With the release of the most recent Fast & Furious movie, the series has proven to modern audiences that the series can and isn’t afraid of getting ridiculous. While the first few entries in the franchise were much more grounded and rooted in reality, the most recent releases have fully embraced the over-the-top nature of its spectacle. This has meant including increasingly ridiculous plots, characters, and stunts. For as much as it might seem like the Fast & Furious movies are the pinnacle of being outrageous, the franchise has gone to far more ridiculous lengths through Universal’s expansion of the world.
In addition to the primary entries in the long-running franchise, Universal released an animated series on Netflix in 2019 called Fast & Furious Spy Racers. It continued the tradition of adding new and absurd concepts to the canon. What’s more, Fast & Furious Spy Racers is canon, so any of the ridiculous vehicles, scenarios, characters, etc. are all official. While the movies have already exposed audiences to meme-worthy visuals such as Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto flying through the air to rescue his family and cars being used as bridges, Fast & Furious Spy Racers takes things to a new level.
Fast & Furious’ Spinoff Show Introduced Underwater & Invisible Cars After F9’s Space Car
While much of the spectacle seen in later Fast & Furious entries has gotten more convoluted and unrealistic, one could argue that this shift in direction was a stroke of brilliance as it fueled the series with fresher ideas thus extending the franchise’s mileage. Back in 2021, Universal Pictures released the ninth installment in the franchise, F9, and it performed modestly well at the box global box office. However, the thing that stood out the most was seeing Roman and Tej flying into outer space in F9‘s climax.
The “rocket car” as F9 refers to it isn’t nearly as ridiculous when one factors in the underwater cars seen in Fast & Furious Spy Racers‘ fifth season. Whether purely ridiculous or an homage to the beloved ’60s manga Speed Racer, the underwater cars reinforced to newer and older viewers of the franchise that anything is possible. If underwater cars didn’t seem like too great a stretch, Fast & Furious Spy Racers upped the ante in its sixth season with the introduction of invisible cars. Admittedly, in a series with the word “spy” in it, a James Bond reference or two should be expected.
Ghosts & Other Supernatural Threats Exist In The Fast & Furious Franchise
From street racers participating in illegal drag racing to working with international task forces to save the world from catastrophic disasters, Fast & Furious has come a long way. What wasn’t expected was the show’s introduction of otherworldly entities and geography. In season 6, one of Tony Toretto’s friends ponders if a particular case they’re struggling to crack could be the result of paranormal interference.