to his partnership with Aimes (Alan Ritchson), the new director of the covert program that was run by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) before he mysteriously disappeared (likely due to Dante). Aimes even mentions Hobbs by name early on when talking about all of the law enforcement and special operative agents that have been supposedly “corrupted” by Dom and his treachery. Since Aimes had access to all of the files on former agents, he’s likely given them to Dante to use as leverage over Hobbs when they come to a face-to-face brawl.
A Real-Life Rivalry
The biggest reason that Johnson’s appearance in Fast X is so shocking is the infamous feud that has emerged between him and Diesel. The two had apparently been having issues with each other working on several of the later installments in the series, and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw was thought to be part of an arrangement to keep Johnson in the franchise without having to appear alongside Diesel on screen. However, the Hobbs & Shaw canon is clearly playing a role in the future of the core series now that Statham is back, and Johnson reportedly ended the feud recently. Whether the entire controversy was a legitimate celebrity battle or a very clever WWE-style marketing ploy planned over several years is something that clever reporters will have to deduce for themselves.
Regardless, Johnson is an essential part of bringing the franchise to where it is today. Fast Five was his introduction into the series, and that was the film that truly embraced turning the series into a heist action-adventure saga that now only tangentially features street racing (there’s only one legitimate racing scene in Fast X, and it ends up being part of Dante’s master plan). The events of Fast Five are playing a huge role in the setup for the finale, so it would be impossible to at least bring up Hobbs’ name. The fact that Johnson appears to be rejoining the series is even more exciting.