WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for F9, now in theaters.
The Fast & Furious franchise has changed considerably over the years. What started out as a street racing franchise has evolved into a global action series characterized by outrageous set pieces that get more ridiculous in scope with each new installment. Some of these big stunts even include battling a tank across a busy highway, skydiving out of a plane in cars, outracing a nuclear submarine and, most recently in F9, using powerful magnets to turn cars into flying weapons.
This shift has benefited the series greatly, turning it into one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood. This has allowed Fast & Furious to compete with the likes of the MCU and the DCEU in terms of revenue and global recognition. But while Fast & Furious isn't labeled as a superhero franchise, one could make the argument that the members of the family are superheroes themselves.
Merrian-Webster defines a superhero as someone who possesses "extraordinary or superhuman powers," or someone who is "exceptionally skillful or successful." This definition fits for a character like Superman, who possesses powers, and a character like Batman, who relies on other means to become a hero. But this criteria could also work for characters like James Bond and the Fast & Furious family. None of the main characters in F9 have shown signs of unnatural strength or abilities, though one character who could make the claim to being superhuman is Hobbs & Shaw's Brixton Lore, portrayed by Idris Elba. Brixton was a super-soldier who used cybernetic enhancements to fight his enemies, which would technically classify him as a supervillain.
But even without any literal superpowers, the characters in the Fast & Furious franchise do possess the extraordinary ability to not only pull off amazing technological and car-related stunts that defy the laws of physics but also use those stunts to regularly save the world and survive near-death experiences. Most superhero stories are defined by the characters using their abilities to overcome severe odds, and Toretto's team has done that and more during their time on the big screen.
In fact, the family's unique ability to do and survive the impossible is actually commented on in F9. During the movie, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) talks to Tej (Ludacris) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) about how the team's missions have become increasingly outlandish and dangerous, and how despite this, they still manage to survive and come back stronger than before. Roman goes on to say that he even believes the team is practically invincible, but Tej thinks he's just being ridiculous.
However, while this exchange could just be seen as a meta-commentary on the criticisms regarding the franchise's penchant for ridiculous stunts, it could also be the franchise directly telling the audience that the Fast & Furious film series is just as much a superhero franchise as anything Marvel and DC is releasing these days.
Directed by Justin Lin, F9 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. The film is in theaters now.
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