Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel recently said that the series’ planned two-film finale was inspired by Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but the street racing saga unfortunately isn’t set up for that level of dramatic climax. The Infinity Saga pulled off a finale of epic proportions because for years it had developed multiple plotlines set to converge at the same singular point – Thanos. Without a similar overarching threat or story arc, Fast and Furious may have a tough time emulating Endgame.
Where the MCU began with its full plan in mind, Fast and Furious stumbled into becoming a major franchise about halfway through its lifespan. The first three films have very little to do with each other, save for recurring appearances from Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. The ensemble cast that the series is now known for didn’t fully come together until Fast Five, and the Fast & Furious franchise's transition from street racing to globetrotting crime-fighting didn’t begin until Fast & Furious 6. While the franchise has gradually gained momentum with a larger overarching story and recurring villains, it took many years and several movies to get there.
That hasn’t detracted from the fun of the Fast franchise, but it will make an Endgame-esque ending much harder to achieve. In the MCU, Thanos was always there in the background, reminding viewers in passing lines and post-credits scenes where the story was headed, layering tension for almost a full decade before the big reveal. The dramatic satisfaction of Infinity War and Endgame came partially from the individual arcs of beloved characters like Iron Man and Captain America, but it wouldn’t have worked on the scale that it did without it always building toward the bigger story of Thanos.
Fast & Furious has compelling characters, ongoing relationships, and interesting personal drama, but it lacks a central threat like the Avengers have in Thanos. The series, for all its bombastic action and absurd scenarios, has never truly felt like it’s building to anything. Fast Five and Furious 7 both offered their own potential endings – each effective in their own way – only to have box office success drive Dom and "la familia" back for more. The return of Han in F9 is a nice dramatic touch for fans, but it’s no more significant in the grand scheme than when Letty returned from the dead, or when Brian left in Furious 7 after Paul Walker’s tragic passing.
The franchise will now have a recurring villain now in Charlize Theron’s Cipher, but she’s only been around for one movie so far – a movie that received one of the series’ more lukewarm receptions of late. F9 looks like it could be building out the family drama between Dom, Mia, and their estranged brother, Jakob Toretto, but one movie isn’t enough time to build enough tension and emotional intrigue to justify a payoff on the scale of what Marvel pulled off. Fast & Furious has proven its penchant for the dramatic and the absurd, and the next three films will surely be packed full of both, but it seems impossible for the saga’s finale to copy anything resembling Infinity War and Endgame.
