Spoiler alert! The following post discusses important plot points and the ending of “Fast X” (in theaters now), so beware if you haven’t seen it yet.
“The suffering is over, Dom. Time for you to die.”
Jason Momoa’s villain Dante Reyes, seeking revenge for the death of his father, has heroic gearhead Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) right where he wants him in the wild cliffhanger of “Fast X,” the latest installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise. Usually the action movies have a happy ending for Dom’s crew but not so here, as all the good guys are split up heading into “Fast X Part 2” (coming in 2025) – which may be the franchise's concluding chapter.
Here’s a breakdown of how the grim finale, an end-credit scene and a couple of surprise guest stars set up the next “Fast and Furious” chapter:
How does ‘Fast X’ end?
After explosive stops in LA, Rome and Rio de Janeiro, the action concludes in Portugal, where Dom gets his 10-year-old son, Little Brian, back from Dante’s clutches and races to catch a flight out via lawman Agent Aimes (Alan Ritchson). After Dante framed Dom’s crew for a terrorist attack in Italy, Aimes put them all on the most-wanted list but seemed to have a change of heart when he helped Dom in Rio.
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Not so fast. Dante traps Dom’s Dodge Charger on the top of a dam, so his only way out is down the side. Meanwhile, Aimes betrays his new pal Dom – it turns out he and Dante have been in cahoots for a while – and shoots down a plane carrying Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Han (Sung Kang), leaving their fates uncertain for now. Dom and son somehow survive their epic, physics-defying drive but Dante blows up the walls of the dam in the film’s final scene, possibly making it the end of the line for the Toretto boys.
Does anyone actually die in the new ‘Fast and Furious’?
“Fast” movies tend to bring back main characters who perish in the four-wheeled line of duty, most notably Dom’s longtime main squeeze Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and more recently Han. Roman and Co. might seem doomed but they’ll probably live for the next movie. However, one casualty will likely stick.
During a climactic highway chase, Dom’s little brother Jakob Toretto (John Cena) is transporting his nephew in a bomb-laden cannon car when Dante pulls the kid from that vehicle into his, mid-drive. Dom races to intercept the villain but has a bunch of goons coming his way when Jakob decides to sacrifice himself so his bro has a better chance of rescuing Little Brian, flipping his vehicle and taking out a mess of bad guys with a carload of explosives.
Are there any surprise guest cameos in ‘Fast X’?
While much of the action at the end happens in Portugal, a subplot unfolds at the bottom of the world. After being arrested earlier in the film, Letty was sent to a black site prison in Antarctica alongside hacker frenemy Cipher (Charlize Theron). They escape and start walking but Cipher’s called in a pickup request: A giant submarine arises from the ice and water, and out of a hatch emerges Gisele, played by Gal Gadot. Which is a pretty big surprise, considering her character died four movies ago.
At the end of “Fast & Furious 6,” the good guys are trying to take down a plane and she’s hanging off a Range Rover attached to the ascending aircraft, holding on to her boyfriend Han’s hand. When she sees a bad guy approaching from behind, she lets go of Han’s hand, shoots the dude to save her beloved but falls to her (apparent) doom. (Though we never see a body.) She’s OK now, though – enough to pilot a sub to the far reaches of the Earth – and we’ll probably discover what happened to her in the next film.
Is there an end-credit scene in 'Fast X'?
There sure is, and speaking of returns, it’s a doozy. A team of helmeted and armed figures enter a large palatial building in the dark, on some sort of mission to find something. A phone starts ringing on the table and the group's leader picks it up. Dante's on the line, reminding the person who answered it that Dom was “behind the wheel” when Dante’s dad was killed (see: “Fast Five”) but it was them who "pulled the trigger." Dante ends the call with a warning: “The devil’s coming for you, lawman.”
The mysterious dude takes off his mask and helmet to reveal it’s Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), who has a fitting response: “Well, I’m not hard to find,” he says, before cursing at Dante and crushing the phone in his mighty hand.
For “Fast” faithful, Johnson’s return to the franchise might be even more of a shock than Gadot’s, considering his rather public feud with Diesel. In November 2021, Diesel posted on Instagram asking Johnson to return for “Fast X” – “Legacy awaits,” he wrote – and "The Rock" responded a month later that it was “an example of his manipulation” and there was “no chance I would return.”
Well, there was some chance at least. Maybe these two big lugs will hug it out onscreen – the world might depend on it.
More on the 'Fast and Furious' universe:
Review:Vin Diesel's chaotic 'Fast X' stalls out, even with an enjoyably evil Jason Momoa
Ranked:Every 'Fast and Furious' film (including Vin Diesel's new 'Fast X')
'The Fast and the Furious'Vin Diesel recalls fixing Paul Walker's 'goofy lines'
New movies this week:Watch Vin Diesel's 'Fast X,' Jack Harlow's 'White Men Can't Jump'
