The “Fast and Furious” franchise has created some iconic heroes behind the wheel,
and Mia is no exception. From her early childhood in a family of car-lovers to building a family
of her own, here's Mia Toretto's entire “Fast and Furious” timeline, explained.
Cars have long been synonymous with the name "Toretto," as evidenced by Mia's childhood,
where she grew up with a professional stock car driver as a father and at least one older
brother who inherited his father's love of going fast. The Torettos were a close-knit family,
attending church together and hosting barbecues for their neighbors, a tradition that Mia and Dom
would continue as adults. Even though Mia wasn't the main gearhead of the Toretto siblings,
she still learned her way around an automobile,
picking up the same advanced driving skills shared by all of the Torettos.
When Mia was a teenager, her father was killed in an accident during a stock car race,
and Dominic was subsequently sent to prison for attacking the driver who caused his death.
So while teenage Mia occasionally participated in petty heists alongside Dom and his girlfriend,
Letty, seeing her brother go to prison may have prompted her to be more reluctant about
taking part in his illegal schemes going forward.
As adults, Dom and Mia remained close, continuing to work together
at their father's shop. However, they never talked about their brother Jakob,
indicating that a rift formed in their family at some point. And even though Dom and Mia maintained
a tight bond, Mia wasn't willing to participate in Dom's increasingly elaborate heists.
By the time "The Fast and the Furious" begins, Dom and his crew — which includes Letty and a
few of his and Mia's childhood friends — have a pretty slick operation stealing DVD players
from 18-wheelers at high speeds on the highway. Mia is loyal enough to not turn them in or thwart
their illegal activities, but she also makes it clear to Dom that she doesn't approve. Still,
Mia is always a safe person for Dom, guarding his secrets and remaining fiercely protective of him,
even if she wishes he'd settle down and leave his life of crime behind.
Although Mia has a strict rule about not dating any of her brother's friends,
she makes an exception for Brian O'Conner when he starts hanging around Toretto's Market & Cafe.
Granted, at the time, he and Dom aren't yet close — and neither Toretto sibling realizes
that Brian is actually an undercover LAPD officer sent to get to the bottom of Dom's
operation — but by the time their bromance is in full bloom, so is Brian and Mia's romance.
When Mia discovers Brian’s true identity she feels betrayed...
"What are you talking about Brian, what is this?"
"Ever since the first time I met you, I've been undercover."
but she agrees to help him for Dom's sake, and they rescue a wounded member of Dom's crew.
Dom isn't so forgiving, threatening Brian with a shotgun as Brian attempts to arrest him, and while
Mia attempts to diffuse the situation, the two end up in a high-speed chase, leaving her behind.
After learning the true identity of Brian O'Conner and that Dom has had to go on the run,
Mia decides to pack up and move away, starting a new life on her own. Although Brian tells her
he's resigned from the LAPD after letting Dom go, she refuses to give him another chance,
until she later warms up to him, and they get close again.
Although Dom remains on the run, he never loses contact with his sister, who keeps him
informed of significant developments during his periodic check-ins. This can be a little risky
since the FBI keeps Mia under surveillance, but it proves important when Mia gets word that Dom's
ex-girlfriend, Letty, has apparently been killed in a car accident. Based on what Mia tells him
and what he finds at the scene, Dom embarks on a quest to track down Letty's killer. Of course,
this puts him back in the orbit of Brian, who's now working for the FBI.
After tracking down Letty's killer in Mexico and killing him, Brian is unable to secure
the pardon for Dom that Letty had hoped to earn, and Dom is sentenced to 25 years to life
in prison. But this time, rather than continuing to operate within the confines of the law,
Brian decides to take justice into his own hands.
Although she's kept her brother's criminal activities at arm's length up until that point,
seeing her brother sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison is apparently the last
straw for Mia, and the fourth film ends with her driving alongside Brian behind Dom's prison bus.
The opening of "Fast Five" is the first time we really get to see Mia's driving skills in action,
and she proves she's every bit as capable as her big brother by seamlessly coordinating
her car's maneuvers with Brian's, flipping the bus and allowing Dom to escape.
Running low on cash at the beginning of "Fast Five," Mia and Brian both embrace their new
lives of crime by participating in a heist to steal a number of cars off of a moving train.
Once the heist gets underway, Dom shows up to lead the mission,
but upon realizing that the other members of his crew are preparing to double-cross them,
he gives Mia a chance to escape before he and Brian are forced to fight their way out.
Realizing they've gotten wrapped up in something much more complicated than they'd thought,
the trio decide to stage a daring heist in order to steal $100 million from a Rio drug
lord. To pull this off, they recruit a crew of Dom and Brian's past associates while also
being pursued by various law enforcement agents, including DSS agent Luke Hobbs.
“You turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
After revealing that she's pregnant with her and Brian's first child,
Mia explains that she wants her family to stick together this time. However,
since none of them are willing to risk Mia's pregnancy, she opts to take a more administrative
role in the Rio heist rather than the hands-on one she had for breaking Dom out of prison.
Still, Mia's role is hardly safe. While planning the heist,
the drug lord's men attempt to kidnap her, but she's able to narrowly escape.
However, pretty much the moment Mia escapes one dangerous situation, she's put in another one
when she's arrested by Hobbs, along with Brian and Dom. But when their convoy is ambushed,
Brian and Dom save the DSS agent, who decides to join their heist plan. Even though the drug lord
now knows they're coming, the group goes ahead with the mission, with Mia coordinating their
routes from their home base while Brian and Dom are in the thick of the action. Against all odds,
the group successfully pulls it off, and our heroes end "Fast Five" as multimillionaires.
Rich beyond their wildest dreams after the events of "Fast Five,"
"Fast & Furious 6" finds Brian and Mia retired in the Canary Islands and welcoming the arrival
of their first child, a boy they name Jack. However, despite their idyllic surroundings,
Brian tells Dom that it still doesn't quite feel like home to him. However,
he isn't anxious to leave when Dom tells him that he's been informed by Hobbs that Letty
is actually still alive. In fact, Brian initially tries to talk him out of going to find her.
However, Mia won't hear of such a thing,
reminding the two most important men in her life that they're all family,
she’d feel more comfortable and safe knowing they were watching each other’s backs.
“We’re stronger together.”
Mia remains at home with Jack while Brian and Dom go to reunite their former crew in
their mission to rescue Letty. Plus, they also plan on bringing down the terrorist Owen Shaw,
in exchange for pardons, which will allow them all to return to the United States.
Little do Dom and Brian realize that while they're pursuing Shaw in Spain,
the bad guy has sent his goons to Brian's house to kidnap Mia as a contingency plan. So when Dom's
crew manages to win back Letty and capture Shaw, he plays the card they didn't know he was holding,
threatening to kill Mia unless they let him go free. Although it means giving up their chances
at earning their pardons, no one on Dom's crew hesitates to give in to Shaw's demands,
allowing him to leave with some weaponized technology that he's stolen.
Fortunately, before Mia was kidnapped, she had the presence of mind to hand
off baby Jack to Dom's girlfriend, former police officer Elena, who manages to escape
safely with the baby. And when the villains bring Mia with them to Shaw's plane,
Dom and his crew follow them and work together to prevent it from taking off.
Dom and Brian drive a car onto the plane, which Mia uses as a distraction in order to get away
from her captors. Reuniting with Brian, the two are able to escape the plane and work
together to help take down Shaw. In exchange for recovering the stolen technology, Dom negotiates
pardons for them all, as well as getting back his and Mia's childhood home in Los Angeles.
By the time little Jack is in preschool at the beginning of "Furious 7," Brian and Mia are still
living in their old home and trying to adjust to domestic life. However, despite their minivan
and peaceful routine, Mia knows Brian misses the thrills and excitement of his former life.
Mia worries that he won't ever be able to fully settle into a quiet life with their family,
and she confesses to Dom that she's pregnant with their second child.
She hasn't told Brian, though, because she worries that in deciding to stay with her
and raise a family, he'll be disappointed in his life.
Just as he is done consoling his sister, Dom receives a phone call from Owen Shaw's brother,
Deckard, played by Jason Statham, and realizes there's a bomb at the house. Dom's warning gives
Brian just enough time to protect little Jack, but the home where Brian and Mia live — the
same one where the Toretto siblings grew up — is completely destroyed.
With their home gone and Deckard Shaw coming for their family, Mia and Jack go to stay with a
friend in the Dominican Republic. However, knowing they won't be safe while Shaw is still out there,
Mia urges Brian to go with Dom to help him stop Shaw and keep their family safe.
Against Dom's urging, she still doesn't tell Brian about her pregnancy.
But later, when Brian calls Mia from Los Angeles to tell her that they're about to
attempt a mission so dangerous that he wants her to move on if she doesn't hear from him again,
she finally tells him about the pregnancy and that they're expecting a girl.
Mia refuses to accept his goodbye.
After defeating Deckard Shaw once and for all, Dom, Brian, and the rest of the crew head to the
beach along with Mia and little Jack. While the gang looks at Brian and Mia playing in the surf
with Jack, they all acknowledge that Brian belongs with his family, not pulling heists with them.
And as Brian and Mia anticipate the birth of their daughter, they lovingly part ways with
their fast and furious lifestyle, as well as the crew that feels as close as family.
Of course, off-screen, the reason for Brian and Mia's fond farewell from the "Fast" crew was due
to actor Paul Walker's tragic death during the filming of "Furious 7," which prompted a rewrite
of the ending in order to give Brian a happy and satisfying send-off. Since Mia has always been
an inextricable part of Brian's story, as both his partner in crime and love, there was really
no way to offer Brian a happy ending without sending Mia off into the sunset by his side.
After sitting out the eighth installment of the "Fast Saga," living happily in retirement with
Brian and their two children, Mia returns to the more furious side of the "Fast" fold
in "F9," which will finally introduce Jakob, played by John Cena, the previously unmentioned
third Toretto sibling. Perhaps the family tie is what draws Mia back in for another adventure,
or maybe she has other reasons for rejoining the crew for one last ride.
It will be interesting to find out how "F9" justifies Mia being the one to take part in
the action while Brian stays home with the kids, when in the past, those roles have been reversed.
But maybe it will be as simple as the fact that Mia is a Toretto, and the only thing for
Torettos that rivals their love of family is their desire to keep moving fast and furious.
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