| “ | Is he my father?! | ” |
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— Armando to Isabel
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Armando Aretas Lowrey is the (former) secondary antagonist-turned-supporting character of Bad Boys for Life, and the deuteragonist of Bad Boys: Ride or Die. He is the son of Mike Lowrey.
He is portrayed by Jacob Scipio.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Armando was born in a Mexican prison eight months after his mother, Isabel Aretas, was incarcerated. He was raised to believe her husband, Benito Aretas, was his father, when in actuality it was Mike Lowrey, who had an affair with his mother while acting as an undercover cop.
Isabel led Armando to believe her infertile husband was his father, as part of her scheme to get revenge on Mike for their imprisonment. Following Benito's death behind bars, Armando was filled with immense hatred towards Mike leading him to grow up to become an assassin for the Aretas cartel.
After his mother's liberation, Armando and Isabel returned to Mexico where they encountered a man who wanted the captain of Miami PD murdered. While in Mexico City, Armando talks to her about his father. Isabel tells him that he must return honor and respect to his family, explains that his father found a way to hide millions of dollars before being locked up and gives him a pen drive with the coordinates to find everything that is his. Armando and Isabel also see a list of the people who destroyed the Aretas cartel, among them, his real father, Detective Mike Lowrey.
Armando is sent by his mother to Miami, to recover a large sum of money that Benito had hidden, as well as to assassinate those responsible for his father's arrest and death in prison. Isabel demands that Armando kill Miami detective Mike Lowrey last. When he arrives, Armando pays the local gangsters to help him recover Benito's money, which is in a huge box at sea, they recover it. Armando pays them the fair money he owes them for their help, but they want all the money, and their boss threatens Armando with a gun, but he takes out a dagger and stabs him in the neck, then kills everyone who tries with the dagger. Fighting him, one of them takes a gun and kills the boss for trying to trick him. Armando tells those who didn't fight for his family to get back everything they had in Miami and now they work for him and to stay out of his way or he will kill them. They take the money that he pays them initially. Armando calls his mother to tell her that they have the money and a new base of operations. Isabel tells him that she already speaks like them. At a party celebrating the birth of Marcus Burnett's grandson, Armando comes riding on a motorcycle and shoots Mike without stopping, leaving him in a coma for 6 months.
One day during Mike's convalescence, Isabel calls Armando and reprimands him for spawning her and targeting Mike first. Armando defends himself saying that he's the one who's in Miami, that he knows how things work in this business and that Mike was the greater threat. She tells him that she wanted Mike to die at the end so that he could watch the others die. She orders him to finish the job and not to disobey her again. After his mother hangs up, Armando begins searching and continues to murder the other targets on his list during Mike's recovery.
After his recovery, Mike is determined to take revenge and tries without success to recruit a now retired Marcus, causing a fallout between them.
That night, Armando searches the computer for information about his mother and "father" and discovers that they were the king and queen of the Aretas Cartel and the most dangerous couple in Mexico. Armando says that he does everything for him. At that moment, Isabel calls Armando, tells him that Mike is alive and not to kill him until she tells him to make him suffer. Armando declares that Mike will suffer, hangs up the phone, finds the article that says that Mike has recovered and uploads a video to Youtube in which he shoots Mike from his motorcycle (recorded the night he shot him) as a "little gift for his fans". Armando watches with pride as the visitors rise at vertigo speed.
Mike violently obtains the identity of a Booker Grassie, an arms dealer from an informer. Realizing that Mike will ignore orders not to investigate, Captain Conrad Howard reluctantly allows him to work with 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 informent who believes that the assassin is after him. Marcus contacts Mike and the pair go to Carver, but it's too late to save him. Armando throws Carver's body on Theresa's car. Mike enters the building to look for him while Marcus calls for help even though he has retired from the police force. Mike and Armando smash a building window, land on a terrace, and Armando escapes on his motorcycle after a fist fight with Mike and kicking Marcus.
The next day, Captain Howard reveals his intentions to retire as well, and tries to convince Mike that he should as well, offering him advice that he needs to find a way forward in life, but ultimately fails. Mike and Howard discuss whether he would join Howard's family for dinner when they get back to their vehicles. At that moment, Armando shoots Howard in the neck. Mike tries to keep pressure on Howard's neck, and as Armando prepares to shoot Mike, the referee to Howard's Granddaughter's basketball game gets involved. Armando's partner tells him to shoot through the woman to kill Mike, but he doesn't. Mike hides behind the car and tells the woman to do the same. Armando's partner asks him what's wrong with him as he had the shot. Armando says he doesn't want to kill innocent civilians. Mike calls an ambulance, but Howard doesn't survive.
That night, Armando calls Isabel and asks if he can kill Mike now, she says yes but before killing him, she tells Armando to look him in the eyes and tell him something on his part, Armando asks her what to tell Mike.
The night after Howard's murder, Armando arrives in a helicopter to rescue his partner Zway-Lo and shoots Mike and Marcus who are chasing him. Mike breaks the union of the motorcycle and the sidecar, separating him from Marcus. Armando lowers a ladder for Zway-Lo and he grabs onto it. Mike crashes into a truck but recovers and jumps up to grab the ladder. Armando orders Zway-Lo to step aside but ultimately kills him when he blocks Armando's ability to shoot Mike. As he lines up a shot, Armando tells Mike "Hasta el fuego" which surprises him. Marcus, however, stops Armando with gunfire, which allows Mike to jump into the river to escape.
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 agent 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.
Mike arrives at the Hidalgo Palace, followed by a drone controlled by Dorn, with the other AMMO members commenting that it is impossible for Isabel to be alone, as Marcus moves around the back of the hotel. Mike walks in and meets Isabel, the two are inspected and Mike asks Isabel where Armando is, she sits him on a chair while telling him that she wanted him dead and survived and that it is his destiny to see each other again. Isabel removes Mike's necklace and Marcus and the AMMO lose communication and conclude that they know they are there. Mike scolds Isabel for not telling him he had a son, not telling Armando the truth about his father and for raising him to be a murderer, saying that he would have taken care of his son but Isabel retorts that Armando is her son, revealing that she had planned surprise Mike with the news of her pregnancy after they ran away together and now has Armando believing Mike was the man who ruined their lives. At that moment, Armando appears and Mike gets up with his two pistols but his son is holding Marcus hostage, other Isabel's men are also revealed on the upper floors of the Hidalgo Palace. Seeing the situation, Mike asks Isabel what he is going to do, Isabel answers "Hasta el fuego" and scared Marcus tries to convince Armando that he and Mike have to talk but Mike asks him to calm down and Armando orders him to be quiet. At that moment an explosion occurs and members of the AMMO enter to help, with Dorn controlling a drone with pistols to finish off the men. Isabel and Armando try to escape in a helicopter while their men manage to destroy the drone. A shootout quickly ensues between AMMO and Isabel's men.
The couple regroups with the AMMO members, Mike and Rita instructing the AMMO members to take care of Isabel's men while Mike and Marcus climb to the top of the palace to prevent Isabel and Armando from escaping in the helicopter support from Isabel. Upon reaching the top, Armando and the pilot try to shoot Mike and Marcus, but fail. Marcus shoots the helicopter pilot, despite Mike telling him to shoot the helicopter rotor, causing it to crash into the central lobby and start a fire. Despite the explosion and fire, Mike and Marcus find Isabel but Armando, who was on the floor below, grabs Mike's leg and the two get into a violent fist fight, while Marcus fights Isabel and although she stabs him several times and cuts him several times with a piece of broken glass, Marcus manages to defeat her by hitting her and slamming her against a wall. The fire rises and Armando tries to burn Mike in the face, but when the first tries to punch him, Mike dodges and Armando burns his hand. Mike tries to strangle him but seeing the two of them in a mirror he is unable. He lets go of him and tries to explain to Armando that he is his son, he beats him but Mike refuses to fight and defend himself and continues to explain the truth to him. In the end, Armando grabs Mike and orders him to tell him who he is but Mike tells him to ask his mother. Armando demands the truth from his mother and Isabel confirms to Armando that Mike is his father but still orders him to kill him. Realizing that the task he spent his entire life training for was a lie, Armando refuses to kill his father and tries to protect him when Isabel tries to kill him herself, leading her to inadvertently shoot Armando in the chest while pointing at Mike. Enraged, she tries to finish off Mike, but Rita intervenes and shoots Isabel, sending her falling into the flames. Mike places Armando on the ground and calms him down, Marcus and Rita tell Mike that they should go. An explosion causes Marcus to almost fall into the flames but Mike holds him and Armando helps them just as Mike's hand slipped. Father and son bring Marcus up and the three and Rita escape the burning building, where Mike says they need a medic to treat Armando's wound. While pressing the wound, Mike tells Armando that he will have to pay for his crimes, but Mike promises that he will be there for him.
Some time later, Mike visits a remorseful Armando in prison, offering him a chance to gain some redemption, which he accepts.
Redemption[]
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.
Notable kills[]
- Lee Taglin
- Rodrigo Vargas
- Jack Weber
- Leon Sorensen
- Carver Remy
- Conrad Howard
- Lorenzo Rodriguez
Trivia[]
- Isabel kept her pregnancy a secret, intending to surprise Mike once they both ran away together. However, as he had her imprisoned before she could tell him, Mike remained oblivious of his son's existence for more than two decades prior to Bad Boys for Life.