With its fifth installment, The Fast And Furious franchise definitively ditched the frosted tips of its origins by transforming its central gang of drag-racers into a band of master criminals with cars as their secret weapon. Also, The Rock. Under the direction of Justin Lin and James Wan, the film’s respective sixth and seventh entries dialed up the absurd, over-the-top action, establishing the franchise as a go-to for thrilling, high-octane stunts, pulp storytelling, and inspired casting.
The trailer for its latest sequel, The Fate Of The Furious, confounded many upon its release last year. In it, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto, the gang’s leader who consistently preaches about the importance of loyalty and family, has turned on his “Fast family.” Frantic fans began theorizing that Dom was in deep cover, or that maybe his mind was being controlled by Charlize Theron’s villain.
YouTube channel Jim And Them has another theory, and it’s bizarrely compelling. In a new video entitled “Fate Of The Furious Theory | Dom Toretto Is A Terminator,” they suggest just that. After citing articles from 2011 that show Universal had plans to reboot the Terminator franchise with Fast writer Chris Morgan and director Justin Lin, as well as speculation that the studio hoped to film a crossover between the two worlds, the video goes on to highlight Dom’s super strength and invincibility throughout the latter films. Perhaps most strikingly, the video shows how a crowbar makes metal-on-metal clanking noises when it hits Dom in Fast Five.
Multiple comparisons are made between the Terminator films and the Fast franchise, including explanations as to why, if Dom is a Terminator, he still enjoys food and sex. But it also provides justification as to how Dom could turn on his family in this newest sequel, as well as an explanation for the franchise’s shift in tone. (Short version: Dom was turned into a Terminator while in jail between the fourth and fifth movies.)
The theory sounds crazy on the surface, but think about it for a second: This is a franchise where The Rock guns helicopters out of the sky with a giant gatling gun. Is Dom being a robot really all that much of a stretch?