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“ | Keep it moving, detective. | „ |
~ Armando to Marcus, holding him at gunpoint |
“ | You keep up with me or I leave you in the dirt, you’re in my world now… | „ |
~ Armando explaining to Mike and Marcus they are now wanted criminals |
Armando Aretas is the secondary antagonist of the 2020 buddy cop action comedy film Bad Boys for Life and the deuteragonist of its 2024 sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
He is a cartel enforcer as well as the son of both crime lady Isabel Aretas and policeman Mike Lowrey respectively. He would later become a major ally of Mike and Marcus in proving Captain Howard's innocence and taking down the people responsible for his death.
He is portrayed by Jacob Scipio in his first villainous role.
History[]
Bad Boys for Life[]
Armando Aretas started off as a criminal who worked for his mother Isabel Aretas, a notorious crime lady who groomed him to become her right-hand man. He helped her to escape from a Mexican prison. Isabel then sends him to Miami with instructions to recover a large sum of money that her husband Benito had hidden, as well as to assassinate the people responsible for Benito's arrest and his death in prison.
While being given instructions by his mother, Armando is told that Miami detective Mike Lowrey is to be his final target. However, Armado disobeys his mother by targeting Mike first; he makes his attempt as Mike is with his best-friend Marcus Burnett celebrating the birth of the latter's grandson, during which Armando shoots Mike in the hopes of ending his life - though Mike survives despite being left in a coma for six months.
When Isabel later finds out what her son had done, she confronts and rebukes Armado for targeting Mike first against her orders; Armando justifies this by stating that Mike is the biggest threat for them. Isabel eventually relents with his decision, and Armando proceeds to murder the other targets on the list during Mike's recovery.
By the time Mike has recovered, he gradually learns that Armando is the culprit and is determined to take him down; he attempts to recruit Marcus in his quest, but Marcus refuses due to his retirement and the pair end up having a rift over this. Left with no other choice, Mike is forced to do this alone and he manages to obtain the identity of an arms dealer Booker Grassie from an informer. When his superior Captain Howard realizes that Mike will ignore his orders to not investigation the matter, he reluctantly allows him to work alongside the tech team in charge - Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO), led by Mike's ex-girlfriend, Lieutenant Rita Secada.
While the team watches Grassie during an arms market, Mike determines that the buyers intend to kill Grassie and intervenes, but fails to save him. Later, Marcus is called by Carver Remy, a former informer who believes that the assassin is after him. Marcus contacts Mike and the pair go to Carver, but are too late to save him. Armando escapes after a fight with Mike.
Captain Howard later reveals his intention to also retire, offering Mike the advice he needs to find a path in life. He is brutally murdered by Armando a few moments later. As Armando prepares to shoot Mike, a female pedestrian, the Referee to Howard’s granddaughter's basketball game, gets involved, resulting in Armando in not wanting to shoot a civilian. Armando later arrives in a helicopter to rescue his partner Zway-Lo, but kills him when he blocks Armando's ability to shoot Mike. As he lines up a shot, Armando says to Mike "Hasta el Fuego". Shots from his partner Marcus create a cover for Mike, who falls into the nearby river.
AMMO is closed due to the failure of the operation. In private, Mike reveals to Marcus that Armando is his son. Before joining Marcus, Mike worked as an undercover cop in the Aretas cartel where he met Isabel. They fell in love and intended to flee together, using "Hasta el Fuego" as a secret slogan. Mike eventually remained loyal to the police, realizing how dangerous Isabel had become. Despite Mike's opposition, Marcus and AMMO join him in Mexico to confront her. At the Hidalgo Palace, Mike meets Isabel and scolds her for hiding the truth from him.
A shootout ensues quickly between AMMO and the men of Isabel. Thereupon Marcus shoots the pilot of Isabel's support helicopter, causing him to crash into the central hall and start a fire. Marcus confronts Isabel, while Mike tries to explain the truth to Armando. A fight begins between the two, but Mike refuses to fight back. Demanding the truth from his mother, she confirms to Armando that Mike is his father. Isabel inadvertently shoots Armando in the chest while aiming at Mike. Enraged, she tries to kill Mike, but Rita intervenes and shoots Isabel, sending her to fall into the flames below.
Some time later, Mike visits a remorseful Armando in prison and offers his son a chance to gain some redemption; Armando accepts.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die[]
Armando was visited by Mike and Marcus in prison where they asked him if Captain Howard was ever involved with the cartels, which Armando revealed that Howard was investigating about those who are truly involved, and that his mother didn’t actually ordered Howard's death but someone else did.
While he was doing workout, some conspirators disguised themselves as prisoners in order to kill Armando, who defended himself from his attackers. Mike then requested that Armando should be transferred to Miami because he knows that Howard wasn’t corrupt. However some mercenaries hijacked the helicopter and killed the pilot and some officers, this caused Mike, Marcus and Armando to escape, which they were branded as fugitives and Law Enforcement and criminals are after them.
After arriving at Dorn's house, Armando quickly identified the man who ordered Howard's death as James McGrath, a former Army Ranger turned DEA agent. After realizing that McGrath captured both Christine, his father’s wife and Callie, who is the granddaughter of Howard, he offered to surrender himself to McGrath for their sake, which Mike refused. After capturing corrupt DA Adam Lockwood, Mike, Marcus, AMMO, and Armando plan to use Lockwood as bait so they can rescue Christine and Callie at an abandoned alligator-themed amusement park. Following a shootout, Armando rescued Callie from McGrath's men, which almost got himself killed. Callie opted to save his life as repayment for his heroic deeds. Judy Howard, who is Callie's mother and Howard’s daughter, wanted to kill Armando as vengeance for her father’s death at Armando's hands. Callie, however, convinced her mother to spare his life because he saved her, which she reluctantly did. Mike then helped Armando escaped, but not before saying goodbye as he promised him to be a good man.
Trivia[]
- Due to the success of the latest Bad Boy film, Armando and Reggie are of high demand to be the main protagonists of their own spin offs. Although, it is not confirmed it is growing on people.
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