9. Dominic Toretto - 2 Fast 2 Furious
Initially The Fast And The Furious was a one-off quasi-remake of Point Break (the idea to add cars came from a magazine article), but after it became an unpredictable box office hit Universal were keen to capitalise. The incredibly ugly titled 2 Fast 2 Furious, the film that now the franchise is a guilty pleasure crime epic feels the most unnecessary, was made without Vin Diesel as he and original director Rob Cohen were tied up in xXx. But once that was equally successful (albeit it on a much bigger budget) he was keen to come back. Tokyo Drift didnt make anywhere near as much at the box office, but it marked the return of Dominic Toretto (in cameo form), stopping the third entry being completely devoid of plot relevance to the original. This film marked the one missed entry from Paul Walker, but as Diesel has now taken the franchise lead gauntlet his lack is a lot less significant. That even Diesel, a man whos quick to over exaggerate Fast And Furious artistic merits, didn't appear in the sequel shows how initially holed in and niche the franchise was; the roads weren't meant to lead anywhere.