Why Vin Diesel Turns Evil in Fate of the Furious (Spoilers)

What Dom Does

Fate of the Furious finds Dom in Havana, Cuba, celebrating his marriage to Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), at long last. That happy moment is interrupted by the arrival of Cipher, who brazenly approaches Dom and tells him that he will be working for her, against the interests of his crew.

Dom of course scoffs at the notion of betraying those he loves, but Cipher produces something on her phone that makes Dom take one look, and instantly shed all bravado, opting to help Cipher steal an EMP device that can be used to extort the governments of the world.

What results is the sort of "bang, zoom, bang-bang, kaboom!" series of mayhem events that have come to be expected with any Fast and the Furious movie. Dom (and Cipher) proves to the most formidable threat the team has faced, and by the ending, the trust between Dom and the rest of the Fast and Furious squad may have been irrevocably strained.

So what is the catalyst that makes makes unbreakable Dom, bend? Well, it's something that will have major ramifications for the franchise, going forward.

Secret Son

The massive spoilery twist in Fate of the Furious is that Dominic Toretto has an illegitimate child he never knew about - a son that Cipher kidnaps as a a method of exploiting Dom, by pressing his biggest weakness (as Owen Shaw pointed out in Fast and the Furious 6): his family.

The mother of the child is none other than Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky), the partner of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) at the DSS, and Dom's lover in Fast Five (until he learned that Letty was still alive, during the opening act of Fast and the Furious 6).

It is revealed that Elena was already pregnant when F&F6 started; she didn't mention anything to Dom out of respect for his relationship with Letty - a moment that is pretty significant, looking back at the ending of Fast & Furious 6 where Letty and Elena have come to an amicable resolution about Dom.

WATCH: The Moment Elena Decided to Keep her Baby Secret

More Fast & Furious

SYNOPSIS: Now that Dom and Letty are on their honeymoon and Brian and Mia have retired from the game-and the rest of the crew has been exonerated-the globetrotting team has found a semblance of a normal life. But when a mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of crime he can't seem to escape and a betrayal of those closest to him, they will face trials that will test them as never before. From the shores of Cuba and the streets of New York City to the icy plains off the arctic Barents Sea, the elite force will crisscross the globe to stop an anarchist from unleashing chaos on the world's stage... and to bring home the man who made them a family.

Fate of the Furious only has a modest 3.64/5 anticipation rating in our user anticipation rating database. Is that really the level of interest in this eighth Fast and Furious film? Rate your anticipation or viewing reaction in the database below!

More:

• Fate of the Furious Official Review
• Where Brian is during Fate of the Furious
• Does FotF have a Post-Credit Scene?