Why is Den Of Thieves 2 called Panther

We've never been back, folks. This week “Den of Thieves 2” will hit the theaters carrying exciting action and signals the return of everyone's favorite perpetually hungover cop Nicholas “Big Nick” O'Brien, played by Gerard Butler. Continuation 2018 surprise hit “Den of Thieves” in the film, Big Nick goes rogue and teams up with master thief Donnie Wilson, played by O'Shea Jackson Jr., to pull off a major diamond heist. For his sequel, writer-director Christian Gudegast has upped the scope considerably. While the first film was a dirty cops-and-robbers flick set in Los Angeles, the sequel is heading to Europe for a much bigger hit, leaving plenty of room for more sequels (hell yeah, bring 'em on).

Interestingly, this sequel doesn't just have a simple title. Instead, “Den of Thieves 2” is subtitled: “Panther”. But why? I think a cynical answer might be “because it sounds cool”. When you see “Pantera”, you probably think of the heavy metal band of the same name. Unfortunately, “Den of Thieves 2” doesn't include the subplot of Big Nick teaming up with the group to shake things up. Instead, there's another reason for the subtitles, though to be honest it seems almost arbitrary and unnecessary.

“Panther” actually means “panther” and this is where the name “Den of Thieves 2” comes into play. In Den of Thieves 2, Donnie has teamed up with a gang of highly skilled jewel thieves who call themselves the Panthers. These characters are actually inspired by a real-life gang of thieves known as The Pink Panthers comedy series of the same name. In Den of Thieves 2, these crooks are so notorious that it takes an entire department of the French police force to track them down. This department is known as the Panther Task Force. So there you have it: that's why Den of Thieves 2 is subtitled Panther.

However, it should also be noted that the Panther Division plays an incredibly small role in the overall film. At the beginning of the film, Big Nick travels to Europe and meets the policeman who leads the Panther unit, French police chief Hugo Kaman (Jassen Zates Atour). But Hugo is a very minor player here. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that the end of the film reveals that Hugo has done a bit of work behind the scenes, but even with that in mind, it still seems odd to subtitle the film “Panther”. I can't help but go back to what I said earlier: they used that subtitle simply because it sounded cool and not much more thought was put into it. And you know what? That's good. The film is still breaking.

“Den of Thieves 2: Panther” is now in theaters.