'The Fate of the Furious' Promotes Jason Statham's Character, Sparks a 'Han-troversy' in the Process

Jason Statham’s reformed villain lends his fists to the good guys’ cause in ‘The Fate of the Furious’ (Universal)

As The Fate of the Furious raced up to a world record $532 million worldwide opening at the box office, fans have been particularly gushing over Jason Statham’s return as Deckard Shaw, the big bad from the previous movie.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FROM ‘THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS’ TO FOLLOW.

Only this time, he’s joined up with the good guys, and enjoys a particularly memorable scene punching, kicking, and shooting his way through thugs, while holding an adorable baby in a carseat.

But for all the accolades, the eighth installment of the car chase saga hasn’t been able to outpace one controversy—or what social media is dubbing a “Han-troversy.”

That’s because Shaw was introduced to the franchise at the very end of Furious 6 by killing the popular hero, Han (played by Sung Kang), who happened to be the only Asian in the central cast.

Statham recently did his best to explain to RealClearLife why fans should forgive and forget.

“From the Deckard Shaw perspective, he was never a bad guy. He’s just doing what he’s doing what’s best for his family in some ways,” Statham told RCL. “He was trying to exact a bit of revenge.

“(In The Fate of the Furious,) you find out that Deckard Shaw is not such a bad guy. There’s more to that story than meets the eye. We can’t say too much about it at this point.

“Fans say he’s not so bad …. but then again he did kill Han,” laughed Statham. “It provokes questions and it provokes conversation. We get to have a bit of fun.”

But not all fans were in a jovial mood over the plot twist:

Man.. i don’t want to be forced to like Jason Statham’s character in Fate of the Furious. He killed Han. HE KILLED HAN.

— Paraxiome (@paraxiome) March 29, 2017

@Zahraa_Suleman the movie. I love how everyone is buddies with Jason Statham but they conveniently forgot he killed Han. I guess i expected too much here??

— Lokhat (@Molocks_) April 16, 2017

@deggowaffles @pj_campbell Statham just killed Han and tried to kill their whole family but now lets trust him to save a baby???

— Colin M. (@duckisgod) April 16, 2017

Screenwriter Chris Morgan told Entertainment Weekly that Shaw is a salvageable soul “not that dissimilar from Dom, in certain ways.”

“The reason Dom went to jail in the original film is he did some violence against someone who hurt his family,” he told EW. “Deckard’s story is not too far away from that.”

And Statham promises that whole storyline will be explained in future movies—with The Fate of the Furious, after all, being just the first movie in a whole new trilogy.

“What we do know is this story twists and turns and characters twist and turn and more gets revealed,” said Statham. “It’s just the start of the ride.”