Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Bad Boys: Ride or Die!

Bad Boys: Ride or Die features plenty of death, but the movie also killed two major franchise characters off-screen. The fourth entry among the Bad Boys movies has plenty of connections to the films that came before it. This includes Bad Boys: Ride or Die having several returning characters from previous installments. There are the expected returns of Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, as well as the newer characters introduced in Bad Boys for Life. But, there are other original franchise characters like Captain Howard and Fletcher who have roles to play.

Captain Howard returns in Bad Boys: Ride or Die through 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 time Bad Boys: Ride or Die‘s ending concludes. However, the film also killed two other original franchise characters off-screen.

Bad Boys 4 Confirms Sanchez & Ruiz Died After Bad Boys II

They Were Miami Detectives

It is confirmed in Bad Boys: Ride or Die that 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 of Bad Boys for Life. The former police captain then confirms that Ruiz and Sanchez died in a car crash a week later.

Based on the implied timeline, Ruiz and Sanchez died only a few years after the events of Bad 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 in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Ruiz and Sanchez retired within eight years of helping stop Johnny Tapia, only to un-retire to investigate the case again and die a week later.

Sanchez & Ruiz’s Deaths Explain Their Absence In Bad Boys 3 & 4

They Were Not Mentioned Before

The lack of appearances by Sanchez and Ruiz in Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die was quite confusing at first. They were absent from Bad Boys for Life, with no explanation as to why or what happened to them. Now, Bad Boys: Ride or Die confirms 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 before Bad Boys for Life began filming. The franchise would have had to recast Ruiz to bring the character back, which is something that never happened until Bad Boys: Ride or Die recast Theresa Randle. Nestor Serrano could have returned for either sequel on his own, but Bad Boys: Ride or Die made the decision to have Ruiz and Sanchez’s stories end together.