In an obvious though not unwelcome case of fan-pandering, the popular hashtag #JusticeForHan has become an official part of the marketing for the upcoming Fast & Furious 9.
As you may be aware, the hashtag finds its roots in 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, in which Sung Kang’s character seemingly died in an explosion. For the next several years, the Fast franchise managed to essentially ignore this sad development by setting the next few films before the events of Tokyo Drift, allowing Han to become a regular fixture on Dominic Toretto’s team.
However, time eventually caught up with Han in 2013’s Fast & Furious 6, which circled back to the character’s death by revealing that Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw was the one who killed him. Since then, every installment in the series has been set after Han’s demise.
What really gave life to the #JusticeForHan hashtag, however, was the journey of Deckard, who transitioned from villain to hero, and even landed his own spinoff movie opposite Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs. For many fans, Deckard’s redemption only served to emphasize how the man he killed got a raw deal.
That all changed, of course, with the first trailer for Fast & Furious 9, which revealed that Han somehow survived his fate in Tokyo Drift, allowing him to return to the series. With this latest twist, Universal Pictures has given the people what they want, and in recognition of the #JusticeForHan social media campaign, any use of this hashtag now comes with an official F9 logo.
How exactly Han is still in the world of the living remains to be seen, but all will be revealed when Fast & Furious 9 hits theaters on May 22nd.