When the first Fast and Furious movie came out in 2001, no one could have imagined it would become the long-running franchise that it did. That’s because the franchise now is not what the first movie presented, and much of that comes thanks to the changes made to the lead character, Dominic Toretto. The first movie had Vin Diesel portray Dom as a criminal, a street-racing thief who used his driving skills to steal from truck drivers delivering goods. Paul Walker starred as Brian O’Conner, the LAPD officer sent undercover to stop him.
When the movie came out, fans loved the car action and the relationship between Dom and Brian. However, the film was criticized for being a carbon copy of the classic Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze movie Point Break, which had the same plot but subsтιтuted surfing for street racing. Diesel left the franchise and didn’t return as a main cast member until the fourth movie, Fast & Furious, in 2009, where Dominic Toretto was a completely different character. That change is why the Fast and Furious franchise is still going after 10 movies.
Fast & Furious Dropped The “Real” Dominic Toretto After Just One Movie
Dominic Toretto Changed From A Criminal To An Antihero
When The Fast and the Furious came out in 2001, it was a movie that featured an illegal street racer named Dominic Toretto, who led a gang of thieves to daredevil heist attempts using their incredible driving skills. The LAPD sent young police officer Brian O’Conner undercover to try to bring the criminal group down. However, along the way, Brian and Dom became friends, which made things hard when he had to do the right thing and arrest his friend for his criminal activities. He ended up letting Dom go.
This led to the next sequel in the franchise, which focused on Brian, now a fugitive on the run from the police after aiding Dom in his escape. The third movie arrived without Brian or Dom (except for the stinger), and it looked like the franchise was headed for DTV territory. However, what happened next changed the franchise’s trajectory as Brian and Dom returned in the fourth movie, Fast & Furious. Dominic Toretto was no longer a criminal looking for his next heist, and Brian was now an FBI agent.
Dom became a superhero and decided he was meant to bring down bad guys.
The fourth movie starts with Dom still pulling heists, including an incredible hijacking of fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. However, it soon changes to show Dom is out for justice, avenging Letty’s death and giving up on his criminal pursuits. The first movie showed Dom having a lot of pent-up trauma from his past, but the franchise mostly glossed that over outside of introducing Dom’s brother in later films. Instead, Dom became a superhero and decided he was meant to bring down bad guys.
Fast & Furious’ Big Dom Toretto Change Helped To Turn It Into A Long-Running Movie Franchise
Dominic Toretto Became A Modern-Day Superhero
The first three movies had one thing in common. They were all about illegal street racers getting involved in things way over the characters’ heads and having to get out of them through their impressive driving skills. Even in the first movie, which saw Dom leading a heist gang of street racers, it was all about driving, car stunts, and getting out of messes with intricate maneuvers. That worked for the short term, but that never could have carried a franchise to 10 movies like Fast and Furious has achieved.
Taking notes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Vin Diesel realized he needed to do something bigger to keep his franchise going. Illegal street racing was still a part of later movies, and the car stunts never stopped. However, Dominic had to go from being a common criminal with top-notch driving skills to a superhero in his own right. The Fast and Furious car stunts got more ridiculous as the franchise moved on, making this more of a fantasy action movie franchise than anything the first three movies showed.
Cars fly off cliffs, catch a bungee, and whip back onto a road. There was even a moment when two drivers flew their vehicle into outer space to knock out a satellite and somehow made it back to Earth – in their car – alive. Dominic Toretto became a virtual superhero, and while this didn’t start in Fast & Furious, that was where his character began to build the attributes needed to carry this franchise over the top and make it a mᴀssive success.
The “Real” Dominic Toretto Is Highly Unlikely To Resurface In Fast 11, The Final Movie
Vin Diesel Will Not Let Dominic Toretto Falter In The End
In Fast X, Vin Diesel helped lead Dominic Toretto to the extreme as a superhero hellbent on saving his family and the world. The film was a revenge movie, with Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) seeking to bring down Dom in revenge for the death of his father (Hernan Reyes from Fast Five). Diesel has been extremely protective of Dom throughout this franchise, and he has more power than anyone regarding how the franchise’s lead character is presented. This will all culminate in Fast 11, the franchise’s final movie.
Fast X ended on a cliffhanger, with Dominic and his son Little B looking at an oncoming rush of water after Dante blew up a dam. There is almost no chance Dom will die at this moment, and he and Little B will likely make it out alive, miraculously. However, Dom will want revenge against Dante and will be gunning for the man in the final Fast and Furious movie. With that said, Dom won’t revert to his criminal ways, but he could likely die to protect the people he loves, making him the ultimate hero of the franchise.
Fast & Furious
- Movie(s)
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The Fast And The Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, Hobbs and Shaw, F9: The Fast Saga, Fast X, Hobbs and Shaw 2, Fast X: Part 2
- First Film
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The Fast And The Furious
- Cast
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Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Lucas Black, Sung Kang, Bow Wow, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, John Cena
- Video Game(s)
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The Fast and the Furious (2004), The Fast and the Furious (2006), Fast & Furious: SuperCars, Fast & Furious: Showdown, Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, Fast & Furious Crossroads
