Summary
The Fast and Furious franchise has a high kill count, with significant characters dying throughout the movies, some of whom fans were glad to see go.
Many villains who went up against Dom and his crew, such as Johnny Tran and Fenix Calderon, met their demise in the movies, often as a result of their own actions.
There have also been fakeout deaths, with characters like Han and Letty appearing to die but later revealed to be alive, much to the surprise and delight of fans.
While Dom Toretto has survived countless impossible missions, the amount of characters who died in Fast and Furious movies shows the franchise’s high kill count. Starting back in 2001, the franchise has grown from a crime story about street racing to a massive international spy series with endless twists and turns as well as outlandish action sequences. As a result, there have been a number of key characters who died in Fast and Furious movies, some who fans will miss and others who they were glad to see go.
With the ever-growing cast of the Fast and Furiousfranchise, it is obvious that not all of them can stick around forever. Some of the heroes of the movies have met heartbreaking ends while a lot of the villains have proven it is not wise to go up against Dom and his crew. Of course, there have also been a fair amount of fakeout deaths as well which makes it harder to remember who died in Fast and Furious movies so far.
14 Jesse (The Fast And The Furious)
![Chad Lindberg as Jesse in Fast and the Furious](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Chad-Lindberg-as-Jesse-in-Fast-and-the-Furious.jpg)
The first character who died in Fast and Furious may be someone fans have forgotten about. In the very first film, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) had a completely different crew than the one he has now. While they weren’t as intriguing as the main characters, there was one person who managed to squeeze his way into the fans’ hearts: Jesse. Portrayed by Chad Lindberg, Jesse was a mechanic and software designer who assisted Dom on many of his heists.
As they worked on restoring the Supra, Jesse and Brian (Paul Walker) bonded, striking up a friendship soon after. However, this friendship was cut short when Jesse was gunned down by Johnny Tran and his cousin after he ran out on their deal. Dom and Brian would later go on to avenge Jesse’s death.
13 Johnny Tran (The Fast And The Furious)
The first major villain in the Fast and Furious franchise, Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) certainly made it known that he was no friend of the Toretto family. Initially, he was seen to be a racing rival of Dom’s and would be seen challenging other racers for slips. However, Tran soon cemented himself as the villain when he killed Jesse — one of the harmless and most likable members of Dom’s crew — for not turning over his car when he lost a race.
Therefore, it wasn’t that surprising to fans that he ended up getting killed himself when he was shot in the back by Brian. Reflecting back on this, many fans would agree that Tran’s death was a bit of an anti-climax considering how much time the movie had invested in his character.
12 Fenix Calderon (Fast & Furious)
Portrayed by Laz Alonso of The Boys fame, Fenix Calderon was the lead henchman of Arturo Braga (John Ortiz) and the secondary antagonist of Fast & Furious. Although Braga was the main villain, Calderon proved he was far more ruthless and sadistic than his boss. Not only did he hire the drivers to help smuggle the drugs, but he would also execute them after the delivery was complete.
Among his hits had been Letty, whom he ran off the road and then blew her car up as she tried to escape. Eventually, Calderon was killed by Dom as the mechanic t-boned him with his Camaro in revenge.
11 Vince (Fast Five)
Although his brutish and violent tendencies were off-putting at first, Vince eventually became a fan-favorite character in the Fast and Furious franchise. Portrayed by Matt Schulze and first appearing in The Fast and the Furious, Vince was seen as Dom’s loyal and overprotective best friend. While he did show an attraction to Mia (Jordana Brewster), this dissipated once she chose Brian.
Vince would then make a reappearance in Fast Five, joining Dom, Mia, and Brian in the train heist. While he had a brief falling-out with Dom, Vince redeemed himself when he prevented Mia from being kidnapped. Sadly, he was killed after being shot by one of Reyes’ men. As one of the original crew, Vince’s death in Fast Five motivated the mission of revenge against Reyes.
10 Zizi (Fast Five)
Even though Herman Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) was the ruthless politician who ordered the deaths of the DEA agents and Luke Hobbs’ (Dwayne Johnson) crew, many fans will agree that it was his right-hand man, Zizi (Michael Irby), who was more villainous. After all, he was the one who took great pleasure in killing anyone his boss asked him to and felt no remorse for his actions.
Eventually, Zizi ends up getting his comeuppance in the final act of the movie. As he is about to kill Dom for stealing Reyes’ money, Brian shoots and kills him. It allowed for the cathartic sense of revenge fulfilled as the man who killed Vince was taken out in return.
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9 Riley Hicks (Fast & Furious 6)
Portrayed by Gina Carano, Riley Hicks was the DSS agent who was recruited by Hobbs to help apprehend Owen Shaw’s crew. For most of the movie, Hicks was seen to be a highly skilled agent, proving herself to be a strong fighter and improviser. However, much to the audience’s surprise, it turned out that she was also an informant and the girlfriend of Owen Shaw. After trying to kill Mia, Hicks later found herself engaged in another fight with Letty. Ultimately, the former met her demise when the latter got the upper hand and shot her with a harpoon gun.
8 Mose Jakande (Furious 7)
Although Deckard Shaw was considered to be the main antagonist of Furious 7, there was one other person who proved to be a thorn in Dom’s crew’s side: Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou). For most of this movie, Mose was seen trying to kill Ramsey and Dom’s crew in an attempt to get hold of “God’s Eye” with Furious 7 kickstarting the hacking technology trend in the franchise. Eventually, Mose is killed when Hobbs shoots at a bag containing several grenades, which causes the helicopter he is flying to blow up. Considering how Mose was responsible for much death and destruction, fans were glad that he got his comeuppance in the end.
7 Elena Neves (The Fate Of The Furious)
One of the franchise’s more unexpected deaths was Elena’s (Elsa Pataky). First introduced in Fast Five, Elena was a DSS agent who was recruited by Hobbs to bring in Dom and his crew. After helping them with the heist in Brazil, Elena had a brief relationship with Dom, which ended after the mechanic reunited with Letty.
Apparently, Elena was pregnant in Fast and Furious 6, because she returns in The Fate of the Furious with a son who turns out to be Dom’s child. Unfortunately, the reunion turns out to be a tragic one as Elena and her boy have been kidnapped by Cipher to force Dom to cooperate with their plan. As a way of keeping him in line, Cipher has Elena executed. It is one of the most emotional deaths of the franchise, but Elena has managed to live on through her son Brian and the introduction of her sister Isabel (Daniela Melchior) in Fast X.
6 Connor Rhodes (The Fate Of The Furious)
Portrayed by Kristopher Hivju, Connor Rhodes was Cipher’s lead henchman and the secondary antagonist of the franchise’s eighth installment. Straight away, the viewers could see he was a dangerous and violent man when he killed Elena without a second thought. He also attempted to kill Letty and their crew on several occasions, too. Eventually, Rhodes met his demise when Dom switched allegiances once again and broke his neck during a fight, avenging Elena’s death.
5 Brixton Lore (Hobbs & Shaw)
In the first Fast and Furious spinoff movie, Hobbs and Shaw, the mercenary and agent found themselves facing off against one of their toughest foes. Portrayed by Idris Elba, Brixton Lore was a former MI6 agent who turned rogue after one too many missions. Eteon soon recruited and transformed Lore into a super-soldier once his cover was blown.
However, they turned on him once he failed to attain “The Snowflake” virus and got bested by Hobbs and Shaw. After they triggered the kill switch in his head, Lore fell to his death after falling off a cliff. Many fans were a little bit disappointed with this turn of events as they hoped he could have been used again in the future. It would have certainly been great to see Dom, Hobbs, Jakob (John Cena), and Brixton engaged in one huge action sequence, battling it out.
4 Jack Toretto (F9)
First heard about in The Fast and The Furious, Dom revealed to Brian that he had watched his father die in a tragic racing accident after one of the racers clipped his bumper and rammed him into the wall. However, The Fast and The Furious fans didn’t get to see this unfold until F9 in a flashback sequence.
Although Jack Toretto (JD Pardo) hasn’t featured much in the Fast and Furious franchise, his death has had a major impact on the Toretto family. For years, Dom and Jakob remained estranged because Dom didn’t realize that Jack had asked Jakob to tamper with the car to help him throw the race and get their family out of debt. That’s what makes his death even more tragic — even though it was a plan made out of love, Jack’s actions inadvertently spurned hate between the brothers.
3 Otto (F9)
Although he might not have the combat skills his partner had, that didn’t mean that Otto (Thue Ersted Rasmussen) shouldn’t have been considered a threat since he has enough money to buy supplies and attain destructive weapons. However, the only reason that he wouldn’t be considered one of the most intelligent villains in the Fast and Furious franchise is the fact that he allowed himself to be played by Cipher.
After targeting his insecurities, Cipher not only managed to get him to switch sides but he also ended up giving her access to all his technology. Therefore, it didn’t really come as a surprise that she ended up being the one responsible for his death, shooting bombs at the truck he was on in an attempt to kill Dom. Due to Otto’s duplicitous and naive nature, fans weren’t exactly devastated by this death.
2 Jakob Toretto (Fast X)
Despite never being mentioned before the ninth movie, Jakob Toretto is introduced in F9 as Dom and Mia’s estranged brother, following the falling out Dom and Jakob had as children, Jakob goes down a dark path and becomes a mercenary, even taking a job from Cipher that puts him in direct conflict with Dom and his crew. However, Jakob makes for one of the many Fast and Furious villains who become heroes as the Toretto family manages to work out their differences in the end.
Jakob is brought back in Fast X where he is a much different man, with a sense of humor and a heroic determination to protect his young nephew Brian. As he proves, he is willing to sacrifice himself to save Brian and Dom, purposely crashing his car into Reyes’ men and creating a massive explosion that would seemingly be impossible to survive.
1 Fast & Furious Fake Deaths
Even looking at all the people who died in Fast and Furious movies, there has also been a shocking amount of fakeout death in the franchise: Han Seoul-Oh: First introduced in Tokyo Drift, Han is shown to have been a member of Dom’s crew in the past. However, in both Tokyo Drift and Furious 7, Han was shown to be “killed” by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as he began his vendetta mission against Dom. Yet, it was revealed in F9 that Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) had helped Han fake his death and he was now protecting a young child, who was key to the plot of the movie. Although fans weren’t completely on board with his explanation, they were nevertheless glad to see him back on-screen after being gone for so many years. Letty Ortiz: Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) has been an integral character in the Fast and the Furious series. Although she first appeared as Dom’s girlfriend, Letty is the franchise’s underrated hero as the audience has seen how fiercely loyal and protective she is of her family. So when the writers revealed Letty had died trying to clear Dom’s name, everyone was shocked and upset. However, their disappointment didn’t last long when the post-credits scene of Fast Five revealed Letty had survived. Though she had amnesia in Fast and Furious 6 and was working with Owen Shaw, she eventually remembered enough to reunite with Dom and has been the co-lead of the franchise since then. Gisele Yashar: Portrayed by Gal Gadot, Gisele made her mark on the franchise when she appeared as a liaison for Braga in Fast & Furious. Gisele was seen to be an integral part of Dom’s crew, helping them to steal Reyes’ fortune and also began a fan-favorite relationship with Han. Since she was not around at the time of Han’s supposed death, it was clear Gisele had to go at some point leading to her sacrificing herself to save Han in Fast & Furious 6. However, in perhaps the silliest fakeout reveal in the franchise, Gisele returns at the end of Fast X, appearing in a submarine to pick up Letty and Cipher in the Arctic. Fans will have to wait until the next chapter for an explanation of her survival.