This January, Xander Cage returns in the the third xXx movie, prompting the question: who is Xander Cage again?
Xander Cage was of course the thrill seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman, rebel and secret agent, the protagonist of xXx, also known as 2002’s most 2002 film. Though the action vehicle for star Vin Diesel was a financial success, he did not return for the sequel three years later, xXx: State of the Union, saying that it “didn’t feel like xXx“. For this the character was killed off in an explosion, with only his triple X neck tattoo remaining, leaving his spot free to be filled by Ice Cube. A rather mean-spirited move to be sure, but it seems like that death didn’t stick, as this trailer shown this week at San Diego Comic-Con, reveals that Xander Cage has indeed returned, with a mandate from Samuel Jackson to “kick some ass and try to look dope while you’re doing it”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stb7iIn1CDA
In addition to the long awaited return of Vin Diesel (by Vin Diesel at least) the film has quite the eclectic cast, including martial artist/actors Tony Jaa and Donnie Yen, The Vampire Diaries‘ Nina Dobrev, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose and (not kidding) Brazilian footballer Neymar. As ridiculous as this series may be, you won’t be seeing a cast as diverse as this in a Marvel movie any time soon and the ongoing success of Vin Diesel remains an endearing story of an actor who, for better or worse, has always made exactly the films he wants to make. xXx: The Return of Xander Cage will be released January 2017.