This is best shown through its constantly changing cast of characters, most of whom have been killed off and resurrected by this point, with their ever-evolving interconnected histories that require a Charlie Day-alike conspiracy board to keep track of. Case in point, when Gal Gadot was in these movies? Since the Wonder Woman icon left the Fast franchise back in 2013’s Fast & Furious 6, it’s easy to forget what happened to her… or why’s she now returned (more on that in a moment).

With commiserations to Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty Ortiz, Han and Gisele have to be the most fan-favorite of all Fast & Furious‘ couples. Sung Kang’s Han Lue and Gadot’s Gisele Yashar were both hits with audiences in their respective debuts of 2006’s Tokyo Drift and 2009’s Fast & Furious (the fourth one), so it only made sense to pair them off in 2011’s Fast Five. The only problem was that Han had a date with destiny.

See, this is what I was saying about F&F‘s complicated timeline. Tokyo Drift was the third film released, but it takes place after the sixth film because it features the death of Han. Han’s journey in the fourth through sixth movies acts as a prequel to explain how he ended up as a loner with a mysterious past living in Tokyo in Drift. In 6, we discover the answer: he broke away from Dom’s family out of depression after Gisele sacrificed herself to save him in the film’s climax.

All this is to say that the reason Gal Gadot was written out of Fast & Furious appears to have been purely in service of Han’s character arc. This franchise is many things, but on the cutting edge of cinematic feminism it ain’t. On the other hand, Gadot may well have requested an exit herself — perhaps to expand her career opportunities — as she certainly embraced the chance to take on bigger, better roles afterward. F&F 6 released in May 2013 and by the end of that year she had been cast as Diana Prince in the DCEU.

With the DCEU dying a death, however, Gadot is now free to get fast and furious once again. In 2023’s Fast X, she returned for a brief cameo which confirmed that Gisele (inexplicably) survived her earlier death. This precedes a bigger comeback in the intended eleventh instalment. And, don’t worry, Han and Gisele shippers, Han’s back from the dead himself these days so everything’s coming up roses for this couple.

2026’s Fast XI — also bringing back Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs, after his last appearance in spin-off Hobbs & Shaw (which is set between the eighth and ninth movies, timeline nerds) — is being talked about as a finale for the Fast saga, but we’ll believe that when we see it. In the meantime, Gal Gadot appears as the Evil Queen in Disney’s Snow White, releasing March 2025.

Regardless of where you fall on the Captain Marvel debate, you can’t deny the charm Brie Larson brings to her MCU hero. Working in the industry from an early age, Larson has traversed across TV and film, bringing her amazing talent with her to every project.

With The Marvels getting blasted by fans and critics alike, many are finding refuge in Larson’s other projects to get their taste of her abilities. Considering her first film role dates back to 2001, there’s a lot of options to choose from when you get a hankering for Brie Larson. So, to satisfy your craving, regardless of what type of movie you prefer, here are the best films of Larson’s across all the genres she’s done.

COMEDY — 21 Jump Street 5l5954

When people talk about the Jump Street films from Lord and Miller, the focus is always on leads Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill for their ridiculous portrayal of cops pretending to be high schoolers. But often overlooked are the actors playing actual high schoolers, like Dave Franco and Larson. Larson in particular has a hilarious role playing the deadpan drama star Molly who is falling for Schmidt (Hill). The scene with her tripping on the mysterious drug HFS proves Larson has the comedic chops to stand against some larger powerhouse comedians.

ROMANCE — The Spectacular Now ql60

Surprisingly, Larson has never had the chance to be a lead in a romantic film yet in her career. However, that hasn’t stopped her from participating in the genre in more ing roles. Take, for example, her role as Miles Teller’s ex in The Spectacular Now. She gets the chance to play into a relationship while also acting as a driving force between the two leads, since she’s the reason they even get together in the first place.

MUSICAL — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 6y3k24

Yes, Scott Pilgrim isn’t a musical film. We don’t care, the only reason we watch this film is for Brie Larson performing “Black Sheep.” 10/10 performance every time. If they make a filmed version of Six, we need her in the cast.

ACTION — Fast X 2g3b38

Thankfully, someone else besides Marvel saw potential in Larson’s butt-kicking abilities and gave her a role in the latest Fast & Furious film as the daughter of Mr. Nobody (fellow MCU-er Kurt Russell), Tess. Larson fits in with the rest of the ensemble well, and is definitely able to throw punches right alongside Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and the rest of the family.

DRAMA — Room d3847

Larson won her first Oscar from playing Ma in Room and rightfully so. While Larson had starred in dramas like Short Term 12 and The Gambler before, playing a young hostage forced into captivity with her son gave her so much material to work with. You feel her pain as she tries to create a happy life for her son even in the worst of circumstances, proving Larson’s acting success hasn’t been just luck.

SUPERHERO — Captain Marvel 6tn8

Listen, we get it. You think Captain Marvel is an overpowered hero, she’s a Mary Sue, she’s boring. Whatever excuse you use to write off this MCU entry, that doesn’t change the fact Larson kills it as Carol Danvers. She’s snarky, powerful, stylish, and just overall someone we want to be friends with even without the powers.

At a time during which audiences have grown accustomed to streaming new releases from the comfort of their homes, the year 2023 has ushered in a long-awaited transformation. The extraordinary efforts of filmmakers have reignited the magic of the big screen, reminding everyone of the unparalleled allures of the theatrical experience. As we enter the final months of 2023, it’s time to evaluate the numerous releases this year has bestowed upon audiences.

Boasting an eclectic blend of highly anticipated sequels, trailblazing originals, and cherished classics reimagined for a new era, 2023 has unfolded as a spectacular year for cinema. This year’s cinematic landscape has showcased an impressive diversity, from technologically enhanced animated marvels to emotionally charged, dialogue-driven narratives. Here are the top 10 movies of 2023, ranked according to their global box office earnings (data via Box Office Mojo).

10. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 6s61d

Despite a higher opening than the two preceding Ant-Man films, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended up cashing in less than its peers after its entire theatrical run. The Paul Rudd-led superhero flick could not impress the audience with Ant-Man’s face-off against Kang the Conqueror, and ended up comparable to Disney’s pandemic-era Marvel movies. However, the $476 million worldwide gross still earned the film a place among the highest-grossing films of 2023.

9. Elemental 3v4s4a

From being labeled a box-office bomb to securing the ninth place among 2023’s highest-grossing films, Elemental has sealed its name as a miraculous sleeper hit. Pixar’s experimental animated romantic comedy has crossed $480 million worldwide, despite opening below projections. The cinematic forces of nature worked their magic and conspired in favor of this touching love story between water and fire elements. The film’s final box-office figures have justified the five-minute standing ovation it received at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 6e2k3e

Tom Cruise’s seventh outing in the Mission: Impossible film series faced tough competition after Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer captured all IMAX theaters. However, the film still managed to have a successful run and crossed the half-a-billion mark. Ethan Hunt’s high-stakes face-off against the Entity earned a positive reception from fans and critics alike, who lauded it as a pinnacle of Hollywood action filmmaking. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One added $563 million to the franchise’s gross and helped it officially hit the $4 billion mark.

7. The Little Mermaid 223p16

Disney’s yet-another-live-action experiment The Little Mermaid proved to be a departure from a string of underperforming remakes in recent years. Though it was the second-most-expensive readaptation to date, The Little Mermaid ended up in seventh place as far as this year’s box office winners go. The innovative and revolutionary approach to the original fairy tale garnered attention and praise, but the visual effects and character designs fell short of impressing critics. The Little Mermaid finished up its theatrical run with a $569 million worldwide earning.

6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 24639

Sony Pictures achieved a milestone with the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as the animated masterpiece soared past Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation to claim the title of the highest-grossing animated film distributed by the studio. The film opened to unmatched critical success and amassed $689 million worldwide despite facing bans in several countries. It also led the Spider-Man franchise to $10 billion gross, making it the third film franchise to ever do so.

5. Fast X c184q

2023 saw the release of numerous sequel films, paving the way for more to come next year. The crown for highest-grossing non-superhero action film this year went to the 10th main installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast X. Led by Vin Diesel, this high-octane thrill ride revved its way to a staggering $704 million worldwide on an estimated production budget of $340 million. The success of Fast X also made Fast & Furious the seventh film franchise to gross $7 billion.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 2i5w5o

MCU’s beloved rag-tag family said their goodbyes to global audiences with a blast, earning a staggering $845 million worldwide. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marked the third and final installment in James Gunn’s superhero trilogy and followed the Guardians’ final battle with the High Evolutionary. The film received praise for shedding light on animal rights issues while also keeping up with Marvel’s hallmark action and comedy.

3. Oppenheimer 5c3c6p

Oppenheimer might have lost the Barbenheimer war, but it has still outdone all of Christopher Nolan’s previous features in over 50 overseas markets. Bringing in a total of $890 million worldwide, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s biographical epic defeated James Gunn’s superhero flick at the box office substantially. It has also etched its name in history as the highest-grossing World War II film of all time, while also sitting right behind 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody under the biopic category.

2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie u1d6e

The first film based on a video game to gross $1 billion worldwide, The Super Mario Bros. Movie stood tall as the year’s highest-grossing film before the theaters were painted all pink. The Italian-American plumbers’ alternate world travel earned $1.36 billion worldwide, earning it the number two spot in the top 10. Setting a record-high earning for Illumination Studio, Mario and Luigi’s adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom also broke the record for the highest-grossing opening for an animated film worldwide.

1. Barbie 4u605m

The year’s biggest hit so far, Greta Gerwig’s proudly feminist Barbie movie is ruling over the 2023 box office, amassing a staggering worldwide gross of $1.40 billion. Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the movie has also claimed the title of the highest-grossing comedy film of all time, suring The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It remains on a record-breaking trajectory, paving the way for innovative filmmaking that addresses real-world issues while also delivering top-notch entertainment.

Sung Kang is ready to put his Alfa Romeo in park and step into a genre that’s a little less Fast and Furious and a little more fear-inducing and frightful.

It’s the perfect time for his dream role to come to light as we say goodbye to a long, hot summer and step into our favorite season of all — spooky season. Kang recently sat down with Collider to talk about his directorial debut in the horror genre with Shaky Shivers, and it got him thinking about being in front of the camera in the scary movie realm as well.

Kang told Collider that he would love to bring a particularly spine-tingling horror character to life, and to be honest, we think he’s got what it takes:

“I’d love to play Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. That character was just so fun. Having experience with prosthetic makeup and sitting in the chair for four hours like I did in the [Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi] series in Star Wars, that’s the only part that I kind of wonder if I have the stamina to sit in the makeup chair for months. But that character was so fun! That sweater, to this day, is so iconic, and the knife fingers. That’d be on the bucket list for sure.”

While he knows a thing or two about prosthetic makeup, and while it might not be the thing about acting that he loves the most, he’d be willing to sit in a chair if it meant breathing his own new life into the horror character that’s been keeping us from sleeping for decades.

As a fan favorite within the Fast family, an actor with range and talent, and someone who seems like they’d be the perfect guy to sit and drink a cup of coffee with, we’re rooting for Kang. Here’s hoping a window opens, and he is able to bring a version of Freddy Kreuger to life.

One… two… Kang might be coming for you. Three… four… we’d probably let him in the door.

Although there have been several notable exceptions – with Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 leading the pack in that regard – the summer of 2023 has more often than not been defined by the big budget blockbusters that failed to live up to expectations.

Sure, Disney crossed $4 billion in worldwide ticket sales for the year not too long ago, but when you consider that the likes of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Elemental, The Little Mermaid, and Haunted Mansion cost a combined total of nearly a billion dollars to produce and range from somewhere between a mild success to a colossal bomb, then the margins aren’t exactly healthy.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One crossed $500 million recently, while Fast X managed to hit $700 million before exiting theaters, and they’ve barely made any money due to the monstrous budgets that set them back $290 million and $340 million respectively. It’s completely insane and even more unsustainable, with box office analyst Shawn Robbins breaking it down to Variety.

“These movies would have been a lot more economical if it weren’t for COVID. But even if that meant their budgets were inflated, at the end of the day, these movies cost what they cost and performed how they performed.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Bock offered an even more damning assessment, indicating that while they might make money eventually, that doesn’t look good for the studio bottom line in real-time.

“There’s an opportunity to make money back with streaming and other sales, but that’s long into the future. It’s playing the long game instead of the short game. They don’t want to be profitable in 25 years.”

Movies have been getting way too expensive for far too long now, but the summer of 2023 being almost defined by its misses as opposed to its hits will hopefully set a light bulb off in boardrooms everywhere that the model is broken and in need of a fix.

Having swore never to return to the Fast & Furious franchise on of his beef with Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson surprised everyone – including his own integrity – when he popped up at the end of Fast X to announce his comeback.

While you’d think that would draw a line under the long-running beef between the two bald-headed behemoths, it’s not quite that simple. After all, they managed to co-star in The Fate of the Furious despite barely even being on the same set, while The Rock was announced for another Luke Hobbs spin-off without being confirmed for the cast of Fast X: Part 2.

Regardless, director Louis Leterrier maintained in an interview with ComicBook that not only are they back on good , they’re even texting buddies as the rift between the ego-driven stars continues healing.

“I just like the idea of them coming back together. What I realized – I’m like you, I was a fan reading – they’ve been talking all along. They were like text buddies wishing each other ‘Happy Birthday,’ ‘Merry Christmas.’… They’re really good. There’s no fight. Honestly, this set is so lovely, so fun, so enjoyable. … I’m not giving you lip service. I really had a great time. Like I was nervous. I was nervous, you know, I walked in, I was nervous, but everybody works so hard and wants the best for these franchises. Yeah. No, it’s really about forward momentum and we have it.”

People who don’t like each other make movies together all the time, but until we get concrete proof that the pair have hugged it out and put their differences to one side on a permanent basis, it’s easy to believe that the lure of a box office bonanza and a gigantic payday did a much better job of bringing Johnson back into the family than the prospect of working with Diesel again.

Ever since it decided to laugh in the face of common sense and logic, the Fast & Furious franchise has been defined by its nonsensical approach to pretty much everything.

Whether that’s the laws of physics and/or gravity, how much damage a vehicle or human body can sustain without being completely decimated, or the abundance of retcons, deaths, resurrections, and ludicrous set pieces that have turned it into one of the biggest IPs in Hollywood history, expecting things to make an lick of sense has been asking far too much for well over a decade.

The 10th installment continued on in that vein, with Dwayne Johnson making a surprise return after swearing off The Fast Saga forever in the wake of his feud with Vin Diesel, while Gal Gadot simply popped out of a submarine and smiled to confirm that she was the latest to survive certain death.

How will that play into entries in the series, though? After being asked that very question by ScreenRant, director Louis Leterrier offered an answer that will leave you scratching your head.

“There’s a greater mythology that’s behind Fast & Furious, that now I literally entered this kingdom. I was the fan that just went… I met the Wizard of Oz, but the Wizard of Oz is actually a great wizard, and the Wizard of Oz knows exactly what he’s doing. And I know that plan, and that plan, this huge great arc that was thought of, and Giselle was always part of it, and Hobbs is part of it. What’s interesting now is that we all agree tonally what these movies are going to be, so we just have to, just a schedule thing now. It’s always the hard part. But yeah, we’re planning to deliver a Fast and Furious movie every couple of years.”

Not quite what you’d call clarification, but at the very least we’re getting two more Fast & Furious blockbusters, and it’s nigh-on inevitable there’s going to be many more to come even after the main story draws to a close.

Hollywood has always been entranced by spectacle, investing millions into creating blockbusters that aim to amuse and delight audiences even if just by scale alone. Almost since Hollywood’s conception, filmmakers have been spending big bucks to make big films; beginning with Golden Age films like Gone With the Wind, movie audiences fell for the charm of a big-budget production.

In the 1970s, blockbusters began to dominate the big screen. Films like Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and George Lucas’ Star Wars: A New Hope captivated audiences worldwide and going to the movies started to feel like even more of a phenomenon; those same filmmakers would go on to make franchises like Indiana Jones and Star Wars popular. Sequels had existed in prior years, but franchises were just starting to come into the mainstream, leading to our current movie climate where nearly every studio-backed film is part of a franchise.

These films justify their high budgets by generating profits that can be as high as billions of dollars, and while big-budget films are frequent now, some still stand out for just how insanely expensive they are. That said, as new movies come out every day, you might notice some of the usual suspects are absent from this list (Titanic surprisingly didn’t make the cut, coming in at number 11). Here are the 10 most expensive films made so far.

10. Fast X (2023) 1v4i5m

Budget: $340 million

Box Office: $722.8 million

Starting off our list is the latest installment in the Fast and Furious film franchise, which comes in with a budget of $340 million. The newest film in the franchise is actually the first half of the finale and with a budget like that, what a grand finale it is. Like most Fast and Furious movies, Fast X is a wild ride but it is a fun one. As the series of films starring Vin Diesel comes to an end (though with nearly unlimited potential for spin-offs, it’s unlikely this is truly the end), sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

9. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) 5b1i3e

Budget: $350 million

Box Office: $2.32 billion

The sequel to the immensely profitable 2009 film Avatar was first announced in 2010 but faced delays due to the film’s unprecedented nature; the crew literally had to develop new technology in order to film motion capture scenes underwater and wouldn’t begin shooting until 2017. All those delays, as well as the number of visual effects needed to pull off a film of this magnitude, means Avatar: The Way of Water was a pricey movie to make — and some reports estimate the budget was as high as $450 million. Either way, the film was an absolute smash at the box office and continues to do numbers on streaming. See you when the next one comes out in ten years!

8. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) 6b62a

Budget: $325 million ($379 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.052 billion

The first of many Disney movies on this list (spoiler: they make up most of the top spots), Avengers: Infinity War was an incredibly ambitious project, bringing together every protagonist from the entire MCU in one big blockbuster of a film. The movie is truly a spectacle, filled with action and so many moving pieces that it’s easy to get lost in it all. As one would expect of such a gigantic film, the budget for this was bonkers — and with so many big names attached, I wouldn’t be surprised if a sizable chunk of that budget was just for the actors’ paychecks.

7. Avengers: Endgame (2019) 655f2k

Budget: $356 million ($407 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.799 billion

The second half of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame was released a year after the prior film, likely in order to prevent people from imploding after that ending (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good” still brings a tear to my eye). This film is even bigger and crazier than Infinity War, so it makes sense that it would have an even higher budget. There are a lot of moving parts in a movie this big and the finale of the first decade of MCU films was an expensive one. Endgame signified the end of an era for Marvel Studios (specifically the end of the Infinity Saga), with several of the MCU’s main heroes ending their tenure as part of the Avengers. While there have been some hits, the following Phases have lacked the writing of this earlier era — and evidently, the budgets.

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) 4i2l4s

Budget: $300 million ($423 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $961.6 million

The third film — originally intended to be the last — in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the most expensive film ever made at the time. After the success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney contracted the cast and crew for two sequels. The first two films were both largely popular with critics and general audiences, but At World’s End was a bit more polarizing. Despite mixed reviews and lower audience turnout in the North American market, the film still went on to be the highest-grossing film of 2007, thanks to its success internationally.

5. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) 1r1514

Budget: $365 million ($451 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.403 billion

Initially, I was surprised that this film has a higher budget than both Infinity War and Endgame, but then I ed Ultron literally lifted an entire city into the air with the goal of causing a mass extinction event and I feel like making that look real cost a ton of money. Similarly to the other films, there’s a lot of crossover and new characters being introduced here, add in all the different locations and extensive visual effects post-production, you’ll understand why Age of Ultron cost a pretty penny.

4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) 2a3jx

Budget: $416 million ($476 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.077 billion

Hollywood loves a trilogy; so when the new Star Wars film came out in 2015, I knew it was only time before more (specifically two) followed. The Rise of Skywalker was the final film of the trilogy and despite mixed reviews, it went on to gross over $1 billion, which was still somehow less than the other two films. Having different writers and directors per each film made this a confusing trilogy, but it’s fun to look at!

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) 3y1p1u

Budget: $416 million ($492 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.406 billion

Wow, this movie made a lot of money. This is definitely a good thing for the people behind it because the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film also cost an almost unfathomable amount of money to make. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides focuses more on Jack Sparrow with a new story and was criticized for its plot and action sequences.

That being said, critical success doesn’t necessarily relate to commercial success and the film went on to gross a ton of money in foreign markets. While the Pirates of the Caribbean films don’t seem to do as well in the U.S., their continued success internationally led to a fifth (and slightly less expensive) film.

2. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) 165d38

Budget: $432 million ($503 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.31 billion

Every theatrical film in the Jurassic Park universe is a blockbuster but this one cost the most to make. After 2015’s Jurassic World proved itself a hit, there was only one thing for the studio to do: make another one (and then another one…). Critics began to get franchise fatigue with this one but audiences were still showing up in theater suits to the tune of $1.3 billion. Was it Chris Pratt (possibly)? Was it the dinosaurs (likely)? Was it Bryce Dallas Howard (probably, she’s an angel). Whatever it is, this is one franchise that just won’t go extinct.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) 6h733z

Budget: $447 million ($552 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.071 billion

After the polarizing prequel trilogy, fans were a little burnt out on Star Wars. Lucasfilm’s answer was to wait ten years and introduce new characters while bringing back old favorites in an attempt to capture the nostalgia of watching Star Wars for the first time. Given the astounding box office gross, it’s safe to say the attempt worked.

Following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, the production company began working on a new film in order to capture the hearts of new and existing fans alike. Whether the trilogy lives up to its promise is up to you, but with a profit like that, the film was fortunately worth the hefty investment. To this day, The Force Awakens is the most expensive film ever made.

What a ride and a half Fast X was; sticking with the franchise’s uncanny ability to thread the needle with over-the-top, physics-defying stuntwork and the most subtle self-awareness for how ludicrous its state of affairs is, the beginning of the end for the Fast saga was quite the treat for fans.

A sizeable amount of the film’s strength laid in its newcomers, the most notable of which being Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes, the flamboyant scene-stealer whose charisma may have led us to cheer for him had the circumstances been different. But Brie Larson, – who brought life to the character of Tess, one of Dom’s newest allies and the daughter of Mr. Nobody – was something of a lynchpin in her own right. Indeed, Tess’ cunning nature always made for a fun watch whenever she was onscreen, and Larson herself has the inside scoop on what makes her character such a formidable presence.

Now, under normal circumstances, one could file messing with the daughter of Mr. Nobody under “bad ideas,” but according to Larson, anyone who has the gumption to come at Tess while she’s wearing that stylish blue coat is in for a whole other world of hurt; not because it’s bulletproof or anything of the sort (as evidenced by Dante and his one-of-a-kind gumption, as it were), but simply because it makes her look as slick as they come.

With Tess recovering in the hospital, it’s hard to say how much of a role she’ll be playing in the follow-ups to Fast X, but we’re going to go out on a limb and say it will take much more than a gunshot to keep this cobalt-clad agent out of the picture.

For a franchise that jumped the shark a decade ago, Fast & Furious has done a remarkable job of remaining relevant, even if there are signs that the tank is beginning to run out of gas.

Fast X scored some of the worst reviews Dominic Toretto and the gang have seen in close to two decades, but at least the box office returns have remained at a decent enough level, relatively speaking. There’s still at least one more of these things to go – possibly two and then some spin-offs if everybody gets their way – but Vin Diesel has done a terrible job of renewing confidence in a recent Instagram post reflecting on what’s on the horizon.

“The conversation never stops. 5am, Cayman Islands. And the world would never realize that we’re here dissecting the mythology of Fast, going over it. Going over all of the from our incredible fans and how much we’re just enjoying being in this creative dojo.

“So much inspiration and time to reflect. And to to talk and work out and to double check all the aspects that need to be hit, and this kind of scary path that we’re going on for Part 2 for Fast X. We’re done with our press tour and now we have time to go back to building and that’s so much fun. We take it seriously because we know how important it is to all of you.”

The leading man and producer of a multi-billion dollar film series itting that he needs to “double check all the aspects that need to be hit” is concerning to say the least, but we can only cross our fingers and hope that Part 2 restores the brand to its former glories and ensures it goes out with a bang as opposed to a whimper.

Very rarely does death hold any real stakes in any major blockbuster franchise, but Fast & Furious has taken things to a nonsensical new level with its refusal to let any remotely popular character die and stay that way.

The entire Fast Saga was completely retconned around Han’s apparent demise in Tokyo Drift so that he could be murdered again before being brought back to life, while even Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty was revealed to have survived her certain doom after amnesia of all things was used to explain her absence.

That brings us neatly onto Gal Gadot’s Gisele, who made the most ludicrous comeback of them all at the end of Fast X when she suddenly popped up from a goddamned submarine in the middle of nowhere a decade after falling out of a moving plane in the midst of takeoff on the longest runway there’s ever been in the sixth installment.

Naturally, the explanation won’t make a lick of sense, but Gadot justified her unexpected absorption back into the fold anyway in an interview with Total Film.

“Wow. I wish I could say something. If I’m going to say something to you, somebody is going to jump into my room and tie my mouth. But Fast was the first feature I’d ever done as an actress. They were the ones to give me my first opportunity, my first break in Hollywood. And I’m forever grateful for that. And they’re a community. They’re like family.

We still keep in touch. They have a special place in my heart and it’s very exciting. I think that the Fast Saga… they manage to create a huge, incredible, loyal fanbase like no one else. I’ve seen it nowhere else, you know? And my love to them, and the love from the fans, and my love to the fans, it just felt right this time. And it’s very exciting.”

We can’t wait to discover how she managed to survive, but all we can guarantee at this stage is that it’ll make perfect sense within the deranged context Dominic Toretto and the rest of the family live in.

Moviegoers tend to be a lot more of a cynical bunch than they often get credit for, and Fast X has become merely the latest title to fall into a trap the Marvel Cinematic Universe has basically been making its own since the start of Phase Four.

Based on a running box office total of over $600 million and counting to go along with a Rotten Tomatoes audience approval rating of 84 percent, the numbers indicate that crowds were more than happy to hand over their money to see Dominic Toretto and the family embark on their latest adventure.

However, now that the 10th installment in the never-ending franchise is available on digital and on-demand, it’s ended up suffering the same fate as the likes of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to name but three, after social media s gathered in their numbers to give it an absolute pounding.

That’s not to say Fast X should be held up as a bastion of cinema by any stretch, but you can almost set your watch to the target demographic showing up on opening weekend to propel any blockbuster to the top of the box office, only to change their mind once it swaps a big screen for a small one.

Louis Leterrier hasn’t delivered the finest entry in The Fast Saga by any means, but does it deserve to be pilloried mere moments after roaring into homes around the world? Maybe, but it’s always fascinating to see how quickly the tides end up turning.