Warning: Spoilers for Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw are in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, turn back and only return once you’re caught up.
After the monumental clash that was Hobbs & Shaw, a lot of bricks have been laid in the foundation of what could be the next steps on the road to franchise solvency. With this parallel path operating within the Fast & Furious universe, there’s a lot of threads that could be followed down the line, all in the name of excitement and adventure.
Going over the events of the film’s ending, and taking into account what they seem to hint at, we can begin to see just where Hobbs & Shaw might be headed in its potential franchise future. So before we go too far into the weeds, let’s take a look at how Hobbs and Shaw (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham) take the fight to Black Superman himself, and how Brixton (Idris Elba) was eventually defeated.
How Hobbs And Shaw Defeat Brixton
In a showdown that feels like a cross between the finale of Mission: Impossible 2 and Point Break, Hobbs and Shaw figure out that if they each take turns getting punched, the other can attack Brixton more effectively. In this moment, not only do the two form up as a team, they are official bonded as friends.
Beating Brixton into submission, they almost get to finish him off for good. The only problem is, the shadowy director of the company/terrorist group known as Eteon realizes that they can’t flip Hobbs or Shaw in the same way they had Brixton. Which means, it’s time for Brixton to hit the bricks, as the order is given and our villain is supposedly killed via internal self-destruct.
As Brixton “dies,” and flips into the sea, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) is found to be virus free, and the Snowflake Virus crisis is officially averted. The Hobbs and Shaw families reunite, promising full reconciliation, and in the case of Queenie Shaw (Helen Mirren), early release from her prison sentence. But is everything that neat and tidy in the end?
Is Brixton’s Fate Really Sealed?
Look, it’s the same old story/same old song and dance most franchises do. The villain is supposedly dead, in a PG-13 friendly manner, and in the case of Hobbs & Shaw, Brixton does a big swan dive into the ocean with a regretful final moments. But is our bad guy really dead? Certainly not in this franchise.
Brixton may look dead, and the words “self-destruct” certainly spell certain doom, so one can’t be faulted for thinking for a second that maybe this mortality will stick. However, Brixton is supposed to be the evolution of humanity. He’s been so damned upgraded that not only would it not be a surprise that the self-destruct mechanism in his head wasn’t enough to take his more advanced form out, it most assuredly wouldn’t be surprising if a bolt of electricity could bring Brixton back.
In true Fast & Furious form, there’s also a suggestion that once resurrected, Brixton will be motivated to join the Hobbs & Shaw team, with the motive of revenge against his former employers at Eteon being firmly planted in his mind. Which is good, because the gang will probably need all the help they can get.
A New Threat Emerges
Through some post-credits sequences that include one of the film’s surprise cameos, that of Ryan Reynolds’ character Agent Locke, we learn that Eteon didn’t wait too long to make a new move in the killer virus market. This time, instead of the Snowflake virus that liquifies a person’s insides, the next bug in play liquifies a person’s outsides. Yeah. We know.
Ever driven to evolve the planet, and cull those who will not join them, Eteon is still a pretty shadowy presence. We don’t know who runs the show, as their infamous director is still a secretive presence by the end of Hobbs & Shaw. It’s also unclear just how far out their reach is, though nothing seems out of their grasp at this point.
What’s certain is that Eteon is primed for revenge against Hobbs and Shaw, and with a potential new super spy team on the horizon, our badass heroes will be ready for the next fight as well. Especially because now they’ve become the best of action team friends.
Hobbs And Shaw Are Now Friends
To think that when we first saw Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw really fighting each other, it was as enemies in the same prison complex during The Fate of The Furious. But, of course, with Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) thrusting them into action together, and some unearthed backstory softening the conflict between these two mountains of manpower, the stage was set for a potential friendship.
That buddy system worked like a charm by time Hobbs & Shaw ended, and as sure as you could stab someone in the chest with a brick, Luke and Deckard went on to playing games with one another. At least, that’s what it certainly looks like when Jason Statham’s half of the equation is about to be apprehended under an embarrassing pseudonym, much like he had done to his partner in crime fighting earlier in the film.
Of course, it’s all peaches and gravy from this point. With a new team that includes the likes of Agent Locke, Hattie Shaw, and potentially other family members such as Queenie and Luke Evans’ Owen from Fast & Furious 6, there’s a lot of road for this series to potentially travel down. All it needs is a good story, some nasty bad guys, and a heaping helping of “Heart,” which is basically Hobbs & Shaw’s credo of “Family.”
Hobbs & Shaw are kicking all sorts of ass, and talking only half the names, in theaters this weekend. Though since you’ve more than likely already enjoyed this particular round of mayhem, you’ll probably want to head over to the 2019 Release Schedule, in order to find your next bout of action packed cinema!
