Fast & Furious: 5 Ways Deckard Shaw Redeemed Himself (& 5 Why He’s Still A Villain)

The Fast & Furious movies have become definitive action flicks that have defined the careers of its leading stars. All of the entries featuring Jason Statham are considered among his best, with the actor even receiving his own spin-off in Hobbs & Shaw due to the popularity of his character, Deckard Shaw.

Having started out as the villain in Furious 7, Shaw’s clash against Dominic Toretto and his crew gradually turned into allegiance as he teamed with them to take on Cipher. Following this, many have argued that Shaw has displayed redemptive qualities that absolve him of his sins, although there are still many points that do qualify him to still be considered a villain.

10 Redeemed: He Only Became Bad For The Sake Of Avenging His Brother

Had Dom never fought with Owen Shaw, Deckard wouldn’t have had a problem with him. In fact, he hasn’t been shown engaging in villainous activities since then and hasn’t been stated to have been evil prior to that as well.

It was due to the blind vengeance that consumed him that Deckard became a villain, as his love for his younger brother overcame his moralities. Although he did a lot of bad, his heart was ultimately out to seek justice for his sibling and Shaw didn’t go looking to claim lives.

9 Villain: Making Things Personal With The Protagonists

Before he was partially reformed in the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off, Shaw villainously went after the family of Dominic Toretto. Apart from taking down Han, Shaw also targeted Letty and Mia as they were close to Dom. However, this was a petty move since they weren’t the ones he had beef with.

Since it was Dom whom Shaw wanted vengeance from, it would have been understandable if he’d only pursued him. Shaw’s move on making things personally instantly made him out to be the villain as he had no moral compunctions with harming Dom’s family.

8 Redeemed: His Refusal To Join Cipher

The Fate of the Furious became one of Jason’s Statham’s highest-grossing movies and also brought him the opportunity to turn Shaw away from being a villain. Here, it was revealed that Owen Shaw was hired by Cipher, whose original choice was Deckard.

This meant that Deckard had turned Cipher down as he wasn’t interested in villainy as his brother had been. It also proved that he couldn’t be swayed into becoming a bad guy and had a level of morality in this area. His role in the fight against Cipher in the eighth movie cemented this aspect further.

7 Villain: He Never Apologized For “Killing” Han

As it turned out in F9, Han was alive the whole time, but this was the doing of Mr. Nobody and not Shaw. The latter had no idea that Han was still alive and had fully intended on killing him as part of his bid for revenge against Dom.

What’s more, even after Shaw was welcomed by Dom into his group of allies, he didn’t bring up the fact that he killed one of Dom’s best friends. An apology would have gone a long way in confirming that Shaw regretted this act, but he had no time to give where acts of contrition were concerned.

6 Redeemed: His Loyalty To Hobbs

Despite all the bickering Hobbs and Shaw engaged in their film, they had each other’s backs through and through. It’s an even bigger deal in Shaw’s case as he was the one who had originally attempted to kill Hobbs in Furious 7.

In the spin-off, however, Shaw proved he had developed a loyalty toward Hobbs and intended to follow through with it. To this end, he stuck by Hobbs throughout the story where his life was on the line, and was willing to die while defending Hobbs’ life.

5 Villain: He Hypocritically Overlooked His Brother’s Villainy

Deckard’s antagonism of Dom came from his belief that the latter had hurt his brother, and therefore, he went all around the globe in an attempt to kill Dom and his crew. However, the truth is that all of this was Owen’s own fault.

Owen was the one who had caused the death of Giselle and clashed against Dom in Fast & Furious 6, all while killing innocents as part of collateral damage. Deckard was well aware of this but chose to overlook his brother’s own villainy and pinned the blame on Dom.

4 Redeemed: Saving The World

The most major difference between the original Fast & Furious movies and the reboot is how the new entries have global consequences. For example, Hobbs & Shaw had the pair take on Idris Elba’s Brixton Lore in order to prevent a deadly virus from being exposed.

To this end, Shaw went out of his way to fight for the survival of people around the Earth, as the release of this virus would have plunged the world into chaos. Shaw never got any recognition for this, nor did he seek it out, proving he did it for the betterment of the people rather than any personal benefit.

3 Villain: His Abrasive Attitude

There hasn’t been any change in attitude where Shaw is concerned, which gives the heavy implication that he just hasn’t felt the weight of his actions. In comparison, Dom has become a different person from his criminal ways, looking to do right and stick by a moral code.

Shaw has remained largely the same, in that he takes pride in doling out pain and fully intends to continue being this way. He was very content in threatening Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious, and had things gone as he wanted, Shaw would have gladly killed Hobbs.

2 Redeemed: His Act Of Saving Dom’s Son

There’s no escaping the fact that Dom owes Shaw big time for his act of saving his son’s life. Deckard put his own life on the line to protect the child, who was held by Cipher and her goons. Moreover, Deckard treated the baby with extra care and ensured he never got a scratch on him.

This also showed Shaw’s softer side, as he even took the time to comfort the baby so that he wouldn’t realize they were in the middle of a conflict. By the ending of The Fate of the Furious, Dom was overjoyed to be reunited with his son, all thanks to Shaw’s efforts.

1 Villain: For All The Innocent People He Killed

Whatever Shaw might do in the future, and whatever he’s done so far to redeem himself, he can’t do anything to make up for all the lives he’s taken. In fact, the first two scenes he had in the series established him as a killing machine, as he started off with taking Han’s life and then engaged in the hospital massacre.

During Furious 7, Shaw repeatedly engaged Dom and his crew in battles that caused civilian casualties, but he didn’t care who died in his bid for revenge. All in all, he has a lot of blood on his hands and he will always be the villain for the people whose lives he took away.

About The Author

Saim Cheeda
(1343 Articles Published)

Saim Cheeda is an entertainment writer covering all of Film, TV, Gaming and Books. He’s been a writer for Valnet since 2017, contributing 500+ articles for The Gamer, The Things, Game Rant, Comic Book Resources and Screen Rant. Apart from freelance writing, Saim is a lifestyle blogger, co-owning the blog 3 States Apart.

http://3statesapart.com

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