Warning! Major spoilers for Den of Thievs 2: Pantera ahead

Christian Gudegast’s action heist movie Den of Thieves 2: Pantera has a conspicuous subтιтle, and it provides a reference to the elevated stakes of the international heist at the sequel’s center. While it took seven years for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera to come together, the second entry in the burgeoning action franchise is much more polished than its predecessor, and the action is driven by a much higher-stakes heist than the Federal Reserve robbery from the original Den of Thieves. In lieu of the gritty LA setting, the action takes place in the picturesque seaside city of Nice, France.

Inspired by the real-world 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, Donnie and Nick (O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and Gerard Butler) find themselves working together to take down the World Diamond Center in the globe-spanning sequel. The two work with a team of international heist specialists known as The Panthers, whose criminal exploits are so extensive and infamous that there is an international task force committed to stop them. The ending of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera sees the two sides finally meet, with an unexpected twist that was actually teased by the movie’s тιтle.

What Pantera Means In English

It’s A Referral To The International Nature Of The Heist

The task force designated to hunt down the criminal gang of thieves known as The Panthers operates under the code name Task Force Pantera. The word ‘pantera’, translated to English from Italian, means “panther”. With its roots in Latin and Ancient Greek, the phrase ‘pantera’ can be found in several major languages around the world with that same meaning. Sticking with Italian, a ‘pantera’ is what high-speed police cruisers are referred to, another nod to the cops-and-robbers theme of the entire franchise.

While the World Diamond Center in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is located in Nice, France, that famous seaside city is right on the border of Italy, and the cultural and linguistic crossover is evident both in the movie and in the real world location. Using the Italian language to designate the task force could be a nod to the gang of thieves in the 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, all of whom were Italian, in addition to referencing the geographical location. Ultimately, it’s a way to distinguish the border-crossing international heist movie from its smaller-scale, U.S.-based predecessor.

Den Of Thieves 2’s Pantera References The New Crews

A Special Task Force Hunts The Infamous Team Of Robbers

When Nick first makes contact with Task Force Pantera under the guise of his pursuit of Donnie, they have virtually the entire Panthers team, along with their bankroll and mastermind, Slobodan, identified and stuck up on a stereotypical police evidence board. It’s clear that The Panthers have been a nuisance for quite some time, and with Donnie and Nick joining (or appearing to join, in Nick’s case) the criminals, it seemed obvious why the movie’s тιтle would include the word ‘pantera’. It’s a more cinematic and cleaner-sounding way to reference The Panthers, who are the sequel’s literal den of thieves.

However, the тιтle also winds up teasing who actually comes out on top of the cat-and-mouse game between The Panthers and Task Force Pantera. Nick’s planned betrayal of The Panthers sees the talented group of thieves all taken into custody, despite all believing that they had gotten away cleanly. From that angle, the тιтle being Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a hint about Gerard Butler’s character Nick: he isn’t actually one of The Panthers, he’s aligned with Task Force Pantera.