Now that Vin Diesel has pretty much turned Fast & Furious’ Dominic Toretto into a full-blown superhero, I’m less excited about his true sci-fi hero, Riddick. Diesel is currently hard at work on a fourth Riddick movie, Riddick: Furya, which has been in various stages of development for over a decade now. David Twohy, the writer-director behind the first three films, has once again penned the script and will once again direct the project. There’s no confirmed release date for Riddick: Furya, but Diesel has teased that it’ll explore Riddick’s origin story.
I’ve always thought it was really cool that Diesel leveraged Universal’s desire to have him make a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to score the rights to the Riddick character. This has meant that Diesel has complete ownership of the Riddick franchise and, as a result, complete creative control of his big-screen outings. I ire Diesel’s commitment to this character and to making sure his stories are told right. But Riddick feels a lot less special since Diesel turned Toretto into an invincible superman with his own set of superpowers.
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Toretto Becoming A "Superhero" Makes Vin Diesel's Riddick Less Special
Riddick was supposed to be Diesel's sci-fi hero
Back in the early 2000s, when both the Riddick and Fast & Furious franchises were just getting started, they each drew from opposite ends of the action movie spectrum. Riddick was supposed to be Diesel’s sci-fi franchise in which he could dig into his love of superheroes and intergalactic exploration, while the Fast & Furious films were supposed to be smaller, more grounded stories about illegal street racing. But that’s not the case anymore. The Fast & Furious movies have actually been to space, and Toretto is pretty much a superhero.
Toretto can escape brutal car crashes, 100-foot drops, and collapsing highways without a scratch. The Fast & Furious franchise has become the closest thing to Avengers movies outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Toretto started off as just a regular guy who happened to be really good at driving, but he’s since become invincible, immortal, and seemingly superhuman, which makes Riddick feel less special. The Fast & Furious series has essentially become Riddick on Earth – and sometimes, it’s not even on Earth – so Riddick no longer has its own niche.
The Riddick franchise began in 2000 with Pitch Black.
Vin Diesel's Riddick Return Should Be Different Enough From Dom Toretto
Riddick and Toretto are still radically different characters
Just because Toretto has become just as supernatural as Riddick, it doesn’t necessarily mean Diesel’s Riddick return isn’t exciting. Riddick and Toretto are still radically different characters who inhabit radically different worlds. Whereas Toretto is a mere human being, Riddick is a Furyan whose home planet was destroyed in a brutal military campaign. They’re both mercenaries, but whereas Toretto’s motivation is to protect his family, Riddick’s motivation is to avenge his warrior race. The Fast & Furious series may have leaned into some sci-fi elements, but it’s not hard sci-fi in the way that Riddick is.
Diesel has been playing Toretto for so long now. He first debuted in the role in 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. It’s been two decades and nine sequels since then, so Toretto has come a long way and the character has evolved a lot. On the other hand, Diesel hasn’t played Riddick since 2013’s Riddick, which was around the time that Fast & Furious changed drastically. It transformed from a grounded car chase series to a full-on superhero franchise. Diesel hasn’t returned to Riddick in all that time, so there’s a lot of room for that character to grow.
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What To Expect From Vin Diesel’s New Riddick Movie
Riddick: Furya is going back to Riddick's home planet
Each previous Riddick movie has taken the title character to a different planet. The first movie, Pitch Black, saw him stranded on a desert planet with three suns. The second one, The Chronicles of Riddick, saw him captured and sent to the prison planet Crematoria. The threequel, simply titled Riddick, thrust him into a fight for survival on another desolate planet. Just based on its title alone, the fourth film Riddick: Furya sounds like it’ll be less of a standalone story and instead sink its teeth into the franchise’s lore and the character’s origins.
It’s been established that Riddick’s homeworld of Furya was devastated by a military campaign and his warrior race was wiped out. But Riddick: Furya sounds like it’ll be going back and showing the fall of Furya. Riddick might even return to his home planet and rebuild. This story would really help to separate the Riddick saga from the Fast & Furious franchise.
Riddick 4: Furya is the fourth big-screen installment in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise. Vin Diesel returns as the titular hero, introduced in 2000 movie Pitch Black, alongside the original movie's director, David Twohy. The film takes Richard B. Riddick back to his home planet after multiple fights with the Necromongers.
