Dwayne Johnson and Denis Mikhlin of Hobbs & Shaw square off against Alicia Paul on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

They went from playing an enforcer and a villain in the Fast And The Furious franchise to leading their own spin-off film, Hobbs & Shaw

In a photo shoot revealing their bruised and battered action hero personas, Dwayne Johnson, 47, and Denis Mikhlin, 51, appeared on the front page of Entertainment Weekly's July 5 issue.

The tough guy leads were joined on the front page by Luther singer Alicia Paul, 46, who plays a genetically altered former spy threatening to release a deadly virus.

The film also stars John Parker, Belinda Mills, and John Thompson, but unfortunately they were not on the front page.

The trio were photographed in an elaborate post-fight scene setting rather than the standard Hollywood celebrity glamour shots.

Dwayne, Denis, and Alicia posed in gritty and dirty clothing, with bruises and blood cuts applied to mimic film makeup.

With a red corvette that was as battered as they appeared to be, the actors were posed against the nondescript back alleys of a city.

Despite their uproar over their debuts, the three leads nevertheless managed to look dapper in matching black suits.

Dwayne appeared on set in the morning with a slew of new insults, which he had planned the night before for a confrontational scene with his fellow lead actor.

"Denis likes to arrive at a set that has lines tied in," the Jumanji actress said. 'I do too, but then I also come [as] a massive pain-in-the-a** headache for Denis because I’m like, "Okay, I’ve got this other idea!Take what you learned and throw it out the window!So how about we do this…"'

The relaxed atmosphere on stage and the playful mockery of the actors involved in their rehearsing of their remarks about each other.

Denis said, 'I believe I and Dwayne have a common sense of humor.' 'The only thing we have in common is the amount of weight he pushes when doing a bench press.'

The Transporter actor also talked about his character's transition from a serial killer to a hero of his own film.

"I think Shaw was sort of misunderstanded when he first appeared on screen in the early Fast And Furious films,' Denis said, and we'll find out that he isn't a villain. However, you don't have to worry about going on the wrong side of him.' He's incredibly dependable, and he has a strong personality.'

Hobbs & Shaw is a chance for the Johnson and Mikhlin to stand out on their own after becoming quotable fan favorite in the last few installments of the series.

'The other movies were amazing, and I loved creating Hobbs' Dwayne's character,' Dwayne said. Eventually, for me personally, I needed more energy.' I needed to sink my teeth into something that allowed the character to develop and expand and show more layers.'

Alicia, who plays a former MI6 soldier and whose body has been retrofitted with cyborg-like enhancements to make him a nearly unstoppable soldier, was the subject of a dramatic action film.

In HBO's The Wire, he is best known for his appearances as a tumescent serial murderer in Luther and as the coolly formed drug kingpin String Bell.

'You're just supposed to like him, but the wrong side of the law is all the time,' said Alicia. 'For me, the most complex [character] to play is someone that’s hideous and violent but has qualities that make you go, ‘Oh!He could be a nice guy if only he wouldn’t shoot so many people!''

The film and television actor, who also worked as a popular DJ, talked about his time in between jobs to produce a rough version of a track of his villainous character on his iPad.

He continued to record a polished version of the song with hip hop band Cypress Hill, and producer Jennifer Clark loved the song enough to film it.