Who Is Cardi B Playing in Fast 9?
Cardi B as Leysa in F9. Photo: Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures  The Fast & Furious universe may be disproportionately inhabited by gruff bald men, but it still manages to find a little room for female pop stars, too. Who can forget the scene where Rita Ora kicked off a London street race in Fast & Furious 6, or the time Iggy Azalea popped up in Fast & Furious 7 to deliver the immortal line, Where you been at, ghost girl?  So it was not exactly surprising last year when Vin Diesel announced that Cardi B had joined the Fast family for F9. But now that the movies been released, it turns out theres a twist. Unlike her predecessors, Cardis not playing herself. Instead, she plays a character who gets Diesels Dom Toretto out of a jam in the movies second act. The key information of exactly who Cardis supposed to be, and her connection to the wider Fast universe, is dispensed in a whirlwind minute-long scene, which paradoxically gets more confusing the more exposition it contains. As our in-house expert on the basic plot points of contemporary blockbusters, let me explain it all for you. Okay, so: Cardi is playing Leysa, the leader of an all-female paramilitary group that poses as a SWAT team to help Dom escape the clutches of the movies secondary villain, an asshole rich kid whose dialogue makes it clear this movie was originally supposed to be released into a world where Trump was still president. As Dom intones in his trademark baritone, Leysa is apparently Caras sister, and because this is a franchise that assumes the audience has a Star Warslevel reverence for everyone whos ever appeared onscreen, were all expected to remember immediately who Cara is and what her deal is. In case youre having trouble, Cara  her full name is apparently Cara Mirtha, and shes played by Dominican American actress Mirtha Michelle  is a minor character from the franchises fourth entry, Fast & Furious. Shes part of Doms crew in the Dominican Republic; in the opening gas tanker robbery, shes the one who connects Hans truck to the fuel containers. She peaces out shortly afterward, and as far as I can tell, has not been mentioned since. (According to Cardis monologue, shes doing well, with the money she made from the gas heist directly contributing to her little sister becoming the leader of said all-female paramilitary group. In the Fast saga, even more so than in Cloud Atlas, everything is connected.) Cara gets slightly more to do in Los Bandoleros, the short film written and directed by Diesel that functions as both a prologue to Fast & Furious and also the actors love letter to the D.R. She picks up Han from the airport, and the two of them have a miniature rom-com arc: First, they give each other the eye, and then they share a little romantic banter in a bar. And thats it! Basically Cara flirts and climbs around fast-moving cars. This would be more offensive if it wasnt more or less what the male characters in Fast & Furious movies do too. Its possibly a nod to Cardis Dominican heritage. But it could also be foreshadowing. This is the movie that famously brings Han back from the dead.