Alan Ritchson on alternate Fast X twist and his shared Aquaman history with Jason Momo

The actor played Arthur Curry, a.k.a. DC Comics superhero Aquaman, on Smallville from 2005-2010, years before Fast X co-star Momoa took on the role.

Warning: This story contains spoilers from Fast X.

After more than 20 years, the Fast & Furious saga has basically become a superhero franchise, so it's only appropriate that two on-screen superheroes have joined "the family" in Fast X. But what are the chances that both those actors played the same superhero in the past?!

Alan Ritchson stars in Fast X as Aimes, the new head of the Agency who's actually a double agent plotting against Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel). The final scenes reveal he's been working off screen with villain Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) since the end of Fast Five. It's a twist we should have seen coming from a mile away since Ritchson and Momoa have a shared history of playing DC Comics hero Aquaman. (Ritchson played him on Smallville from 2005-2010, years before Momoa first took on the role in 2016's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.) Of course the two Aquamen would be in cahoots.

Ritchson speaks with EW about joining the Fast franchise, the alternate version of Fast X he shot that was ultimately scrapped, and whether he and Momoa talked about how they've both played Aquaman.

ALAN RITCHSON: I feel like my career has prepared me for this. Life has a funny way of knowing what you're ready for. The scariest point in my career was deciding whether or not I could take on a role like Reacher with one of the highest-selling book franchises in the world, a well-known character that had been played by the other greatest action star of all time [Tom Cruise]. There was just a lot to live up to and huge shoes to fill. Stepping into that gave me the confidence to go, "If I could make that work, then I can handle any set or any character."

I felt confident going [into Fast X], but there's a ton of energy that Vin's essence brings, that Jason's essence brings to the set, so it's just about trusting that you're enough. I'm now really confident in my ability to add value. The stunts are pretty similar to what I've been doing, although I will say, I think it set the record for the most blue screen I've ever shot on. Hundreds and hundreds of football fields worth of blue screen. That was a personal record.