There’s a new villain on the Fast & Furious block, and he’s being played by Aquaman and Dune actor Jason Momoa. As was revealed earlier this month in the first Fast X trailer, Momoa was cast as Dante Reyes, the son of Hernan Reyes, the late main antagonist from 2011’s Fast Five. Dante is now out for revenge in Fast X, and director Louis Leterrier has joined in on hyping up Momoa’s character, as well as touched on his connection to Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto.
Shortly after the Fast X trailer premiered, Louis Leterrier opened up about why Jason Momoa’s character was connected to Fast Five, noting that how there’s a “price for justice” and a “price to Dom’s choices,” and Dante Reyes exemplifies that. Leterrier more recently described Dante as “total chaos” to Total Film and talked about how “obsessed” the character is with Dom. In his word:
Dante is in awe of Dom. He’s analyzed him. There’s nowhere to hide, because he knows Dom better than he knows himself. Dom truly meets his match with Dante. Family goes both ways. There’s family on your side. There’s also family on the other person’s side. When the family that was your super-strength becomes your Achilles’ heel, it’s where you’re going to get wounded the most.
Family has been the driving theme (pun fully intended) of the Fast & Furious franchise since the beginning, and as we hit the tenth installment in the main film series, Dom has assembled a large lineup of people who will have his back no matter what. The downside is that with so many people he cares about, that just gives Dante Reyes more people to target. As Louis Leterrier revealed, Dante has extensively studied Vin Diesel’s character and the people in his tight-knit circle, so he knows those weak points to hit. Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw followed a similar course of action in Furious 7 when he “killed” Han (he didn’t actually die), but now Deckard’s one of the good guys.
It’s too soon to tell where Dante Reyes will stack up in the hierarchy of Fast & Furious villains, but going off what we’ve seen so far, he’s not lacking for flair and has the resources to put the hurt on Dominic Toretto and his crew. What hasn’t been clarified yet is if Dante is working alone in Fast X or if he’s in cahoots with Charlize Theron’s Cipher, who was introduced in The Fate of the Furious, but has been causing trouble in this world as far back as Fast & Furious 6. It also hasn’t been confirmed yet if Momoa will be back for Fast & Furious 11, the final entry in the main film series, or if we’ll only see him cause trouble in this one movie.
We’ll get the full scope of what Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is capable of when Fast X comes out on May 19. Don’t forget to watch F9 ahead of time with your HBO Max subscription to refresh your memory on where things we’re left off, and take a look through the other 2023 new movie releases.
