The following contains spoilers for Fast X, now playing in theaters.
The villains of The Fast & the Furious films have never really been the draw of the series. While the inclusion of performers like Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, and John Cena has been cause for excitement, it's often more rooted in seeing them bring their particular skills as performers to the absurd franchise. But that's not the case with Dante, Jason Momoa's larger-than-life antagonist of Fast X, who is easily the best part of the film.
Dante is a lightning bolt of a character -- a brightly colored, electrifying, and dangerous villain who quickly draws the attention away from whatever else is on-screen. He's so different from the franchise's typical antagonists that he actually feels more in line with DC's Joker than anything else. In fact, Momoa is also poised to play a part in DC's cinematic future, and the sheer energy he brings to the role of Dante quietly makes a great case for why he should become the DC Universe's version of the Joker.
Dante Reyes Is The Fast & the Furious' Version of The Joker
On a lot of levels, Momoa's role in Fast X feels like a version of the Joker built for this series. The son of Fast Five's villainous Hernan Reyes, Dante is teased out to be a mentally disturbed and sadistic killer -- a description that also matches the Joker to a tee. In the film, he's positioned as a direct parallel to the hero of the story. This includes embracing a colorful design as opposed to his enemies' black color scheme, with both Dante and the Joker using purple as a primary color to contrast against Dom and Batman's standard black.
His numerous plans always turn out to have secondary layers and ulterior motives, at times feeling like an even more bombastic approach to the same kind of villainy enforced by Heath Ledger's take on the Joker from The Dark Knight. He's often seen cackling at his own jokes and playing with a very dark sense of humor -- but none of this detracts from Fast X's real moments of menace, which highlight how ruthless he can be. Using bombs and gadgets to take down enemies, Dante delivers mock sympathy and horror at the chaos he's creating -- and Momoa is clearly having a blast doing so, playing the character with the same kind of big showmanship that defines many of the best versions of the Joker.
Why Jason Momoa Should Be the DCU's Joker
There's one scene in particular that highlights Momoa's potential as the Joker. After his attack on Rome (using a literal giant ticking bomb, which feels like a very Joker-y plot), Dante seems to be discussing his plan with some of his minions. All the while, he's also relaxing -- his hair up in buns, he paints their fingernails and comments that everyone acts a little too "macho" for his taste. As the scene progresses, it becomes clear his two minions are dead -- and he's propped up their corpses so he can "carry" a conversation with them. It's darkly hilarious, and Momoa's embrace of the scene's inherent depravity and absurdity makes for a very compelling performance -- and a perfect Joker audition. Momoa as the Joker would be fascinating, as Dante not only highlights Momoa's natural strengths for the role but introduces how he could subvert it. Casting the towering actor as the Joker would give the James Gunn Batman a nemesis who could actually hold his own against him in a fight -- something that most versions of the character lack.
Taking on a purely villainous role (instead of becoming the anti-hero Lobo) could be seen as a starker divide from his time in the DCEU as Aquaman, a flashing sign that the franchise is moving on from the past and trying something new. Momoa's take on the Joker could follow the same basic blueprints as Dante, allowing the performer to go big and broad for some scenes but tease out an unsettling and dangerous threat when he needs to become one. Momoa's history of largely playing heroic characters may have kept audiences from realizing it, but his villainous turn in Fast X proves that he'd make a very dangerous, very fun version of the Clown Prince of Crime. With Gunn's DCU slate already promising a wild new direction for the franchise, matching that energy with a truly larger-than-life Joker -- as embodied by Momoa -- could be the best move to make.
To see Momoa embrace his inner Joker, Fast X is now playing in theaters.