Bad Boys 4 looks like it’ll be a fun movie, but it’s not keeping a promise that Will Smith made for the sequel when Bad Boys for Life came out.

Summary

Bad Boys 4, titled Bad Boys: Ride or Die, promises high-octane action but breaks Will Smith’s 4-year-old promise of including Gabrielle Union.
The absence of Gabrielle Union’s character, Syd, in Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a mistake in a male-driven franchise lacking strong female characters.

The storyline of Mike and Marcus on the run in Bad Boys 4 begs for Syd’s involvement, highlighting the need for her role in the franchise.

Bad Boys 4 looks like it’ll be a fun movie based on its high-octane, action-packed trailer, but it’s not keeping a promise that Will Smith made for the sequel four years ago when Bad Boys for Life came out. Bad Boys 4, titled Bad Boys: Ride or Die, will see Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett trying to clear their late captain’s name when he’s posthumously accused of corruption. Helmed by returning Bad Boys for Life directors Adil & Bilall, Bad Boys: Ride or Die will be released on June 7, 2024.

There are a few familiar faces returning in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, including Joe Pantoliano appearing as Captain Conrad Howard after his character’s death. But there’s still no sign of Gabrielle Union reprising her role as DEA Special Agent Syd Burnett. Syd is Marcus’ younger sister who secretly dated Mike in Bad Boys II. She was a significant character in Bad Boys II and seemed to have a bright future in the franchise, but she still has yet to return – despite Smith’s promise to include her.

Will Smith Teased Gabrielle Union’s Return For Bad Boys 4 In 2020

“Definitely for Bad Boys 4!”

Bad Boys 4 actor
During a 2020 interview to promote Bad Boys for Life on The Breakfast Club, Smith and Martin Lawrence were asked why Union wasn’t brought back for the threequel. Lawrence said that they took the threequel’s story in a different direction and Smith added that “there was no spot [for Union] in the story.” He then said, “But definitely for Bad Boys 4!,” promising that she would be included in the next movie. But he didn’t keep that promise, because Bad Boys 4 is here and Union isn’t in it.

Gabrielle Union’s Bad Boys 4 Absence Is A Mistake

Surely it would be easier to include Syd than to explain her absence

It’s a mistake to replace Union’s Syd in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, because she was a great character. Given her familial connection to Marcus and her romantic connection to Mike, Syd deserves a chance to return in this franchise, but she keeps being sidelined. The Bad Boys movies are very male-driven, and there’s a serious lack of strong female characters in this franchise. The last time Syd was seen, she was enjoying a barbecue with Mike and Marcus at the end of Bad Boys II.

The powers that be behind the Bad Boys franchise clearly had a lot of faith in Syd as a character a few years ago. She’s the only character in the Bad Boys universe to get her own spin-off. In 2019, Union reprised her role as Syd in the action-packed police procedural L.A.’s Finest, in which she’d left her DEA career behind to work as a detective for the LAPD. After two seasons, the spin-off ended its run in 2020, around the time Bad Boys for Life came out. This series deepened her character significantly, priming her for a big-screen return.

It would be interesting to see a post-L.A.’s Finest Syd return to Miami with a whole new perspective on law enforcement. The story of Bad Boys 4, in which Mike and Marcus are on the run from the feds and trying to clear their names, is crying out for Syd’s involvement. If her brother was being hunted by the U.S. government for a crime he didn’t commit, surely Syd would spring into action to help him. It’s getting tougher and tougher to explain Union’s absence – wouldn’t it be easier to just give her a role?

Bad Boys 4’s Story Had 2 Perfect Ways To Bring Gabrielle Union Back

There was more than one way to include Syd in Bad Boys 4

There are two ways that Syd could’ve been brought back for Bad Boys: Ride or Die that would’ve felt organic to the story and characters. The easiest way to bring her back would be to have her help Marcus as he tries to clear his name. Across her appearances as a DEA agent in Bad Boys II and an LAPD detective in L.A.’s Finest, the most consistent parts of Syd’s character are that she seeks justice above all and she’s fiercely loyal to the people she cares about. Helping Marcus would touch on both of those character traits.

Alternatively, the makers of Bad Boys: Ride or Die could’ve gone with the obvious choice of having her be Mike’s wife. It would be a lot easier to rekindle the relationship that was already established in Bad Boys II than to introduce a whole new character in the Bad Boys 4 cast. When Mike and Marcus were younger, it was fun to contrast the carefree bachelor with the family man. But as Mike is getting older, it would make sense for him to finally settle down and get married, and Syd would be the perfect character to fill that role.

Bad Boys 5 Must Bring Back Gabrielle Union’s Syd Now

They need to build the Bad Boys 5 story around Syd

After sidelining Syd in two movies in a row, Union needs to finally return as Syd in Bad Boys 5. If she has to sit out three movies, it’ll start to raise questions. Family is really important to Marcus; he prioritizes his wife and kids above everything else and he loves Mike like a brother. It doesn’t make sense that he would go years without seeing his sister. It’s not like they’re estranged or on bad terms. In Bad Boys II, Syd was shown to be a significant part of Marcus’ life and they were shown to be really close.

If she finally returns in Bad Boys 5, then the producers can use that appearance to explain her absence in the third and fourth movies. Maybe she was undercover on a dangerous assignment for a few years, or a large-scale investigation took her overseas for a while. It could be that her relationship with Mike didn’t end too well after Bad Boys II, so she’s been avoiding visiting Marcus while Mike is around. But even that would be a stretch, because she would surely put her romantic difficulties aside if her brother’s life was in danger.

It’s too late to add Syd to Bad Boys 4 – the movie is just a couple of months away from its release date (although Marvel has made huge changes to their movies in even less time) – so the best way to rectify this mistake now is to include her in Bad Boys 5. To make up for her absence in the last two Bad Boys movies, Bad Boys 5 needs to build its entire story around Syd and put her front and center. Syd was one of the best parts of Bad Boys II; her big-screen tenure can’t end there.

Source: The Breakfast Club