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Isabel Aretas (nèe Rodriguez), also known as La Bruja or The Witch, is one of the two overarching antagonists of the Bad Boys franchise.
She serves as the main antagonist of the 2020 buddy cop action comedy film Bad Boys for Life and one of the three overarching antagonists of its 2024 sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
She is a notorious Mexican crime lady and the leader of her own drug empire, following her husband Benito's death. In secret, Isabel was the former lover of protagonist Mike Lowrey, with whom she had Armando Aretas, her son and right-hand.
She was portrayed by Kate del Castillo in her first villainous role.
Her Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Her Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- It was indicated that she participated in the drug dealings of her husband Benito Aretas' cartel was behind given the connections she had to him as his wife and that she tried to restart it years later.
- Had dealings with corrupt DEA agent James McGrath, helping him with his targets.
- She was known as "La Bruja/The Witch" for being into dark magic, with Mike establishing that she was a stone-cold killer.
- She manipulates Armando into joining her in her criminal activities, lying about Mike having killed his father when Mike was the real father all along.
- It has been shown that she killed multiple people while in prison as shown by the corpses nearby and inside the washing machines within.
- To activate her prison escape, she killed a guard by stabbing her.
- Afterwards, she has her son, Armando, kill the drivers of the ambulance she was in while she kills one of the people watching over her with her son killing the other one before escaping entirely.
- She then restarts Benito's cartel as her own, planning to continue the drug dealings they originally started while trying to become the number one drug kingpin.
- She then has her son, Armando, kill the people behind the case while telling him to kill Mike last, with Captain Howard's death being the one that motivates Marcus into joining Mike on their mission to uncover whose behind the kills.
- What's worse is that she merely ordered Howard's death at McGrath's behest, allowing him to later on frame Howard posthumously of being corrupt and involved in drug dealings, affecting his reputation for a while and putting his former co-workers at odds with his loved ones.
- When Mike and Marcus confront her, she proceeds to engage in battle against them, trying to kill Marcus with a piece of broken glass first after Marcus was freed from her henchmen's clutches due to an explosion being activated by Mike's allies to save them, only to wind up being knocked out unconscious due to a piece of the ceiling landing on her.
- She then tries to kill Mike by using her gun to try to shoot at him as revenge for putting her behind bars, subverting her love for him, after confessing that he was indeed Armando's real father only for Armando to take the bullet much to her shock and then tries to kill Mike again out of rage only for Rita to shoot her a few times, causing her to fall off the floor into the fire below to her death.
- Her actions led Captain Howard's daughter Judy to estrange herself from Mike due to deeming his "bastard" of a son responsible for her father's death, stranging their relationship due to Mike vouching for how Armando was taught no better by his mother.
What Prevents Her from Being Pure Evil?[]
- She genuinely loved her son, Armando, in spite of manipulating him as when he stepped in the way of her attempted shot at Mike and took the bullet, she was shocked, horrified, and showed facial remorse for accidentally shooting him.
- In a deleted scene, after Armando calls her beautiful, she smiles and shows appreciation of his compliment. But when he asks who Mike is, she avoids the question and made Armando realize she’s hiding something.
- Although she doesn’t care about her deceased husband Benito and only used him as an excuse to get revenge on Mike for his treachery against the cartel, it is sort of genuine that she was willing to avenge him.
Trivia[]
- Although Isabel Aretas was acknowledged as a Near Pure Evil villain and despite having done terrible things just to get back at Mike Lowrey, Marcus Burnett expresses his hopes that Isabel may rest in peace in Bad Boys: Ride or Die after regretting killing Isabel when he and Mike visit Armando in prison so he can help them with clearing Captain Howard's name. However, this doesn't disqualify Isabel from being Near Pure Evil, as the scene is played for laughs and if anything the sympathy is directed to Armando instead.
External Links[]
- Isabel Aretas on the Villains Wiki
- Isabel Aretas on the Bad Boys Wiki
