Jakob Toretto: Your Biggest Questions About Dom’s Brother Answered

F9: The Fast Saga introduced Dom and Mia Toretto’s estranged brother Jakob, sparking many questions about the character’s past and future in the franchise. For such a close family, a secret sibling is a huge skeleton in the closet, and Jakob’s mere existence may seem at face value like a retcon of Dom’s own values. However, there’s a bit more to Jakob than meets the eye, and F9 does a strong job of justifying why he’s never been mentioned in the Fast and Furious movies until now.

Before F9, not much was known about the Toretto family history, including the Torreto’s Nordic strain. Dom talked a good deal about his father in the first movie – how he was a skilled stockcar racer, how he died in a tragic accident on the track, and how he spent every waking moment caring for Dom, Mia, and the community at large. Beyond that though, the series has given few details on Dom and Mia’s childhoods, their mother, or their lives before the events of the first film. That vagueness allows for late retcons, like the introduction of Jakob.

Because he’s never mentioned before F9, Jakob is something of an enigma. Even by the time the credits roll, much about his motivations and his past remain unclear. Here’s what’s been revealed so far about Jakob, and what role he could play in the future of the Fast and Furious franchise.

Jakob Toretto’s Fast and Furious Timeline Explained

Jakob was born the second child of Jack Toretto – younger than star driver Dom, and older than Mia. Like Dom, he was taught about cars by his father from a very young age, helping to build the family Charger and even working on his father’s pit crew later during his racing years. Jakob was tough, competitive, and a natural behind the wheel, yet he always managed to be overshadowed by Dom. When their father began to struggle with the family finances, he told Jakob but hid the truth from Dom. Jack ultimately decided to throw a big race to help get the family out of debt, and he had Jakob sabotage his own car to ensure a believable loss. However, because of that intentional tampering, Jack’s car ended up exploding after being struck by another driver, killing him instantly.

In the wake of the tragedy, the Toretto family started to fall apart long before Cipher recruited Dom or Jakob. Dom was sent to prison after assaulting the racer responsible for the crash, discovering later that Jakob had tampered with their father’s engine for some reason. When Dom was released, he challenged Jakob to a street race, telling him that if he won, Jakob would have to leave town. Dom wound up victorious, and Jakob kept driving and never looked back. He lived with his father’s old friend and mechanic Buddy for a while, keeping in touch with Mia from a distance, then vanished. In F9, it’s revealed that Jakob ended up entering the world of espionage, likely through some more ordinary military career at first, then eventually working for Mr. Nobody. After meeting the billionaire criminal Otto and learning of the Project Ares device, Jakob went rogue to claim the weapon for himself, ultimately crossing paths with Dom in order to get it.

Why Didn’t Jakob Tell Dom What Happened?

One of the biggest questions from Jakob’s story is why he didn’t tell Dom the truth about their father. He could have revealed the family’s debts, proven it with paperwork, and explained that Jack had asked him specifically to tamper with the car. It’s possible that Dom, blinded by rage and grief, wouldn’t have believed him, but that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason not to even try when the alternative is leaving home forever.

The reason for Jakob’s silence is twofold. In F9, he says that he kept his father’s secret because he was told to. Since he was still only a teenager when his father died, and since that promise may have been one of the last things Jakob said to him, it’s believable that he’d go to great lengths to keep it. The other reason is that, even before their father’s death, Diesel’s Dom and Cena’s Jakob had a lot of friction between them. Jakob hated living in Dom’s shadow and being seen as lesser than him, so when presented with the chance to leave, he was already prepared. Even if Dom hadn’t run him out of town, it’s likely that Jakob would have left after his brother got out of prison anyway. At the time, they loved each other, but the two just didn’t get along.

Who Didn’t Dom Ever Talk About Jakob?

Leading up to the release of F9, many fans took issue with the Jakob reveal because it didn’t make sense for Dom’s character. Why would a man who has said countless times that family is the most important thing in the world, completely ignore the existence of his own brother? It didn’t seem right. However, F9 does a pretty good job of explaining Dom’s decision not to talk about Jakob.

After the death of his father, Dom was lost. He was emotionally devastated, separated from those he cared about most, and forced to spend years of his youth behind bars. His emotional immaturity and anger got the best of him, and he decided to channel all his pain in one direction – Jakob. Dom had always seen his brother as something of a screw-up; someone he and his father had had to take care of. He was the perfect target for Dom’s rage because he already believed Jakob was a failure. It doesn’t reflect well on Dom and his backstory, but it’s true.

The problem was, Jakob was still family. And there was no way Dom could uphold his father’s family values while also rejecting his own brother. So instead, he told himself a story. He told himself that Jakob wasn’t really his brother; that while they shared the same blood, Jakob wasn’t worthy of the Toretto name. Dom says that exact thing to Jakob in F9 – that he’s not really a Toretto. And that in itself explains why Dom never talked about him before. The only way for Dom to deal with his anger while also upholding his father’s values was to eject Jakob from the family completely. And the only way for him to do that and live with it was to act as if his brother never even existed.

What Was Jakob’s Plan In F9?

Jakob’s hatred of Dom makes sense. His complete turn to the dark side after working for Mr. Nobody, however? That’s a bit more of a stretch. Jakob never really explains why he wants Project Ares or what he plans to do with it in F9. The only real explanation given is that it is a supreme power, and he would like to be supremely powerful. The movie tries to justify this blind quest for power by showing the many times Jakob has been underestimated and beaten down in his life, which makes some sense. However, it’s not necessarily enough to explain away mass murder and a desire for global supremacy.

Why Did Jakob Turn Good?

Fortunately, Jakob turns away from his life of crime by the end of F9. After being double-crossed by Otto and Cipher, he decides to help Dom take them both out and stop Ares from launching. This turn from evil to good happens a bit too quickly to be fully believable, but Jakob’s root motivation still makes sense. He was seduced by Otto’s extravagant lifestyle and the promise of power, and because he’d been working in espionage for so long, going rogue may not have felt like such a significant moral shift. When he was double-crossed, however, Jakob realized that he wasn’t the same as Otto and Cipher – that he was better than that, and that he used to have people in his life who genuinely cared about him. In a moment of adrenaline, that’s enough to convince him to help Dom and make amends. Afterwards, however, Jakob has to go on the run or risk being locked away for his crimes.

What Will Happen To Jakob Toretto?

The end of F9 showed that Fast and Furious 10 will surely bring Jakob back, likely as a more consistent member of the family. The franchise has never shied away from redeeming bad guys, and international pardons aren’t unprecedented in Fast and Furious either. The next movie will likely see some new crisis – probably caused by Cipher – bring Dom and Jakob back together again, this time on the same side. And by the time credits roll, Jakob will probably have found a way to clear his name and join the rest of the crew for Coronas and barbecue. As of the end of F9, though, Jakob Toretto is still on the run.

About The Author

Rick Stevenson
(1221 Articles Published)

Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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