This ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ Cliffhanger Opens A Lot Of Doors For A Sequel

Spoilers ahead! One of the most exciting aspects of the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw is that it introduces fans to a new superhuman antagonist played by Idris Elba. Brixton is a former MI6 agent who's physically enhanced by a tech company called Eteon, turning into an indestructible half-cyborg who can withstand just about anything. Anything, that is, until Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) are able to knock him down with their impressive team work. He's still alive after he's defeated until Eteon pulls the plug on their creation and shuts him down. Brixton falls off a cliff — seemingly, to his doom. But is it even possible for the almost invincible Hobbs & Shaw villain Brixton to die?

Well, technically, Brixton is already dead, but was only made undead — like a zombie or Frankenstein's monster. In the film, we learn his origin story, and that he and Shaw go waaay back. Both of them were on the same MI6 squad, and though the Fast & Furious narrative up to this point has us believe that Shaw is the one who went rogue, it was actually Brixton who eliminated the rest of their team. Shaw was able to kill Brixton with exactly three bullets to the chest and two to the head. But, as Brixton explains, Eteon picked him up, fixed him, and made him "better."

The self-described "black Superman" has super strength, enhanced agility, and some sort of computer vision that allows him to see his opponents' weaknesses and predict their moves. And whenever he gets a little beat up, he goes back to the Eteon lab for upgrades made by tinkering with his spinal column. In an exclusive video clip released by Complex, Elba simply puts, "He's a human being who has the capabilities of a war machine."

So, could a system shutdown and a fall really kill a super soldier who's survived three bullets to the chest and two in the head? Maybe. Because he's completely operated by Eteon, and he's basically been redesigned to function like a machine with the cognizance of a human, he can be turned off whenever "the Director" — the anonymous leader of Eteon — pleases. And though the shutdown doesn't mean death, the fall off the Samoan cliff to the strong waves crashing on the rocks could have done some serious damage. But the question is whether the damage is beyond Eteon's reparation capabilities — assuming that Eteon would still want to come and pick up Brixton and give him another chance after this failed mission.

Though it's unlikely that the Director will be so forgiving as to reactivate Brixton, there really isn't a guarantee that Elba's character is completely out of the picture. You never know what the Fast franchise filmmakers can pull on us — either for Fast & Furious 9, or a possible sequel to Hobbs & Shaw. We wouldn't be mad to see Idris Elba reprise his role, maybe as a good guy seeking revenge on Eteon next time around?