Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody only gets a few minutes of screentime in Fast & Furious 9, but from a purely narrative perspective, he might just be the most important character in the entire movie.
The plot is set in motion when Nobody’s plane mysteriously goes down, kicking off a chain reaction that somehow culminates in a series of spectacular action sequences and a trip to outer space, all stemming from a MacGuffin he’s trying to steer into the hands of Dominic Toretto and the crew.
Not only that, but it turns out the shady government operative is also responsible for the return of Sung Kang’s Han. One of the burning questions going into F9 was how the fan-favorite character had survived, and whether or not his return would make any degree of sense in a franchise that’s veered into seriously ludicrous territory over the last decade.
Luckily for fans, not only does the film explain things pretty well, but it ties neatly into the overarching mythology of The Fast Saga while simultaneously setting up several potential storylines for the future, so credit is due to Justin Lin and co-writer Daniel Casey. Midway through the ninth installment, it’s revealed that Gal Gadot’s Gisele had history with Nobody, and after her death he seeks out Han because if he could trust her, then he can trust him. Aimless and despondent after losing her, he agrees to some black ops work.
Nobody and Han then stage his own demise in a fiery explosion, with the constantly snacking cult hero now tasked to recover a key component of Project Ares and protect it all costs, which coincidentally happens to be exactly the thing both of the Toretto brothers had been searching for since the end of Fast & Furious 9‘s first act.
