Fast and Furious 8: First look at Charlize Theron as villain Cipher

Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel no longer have the biggest guns in Fast and Furious 8. The franchise's official Twitter account posted its first photo of new cast member Charlize Theron's character, surrounded by some mean looking guns of her own.

The photo, which was released on 20 May, introduces fans to the movie's newest villain Cipher, played by Theron, and shows the 40-year-old actress sporting a Metallica tee shirt and leather jacket along with a pony tail. The caption read: "Our crew has faced former military, mercenaries & more. Now they meet Cipher."

The Huntsman: Winter War actress will be fighting against Diesel, Johnson, Tyrese Gibson and Michelle Rodriguez in the new instalment. Theron has had enough experience behind the wheel to make a suitable baddie for the film. She burned rubber in The Italian Job and more recently showed that she can even handle bigger toys in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Also re-joining the cast is Nathalie Emmanuel, who played computer hacktavist Ramsay in the seventh film and is predicted to show off some new tech skills in movie number eight as well.

Following his Instagram post announcing Emmanuel's casting, Diesel uploaded a very emotional video talking about having to "go into a dark place to channel a character", most probably referring to the fact that filming for the series brings back memories of his former F&F cast-mate and close friend Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013.

F Gary Gray is set to direct the project with Diesel and Neal Moritz producing. F&F8 is slotted for release in cinemas on 14 April 2017.