Spoilers for Fast X
We have now entered the era of spoiler culture in which presumably above-board industry trade outlets are straight up posting film spoilers as if they are exclusives. This happened Friday, when The Wrap posted a major spoiler for Fast X—a movie general audiences will not get to see until the end of the week—and passed it off as an exclusive. That’s sh-tty, but it’s also juicy, so we’re going to talk about it, but if you don’t want any Fast X spoilers, tap out now.
The Rock is back in the #family! We have been hearing about Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel’s boy sh-t for YEARS, Tyrese has even weighed in, and the last we heard, Johnson was publicly displeased with Vin’s “manipulation” and using Paul Walker’s death as a public cudgel to get Johnson to appear in Fast X. As of the end of 2021, Johnson was vowing never to return to the franchise, and at that time, he had the upper hand in the feud because 2021 The Rock didn’t need to be part of the #family. But then 2022 happened, and Black Adam tanked, and Johnson is NOT the face of a new “balance of power” in the DC universe, and, well…
Vin’s riding high on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, which is putting a little of that old Marvel magic in the box office—it’s already tied Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania’s entire box office run—and Fast X is tipped to be one of the biggest movies of the summer, too. Everything is coming up Vin Diesel right now.
So, it’s not exactly surprising he ended up getting his way and Johnson appears in a post-credit scene, returning to the Fast franchise as Hobbs. To be clear, he is not in the movie itself, but this is teasing his return for Fast 11 (and maybe even Fast 12). I would love to know how this happened, who spoke to whom and when, and how late in the process Johnson was added to the film. Like, did he film his cameo before or after Black Adam tanked? Correlation does not imply causation, but if that movie had been a hit, is it likely Johnson returns to the Fast franchise? Probably not. He wouldn’t need it.
As it stands now, though, he doesn’t have a grown-up franchise. He has Jumanji as a family-friendly option, but without Black Adam, he doesn’t have a grown-up action franchise of his own. They could make another Rampage, I guess, but I would vastly prefer it if we got a Hobbs & Shaw 2. That, however, doesn’t seem likely, given that Vin was rumored to be upset about the spin-off, and ever since Paul Walker’s death, these movies have become more and more The Vin Diesel Show, and Hobbs & Shaw has nothing to do with him. But he got his wish, Dwayne Johnson will return for the final Fast film(s). I just have one question: will they shoot even one scene together?
