The addition of Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs to the Fast & Furious franchise expanded the scope of the films and breathed fresh life into the series, with his return for Fast and Furious 11 solidifying his importance to the series. The best sequences featuring the WWE veteran in the series played into the overall themes of the movies as they evolved from street-level action movies into globe-trotting espionage adventures. Hobbs debuted in Fast Five, as a law-abiding heroic antagonist to the heroic but criminal Toretto crew.

Hobbs helped save Fast & Furious and escalate the sheer scale of the series into something else. Hobbs’ arrival ushered in the openly bombastic second half of the series, setting up multiple appearances and even a spin-off film. Along the way, Hobbs highlighted some of the biggest themes of the franchise and proved that it didn’t have to be Dom Toretto and his “family” who drove the series forward. Here are the ten most important Luke Hobbs scenes in the Fast & Furious movie franchise and how they highlighted the evolution of the series.

10Hobbs’ Introduction
Fast Five

Hobbs was introduced in 2011’s box office hit Fast Five, which helped reinvigorate the franchise and expanded the scope far beyond the street racing that had dominated the prior films. Hobbs’ first scene in the series establishes him as a direct contrast to the bombastic personalities of Dom’s crew. After Dom and his allies are framed for the murder of several DEA agents, Hobbs arrives on the scene to bring them to justice. Hobbs is quickly established as a prepared and dangerous adversary, with a vast amount of resources at his disposal.

Instead of the villains of prior films, Hobbs is shown to be driven by the loss of his fellow agents and keen to not underestimate his adversaries. This effectively sets Hobbs up as a unique counter to Dom in the films. While Dom and his allies may be the heroes of the film series, they’re still career criminals. Hobbs, by contrast, is established as an effective lawman with the confidence to warn local authorities away from his investigation. After four films of overtly criminal antagonists, Hobbs gives the series a more engaging type of adversary.

9Hobbs Vs. Dom
Fast Five

Hobbs’ big one-on-one fight with Dom in Fast Five underscored an important new element to the Fast & Furious films. Whereas earlier movies in the franchise had based much of their action around high-octane car chases and races, the films were increasingly featuring more brutal fight scenes. After locating Dom, Hobbs tracks him down and engages in a brawl that sees both men showcase their physical strength and endurance.

While Dom was increasingly becoming an unstoppable force in the series, Hobbs presented an impressive counter. Their fight takes them through several walls, highlighting how the fight scenes in the series were growing more over-the-top as well. A far cry from the more grounded beats of the original The Fast & The Furious, Fast Five’s big Dom and Hobbs fight helped shape the future of the series.

8 Hobbs & Dom Team-Up
Fast Five

One of the most consistent elements of the Fast & Furious franchise, especially in later films, sees former enemies steadily become unlikely allies. This occurs in Fast Five, with Hobbs and Dom deciding to work together to avenge their respective allies killed by Reyes. Despite his crew doubting his plan to get revenge on the crime lord, Dom finds an unlikely ally in Hobbs. The sequence sets the stage for Hobbs to become a genuine ally to Toretto and his friends. As a result, Hobbs went from being a potential one-movie antagonist to a secondary hero for the franchise.

Notably, though, this doesn’t have the effect it had on Brian. While Brian began the series as an enemy of the Toretto family, he eventually abandoned his ways as an officer to join their crew. Hobbs doesn’t do that, notably telling Dom that he’ll ride with him until Reyes has been killed. It establishes that enemies can still become allies, even if they don’t become overt members of Dom’s group afterward. It expanded the scope of the franchise beyond the crew in ways that would permanently alter the dynamics of the series.

7Hobbs Recruits Dom & The Crew
Fast & Furious 6

Following their brief alliance in Fast Five, Hobbs ends up turning to Dom and his crew in the subsequent film, Fast & Furious 6. While the stakes and scope of Fast 5 exceeded the street-level origins of the series, Fast & Furious 6 was the film that truly elevated the series into the explosive world of super spies and experimental technology. This has remained the film’s direction since, with Hobbs’s recruitment of Dom and the rest of the crew playing a big part in establishing the franchise’s new tone.

Even while the sequence keeps things directly tied to the Toretto family drama by revealing Letty’s survival to Dom, the scene leans heavily into an action-spy genre tone that had been absent from the previous films. This is quietly one of the most important moments of the franchise. The subsequent escalation of the series likely wouldn’t have happened without someone like Hobbs around to bring them into a much bigger world.

6Hobbs Vs. Shaw
Furious 7

Hobbs’ fight with Deckard Shaw in Furious 7establishes how dangerous the character is within the story. Although he’d already been set up as a killer in the previous film and deadly earlier in the film, Shaw’s fight with Hobbs underscored how dangerous the character is. The franchise increasingly relied on bigger and bigger action beats, with Furious 7 featuring some truly wild moments. The Hobbs and Shaw fight was an ideal way for the film to set the tone for the rest of the action to come.

It also used Hobbs and his previous skills as a means of establishing how dangerous Shaw was to the rest of the crew. If Shaw could hold his own and get the better of Hobbs in a fight, then the danger presented to the rest of the cast is very real. In this sense, Hobbs was able to alter the trajectory of the film (and the later entries in the series) by serving as a story device to establish the dangerous potential of new villains.

5Hobbs With His Mini-Gun
Furious 7

Furious 7 was when the Fast & Furious films fully became cartoonish in their scope and action, and that’s not a complaint. While the series had already featured plenty of ridiculous moments, Hobbs’s role in the third act of Furious 7 helped cement the new direction. Flexing so hard that his cast breaks, Hobbs rushes to help Dom and the rest of the crew by, among other things, driving an ambulance into the fight and using a mini-gun against a helicopter.

It’s openly and unabashedly ridiculous in the best kind of way. It sets the stage for the subsequent films more over-the-top moments like shooting a car into space. Dwayne Johnson plays every beat with a perfectly straightforward and earnest approach that keeps the moment from derailing the film around it. Hobbs helped cement Furious 7’s increasing bombastic action as the norm for the series.

4Hobbs Scares Little Nobody
The Fate of the Furious

One of the underlying themes of the Fast & Furious franchise is the importance of family. Dom’s insistence that his found family and blood relatives stick together against all odds has been at the heart of the series since the beginning. However, it extends beyond Dom and the rest of the Torettos. In The Fate of the Furious, after being sent to prison, Hobbs is met by Mister Nobody and his new partner, Little Nobody.

When Little Nobody brings up Hobbs’ daughter in an attempt to intimidate him into working with them, Hobbs casually breaks his handcuffs and pins the agent to a wall. As the series expanded beyond the Toretto family, Hobbs’ commitment to his daughter underscores how themes about family in the franchise could extend beyond Dom and the rest of his crew, serving as an ideal teaser for Hobbs & Shaw.

3Hobbs & Shaw’s Prison Break
The Fate of the Furious

Despite his reluctance to accept an easy out of prison, Hobbs is forced into action in The Fate of the Furious when a chaotic moment gives Shaw a chance to escape. The prison break sequence is one of the highlights of The Fate of the Furious, and how well Hobbs fits into the franchise. The action is over-the-top and full of swagger, with Hobbs brushing off rubber bullets and casually throwing people around with ease.

As the series became more bombastic, Hobbs kept up with that morphing energy with gusto. The result is a fight that throws physics and reality out the window while Hobbs headbutts men in tactical gear and hits people with enough force to send them flying. The sequence is goofy and cool in equal measure, with big moments punctuated by Hobbs and Shaw casually taking down anyone who comes their way in a good tease of how the films would continue to become bigger and more ridiculous.

2Hobbs & Shaw’s Island Fight
Hobbs & Shaw

While Hobbs is absent from F9: The Fast Saga, he got a bigger chance to shine in Hobbs & Shaw. Alongside his former enemy turned reluctant ally Deckard Shaw, Hobbs found himself facing off with a super soldier and his army of dangerous killers in their spin-off. More than anything, Hobbs & Shaw showcases how the series can continue and thrive outside the Toretto family and their respective story. The film features some tense car chases, bombastic fight scenes, and even a massive duel to close out the third act.

However, the more impressive moment comes earlier, with Hobbs and his reunited family — alongside Deckard and his sister Hattie — fighting back against Brixton and his forces. The sequence showcases how Hobbs works as a star in the series, fitting within the overall themes of the series while having a unique and cultural touch that separates his adventure from other movies in the Fast & Furious series.

1Hobbs’ Cameo
Fast X

The ending of FX set up the return of several familiar faces for the upcoming franchise finale, including Hobbs. The mid-credits scene of the film sees Dante Reyes, Jason Momoa’s campy villain and the apparent final villain of the franchise, send a threat to Hobbs for his role in the death of his father. The sequence reinforces the idea that Johnson’s role as Hobbs in the series can still carry weight, even after he’d been absent from the prior film. Hobbs’ return to Fast & Furious underscores the important changes that the character brought to the series.

His return promises an even larger scope for the upcoming franchise finale Fast and Furious 11, which is impressive given the sheer scope of the prior entry in the series. Hobbs has been a crucial piece of the franchise since his introduction, helping shape the overall direction of the series into a much larger series. His cameo in FX and involvement in Fast and Furious 11 highlights this, proving the series wouldn’t feel right closing out without an appearance from Luke Hobbs.