Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Bad Boys: Ride or Die!
Summary
Bad Boys: Ride or Diefeatures plenty of death, but the movie also killed two major franchise characters off-screen. The fourth entry among theBad Boysmovies has plenty of connections to the films that came before it. This includesBad Boys: Ride or Diehaving several returning charactersfrom previous installments. There are the expected returns of Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, as well as the newer characters introduced inBad Boys for Life. But, there are other original franchise characters like Captain Howard and Fletcher who have roles to play.
Captain Howard returns inBad Boys: Ride or Diethrough a series of video recordings meant for Mike and Marcus that detail his secret work to uncover dirty members of Miami’s law enforcement and political system. Fletcher comes back as part of Mike and Marcus' search for answers, although he dies shortly after coming back. Fletcher’s death is the biggest that happens on-screen in terms of familiar characters by the timeBad Boys: Ride or Die’s endingconcludes. However, the film also killed two other original franchise characters off-screen.
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’s 13 Easter Eggs & References Explained
Bad Boys: Ride or Die has a lot of sly references to the history of the franchise, featuring cameos from other stars and previous characters.
They Were Miami Detectives
It is confirmed inBad Boys: Ride or Diethat Detective Ruiz and Detective Sanchez are already dead. This information comes from one of Captain Howard’s videos to Mike and Marcus. He reveals that he brought Ruiz and Sanchez out of retirement to help him work his secret case years ago. Howard says he recruited them 9 years ago from when the video was recorded, which predates the events ofBad Boys for Life. The former police captain then confirms thatRuiz and Sanchez died in a car crasha week later.
Based on the implied timeline, Ruiz and Sanchez died only a few years after the events ofBad Boys II. That movie took place in 2003, with Howard’s video was recorded no later than 17 years later. This suggests that Ruiz and Sanchez died in roughly 2011. Based on the information provided inBad Boys: Ride or Die,Ruiz and Sanchez retired before Mike and Marcus took down Johnny Tapia, only to un-retire to investigate the case and die a week later.
They Were Not Mentioned Before
The lack of appearances by Sanchez and Ruiz inBad Boys for LifeandBad Boys: Ride or Diewas quite confusing at first. They were absent fromBad Boys for Life, with no explanation as to why or what happened to them. Now,Bad Boys: Ride or Dieconfirms this was impossible as Sanchez and Ruiz are dead at this point in the timeline.
It would have been complicated to get Sanchez and Ruiz back together for these sequels, though.Ruiz’s actor Julio Oscar Mechoso died in 2017, two years beforeBad Boys for Lifebegan filming. The franchise would have had to recast Ruiz to bring the character back, which is something that never happened untilBad Boys: Ride or Dierecast Theresa Randle. Nestor Serrano could have returned for either sequel on his own, butBad Boys: Ride or Diemade the decision to have Ruiz and Sanchez’s stories end together.
