Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw partners Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) with arch rival Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they’re forced to team up and take down cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba).
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The first offshoot of the long-running Fast & Furious franchise, launched with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in 2001, Hobbs & Shaw continues an animosity between its titular badasses first established in 2015’s Furious 7.
It was there Shaw, a former British military elite operative turned even more deadly mercenary, first attacked Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and crew as revenge for leaving younger brother Owen (Luke Evans) in a coma following his own villainous scheme in 2013’s Fast & Furious 6.
Shaw first exacted his vengeance on Han (Sung Kang), attacking and killing him in Tokyo, before setting his sights on the rest of the team of former street racers.
Following his capture and imprisonment in a high-security prison — where he was personally escorted by Hobbs — Shaw returned in 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, which saw Hobbs jailed in that same prison following a botched mission centered around a powerful EMP device.
Hobbs and Shaw were first forced to partner under shadowy government man Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) when Toretto seemingly went rogue as a blackmailed agent acting under cyber terrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron).
After Toretto turned to Shaw’s mother Magdalene Shaw (Helen Mirren) for help escaping Cipher’s grip, the Shaw matriarch urged her sons to help thwart Cipher’s world-threatening plans that would have seen a hijacked nuclear submarine trigger a nuclear war.
Shaw proved himself to Toretto’s family when he teamed with Owen to rescue Toretto’s young son, who was held hostage to force Toretto into acting as Cipher’s enforcer. Hobbs and Shaw were last seen participating in a rooftop family dinner with Toretto and his closest allies, where Shaw hand delivered the rescued Brian to his father.
Now, more foes than friends, Hobbs and Shaw will have to take out a new threat to save the world — if they don’t kill each other first.
Luke Hobbs
A career lawman and former criminal-hunting agent of the Diplomatic Security Service, Hobbs is a self-described “nice cold can of whoop ass” who
has since gone on to serve America’s Diplomatic Security Service as a loyal agent that always gets his guy.
Hobbs is a dutiful father to Samantha (Eden Estrella) and is backed by his “aiga,” his family, comprised of his four brothers, who own and operate illegal chop shop-turned-legit custom car parts business Hobbs Customs in Western Samoa.
Hobbs’ brothers — two of which are played by WWE superstar Roman Reigns and The Meg star Cliff Curtis — heavily believe in a Samoan saying, “Ou te le tau to’atasi ae matou te tau fa’atasi,” which translates to: “When you fight one, you fight us all.”
Deckard Shaw
The rogue former MI6 agent may have come to the rescue as a baby-saving hero in Fate of the Furious, but he remains a highly dangerous, expertly trained killer yet to earn Hobbs’ trust.
No word yet if Evans’ Owen will return to lend an assist — he was last seen headed to parts unknown after helping his brother rescue Brian Toretto in Fate — but where there’s one Shaw brother, the other isn’t likely to be far behind.
Hattie Shaw
Hobbs & Shaw introduces the fourth member of the Shaw clan, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), a rogue MI6 agent every bit as brilliant and fearless as her brothers.
Johnson previously characterized Hattie as a tequila-drinking badass who enjoys “kickin’ it” with Hobbs, much to Shaw’s chagrin.
Brixton
Hobbs and Shaw’s tense alliance is birthed out of biowarfare, as cyber-genetically enhanced bad guy Brixton — who boasts superhuman powers and a bulletproof suit — gains control over an insidious bioweapon that could alter humanity forever.
Lauding himself as “human evolutionary charge,” Brixton says he’s “dealing with the future of the planet” — potentially giving the Fast & Furious franchise its biggest threat yet.
Directed by David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2), Hobbs & Shaw opens August 2.
