While Dominic Toretto and his family have made for great heroes, the Fast & Furious villains are a key part of delivering the thrills in this franchise. As the series continues, it becomes increasingly ridiculous, with the stakes being heightened for every movie, and the same can be said about the villains. Dom and his family were once accustomed to going up against everyday street criminals, but now they fight international supervillains.
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Over the course of 20 years, many incredible actors have joined the franchise as villains, from award winners like Charlize Theron and Djimon Hounsou to huge movie stars like Dwayne Johnson. Many of the villains in Fast & Furious do end up being redeemed and joining the family, but they will always be remembered first and foremost as antagonists. There have been 13 major bad guys spanning 11 movies, but some have proven to be much more memorable than others.
13 Brixton – Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Played By Idris Elba
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The only spin-off so far in the Fast & Furious universe, Hobbs & Shaw makes a lot of mistakes, but its biggest one is wasting the talents of Idris Elba. Brixton is a biological-advanced superhuman who is out to destroy the world. That is a fun enough premise for a bad guy, but it doesn’t match the tone of the franchise, and Elba’s chiasmatic qualities are buried under boring exposition and an unmemorable plan.
As one of the few Fast & Furious villains to die, Elba was truly wasted by the franchise. The actor attempts to add some charisma to the lacking role, such as the funny meta moment when Brixton first appears in the opening action sequence, simply introducing himself as “bad guy“. However, the character never amounts to anything interesting and is largely a puppet for the unseen director of Eteon.
12 Johnny Tran – The Fast And The Furious (2001)
Played By Rick Yune
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Rick Yune’s Johnny Tran gets some credit for being the first villain in the series, and while he serves the story well, he is not all that interesting as a character. The Fast and the Furious is a movie focused on the relationship between Paul Walker’s Brian and Vin Diesel’s Dom, and most other elements of the film are just window dressing for that story, including Johnny Tran.
Yune does his best with the material, but Johnny Tran is a type of villain the franchise has done infinitely better since. He also suffers from the first movie being on a much smaller scale than what follows. While Tran’s storyline of being the son of a wealthy family who participates in this illegal underworld is compellinge on its own, it seems too small-time when looking at the overall Fast Saga.
11 Campos – Fast & Furious (2009)
Played By John Ortiz
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Outside of reuniting the core cast, Fast & Furious doesn’t offer much that the other films don’t in terms of playing the drug kingpin who forms an uneasy partnership with the heroes. John Ortiz delivers a threatening performance as Campos, a drug lord whose operation Dom and Brian must infiltrate, but nothing separates the character from most of the villains in the first four films. In fact, Ortiz himself played a similar character much more effectively in Michael Mann’s underrated Miami Vice movie.
Part of the reason why Campos is less memorable than other villains who play a similar role is that he never really seems like a big threat. He is not as intimidating or charismatic as some of the other bad guys, making it seem like Dom and Brian could defeat him at any moment. This is further solidified with his quick return appearance in Fast & Furious 6, which makes it clear that he is not someone to be feared at all.
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10 Carter Verone – 2 Fast 2 Furious (2002)
Played By Cole Hauser
As is the case with Campos, Verone is just a standard drug kingpin that the heroes have to take down. He also suffers from being in the only Fast and Furious movie in which Dominic Toretto doesn’t appear. Going up against Brian and Roman just doesn’t give Verone’s story as much excitement as it could have. However, there are some aspects that help the character stand out even in the lackluster sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious.
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Verone’s personal ties make him more of a menace, as his girlfriend is undercover officer Monica (Eva Mendes), who he keeps in constant danger. There is also the intense torture scene in which Verone begins forcing rats to dig their way into a man’s stomach. However, the best aspect of Verone as a villain is the performance from actor Cole Hauser. While 2 Fast 2 Furious can be a bit of a cheesy movie, Hauser’s performance brings some much-needed intensity. He would have excelled in a better movie.
9 Jakande – Furious 7 (2015)
Played By Djimon Hounsou
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Djimon Hounsou is an underappreciated actor who has spent years putting in great work in smaller roles. No matter the size of his role, he can be counted on to deliver a committed and engaging performance. His brief turn as the evil Jakande in Furious 7 is a perfect example of him elevating substandard material. Jakande is a terrorist who wants to use God’s Eye, an all-powerful surveillance system, to wreak havoc on the world.
There isn’t much to Jakande’s character outside of being generally diabolical. With Hounsou’s talents, it’s a shame that he barely gets any moments to truly face off with the rest of the cast members. It also hurts his position that Deckard Shaw is the more substantial threat in Furious 7. Hounsou is always a delight to watch and it is clear that Jakande would likely have been one of the most forgettable villains in the franchise were it not for his performance.
8 Owen Shaw – Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Played By Luke Evans
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Fast & Furious 6 is one of the most fun entries in the franchise. With incredible action set pieces and a great emotional core, it has all the hallmarks of a solid Fast & Furious movie, with Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw being a big part of what makes it work so well. While this is the type of role Evans could play in his sleep, the idea of an evil team that mirrors the core family is such a delightfully silly and cartoonish setup that it makes up for all the clichés of the character.
Evans delivers a performance that is devilish and even a bit charming, making for a more hands-on primary villain than Dom and the crew are used to dealing with. While Owen may not be the best Shaw, he is one of the most entertaining villains in the franchise. Sadly, the series makes the mistake of having him return briefly alongside Deckard in The Fate of the Furious to help Dom and his team, ruining a lot of the menace Owen had.
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7 Hernan Reyes – Fast Five (2011)
Played By Joaquim de Almeida
Not only did Fast Five completely reinvent the franchise, but it still stands as the high watermark for the series and 2010s action cinema. Joaquim de Almeida’s Hernan Reyes isn’t a particularly deep character, but he is a despicable baddie, and seeing the Fast Family get one over him is one of the most satisfying climaxes of the entire series. Reyes is about as corrupt as they come, paying off almost all the law enforcement in Rio, and running the town with an iron fist.
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Reyes strikes at the heart of the family dynamic by killing the original Fast & Furious character, Vince, which immediately makes him stand out as one of the great bad guys in the franchise. Fast Five hits the perfect note of silly and sincere, with Reyes’ evil and threatening presence being just what the movie needed. The fact that his battle against Dom and Brian plays into Fast X in such an important way cements how memorable he was.
6 Cipher – The Fate Of The Furious (2017)
Played By Charlize Theron
Most villains in Fast & Furious are either killed off after one movie or quickly switch sides, becoming part of the family. That just makes Cipher all the more interesting as an evil mastermind who has stuck around for a few entries. While Fast X saw Cipher forced to work with Dom and company, she spent the last two movies scheming and hacking her way across the world. Charlize Theron is having a blast in the role, and while she might not be in the best movies, her charisma and commitment make up for some lackluster plans.
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Cipher is a cruel and brilliant antagonist, striking at Dom’s sense of family in her first appearance when she kidnaps his infant son. She also proves that she is more intelligent than most of the other villains in the series as she is kept in a cage for most of her time in F9, but still often feels like she is the one calling the shots. It will be exciting to see if she can be trusted as a supposed ally in Fast X Part 2.
5 Jakob – F9 (2021)
Played By John Cena
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The Fast & Furious family trees are tangled and confusing. Almost every entry introduces some long-lost sibling or new child to one of the extended families, but John Cena’s Jakob is one of the best examples of this. Jakob first appeared in F9 as Dom’s scorned brother, and while his existence still doesn’t make much sense, he made for an excellent villain and one whose redemption felt earned. Cena is one of the best wrestlers turned actors, and while Jakob was more fun as an ally in Fast X, his presence in F9 elevated the entire movie.
While it is hard to buy Cena and Vin Diesel as brothers, it is a lot of fun to see them facing off. With the absence of Hobbs in the franchise for F9, Jakob fills the role of the antagonist who can take on Dom and actually win. Tthere are many Fast & Furious villains who have become allies, but Jakob is also notable for having a change of heart in his first appearance.
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4 DK – The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Played By Brian Tee
Director Justin Lin has reinvented the franchise on several occasions, but his first movie in the series, Tokyo Drift, is still one of the best and uses its smaller scale to its advantage. DK, short for Drift King, isn’t as evil as some of the more cartoonish villains that would appear later in the series, but he is a great antagonist and a cocky driver whom the audience wants to see lose. The nephew of a mob boss, DK is one of the best street racers in Tokyo and an all-around bad guy who needs to be taught a lesson.
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While smaller villains like Johnny Tran can get lost in how massive the Fast & Furious franchise has grown, DK is a reminder of how effective it could be even if it wasn’t a huge globe-trotting blockbuster. He is an effective and menacing threat with his own understandable and compelling motivations. Brian Tee’s performance also adds layers to the character who can be dangerous but also insecure.
3 Hobbs – Fast Five (2011)
Played By Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs is more known for being a good guy in the Fast & Furious universe, but when he was first introduced in Fast Five, he was a no-nonsense force of nature determined to bring Dom and his family to justice. As a villain, Johnson got to flex his acting chops much more, and the Hobbs in Fast Five is much more compelling than the softer, nicer one that appears in later entries. What’s more, Hobbs is one of the few antagonists who feels like he could take down Dom.
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The arrival of Hobbs in the franchise helped to make Fast Five one of the best of the Fast & Furious movies. He was an intimidating and formidable threat to the heroes, but also a character that the audience could cheer for. His raw determination to do his job no matter what makes him a man to be taken seriously, but it also makes his change of heart all the more effective.
2 Deckard Shaw – Furious 7 (2015)
Played By Jason Statham
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Another villain who has come around to being a protagonist, Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw was first introduced in the end credits scene of Fast & Furious 6, where it was revealed that he was the one who apparently killed Han to get revenge for his hospitalized brother. While that twist has since been retconned twice over, Shaw was a menacing threat to the Fast Family, and his turn in Furious 7 as the main villain is still one of the franchise’s best.
The surprise introduction of Statham in that post-credits scene is still one of the best moments in the Fast & Furious franchise, while increasing the excitement for this character to arrive. When Shaw did begin on his warpath, he proved himself to be a relentless and powerful enemy. Shaw plays to Statham’s strengths as an actor, and even as an ally he adds a wonderful presence to the series.
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1 Dante Reyes – Fast X (2023)
Played By Jason Momoa
In many ways, Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is a repeat of villains the series has done before. Like Deckard Shaw, he is a vengeful family member of a previous villain going g after Dom’s loved ones. However, Momoa’s performance as the absolute bonkers Dante makes him not only stand out but become the best bad guy in Fast & Furious. He is an unhinged and even funny villain who feels like the Fast & Furious movies’ answer to the Joker.
Fast X had a troubled production that is reflected in the movie, but Momoa’s performance makes the entire viewing experience worth it. While the imposing actor could have easily made for one of the tough, muscle-bound villains of the franchise, it is a wise movie that they decided to go with something much different. Dante brought chaos and energy to the franchise that was in need of a fresh take after 10 installments.
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The Fast & Furious franchise revs through the adrenaline-fueled lives of Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers turned global heroes. From the neon-lit streets of Los Angeles to the bustling cities and remote outposts worldwide, they take on high-stakes heists, espionage, and the underground world of street racing. Bound by loyalty and driven by the need for speed, they confront mercenaries, corrupt officials, and personal vendettas all in the name of their found family.
Movie(s) 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 Cast 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 Expand