Machete (character)

Isador Cortez, also known as Machete, is a fictional character in the Spy Kids films, the Grindhouse fake trailer, and the Machete films. The character is played by Danny Trejo.

History
According to Machete director Robert Rodriguez, the character Machete was always intended for Danny Trejo: "When I met Danny, I said, 'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson, putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete. Rodriguez also said, in an interview, that he "wrote [Trejo] this idea of a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, 'That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts.' But I never got around to making it." Despite sharing the same name and actor, Rodriguez confirmed on a Reddit AmA that the Spy Kids movies and the Machete movies are alternate universes.

Character
Isador Cortez is a former Mexican federale. His weapon of choice is the machete, although he can handle firearms perfectly fine. Cortez is fluent in both Spanish and English. On his chest is a tattoo depicting a woman. Trejo has described Machete as a "badass", and said that his mother had started calling him "Machete".

In Spy Kids, he has his own shop that sells spy gadgets, and is related by blood to Juni Cortez and Carmen Cortez, being their uncle.

Spy Kids
In Spy Kids, Machete is first seen in a flashback, at his brother Gregorio's wedding. When Gregorio and Gregorio's wife Ingrid get captured by Fegan Floop, Carmen and Juni, Gregorio's children, visit their "Uncle Machete", hoping he will help them to save their parents. Machete refuses to go after Gregorio, as they are estranged, but allows his niece and nephew to stay with him, and shows them a one-passenger jet that could get them to Floop's castle. Carmen and Juni take the jet, some of his gadgets, and the map to the castle at night. Machete appears again near the end of the film, when he decides to help the Cortezes against an army of robotic children. When asked why he came back, Machete claimed it's the same reason he left. Gregorio no longer remembers the reason and neither does Machete. Machete then cries in his brother's arms. At the end of the film, he is seen with the Cortez family.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
In Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, Machete has built Carmen and Juni a high-tech treehouse after they have become secret agents. Machete then shows some of his latest gadgets: Spy Watches and the Machete Elastic Wonder. At the end of the film, Carmen claims she can't sing so Machete shows Carmen a Microphone that auto-tunes her voice and Juni a guitar that plays itself. When they are done, Machete informs Carmen and Juni that he did not put any batteries in them and that Carmen was actually singing and Juni was actually playing guitar.

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
Machete appears near the end of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, when he helps battle the Toymaker's video game robots. After the battle, Machete becomes closer with the Cortezes.

Machete
In Machete'', Isador "Machete" Cortez witnesses his wife and daughter being murdered by ruthless drug baron Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal). Three years later, he is seen working at a construction site in Texas. There, he is paid $150,000 by businessman Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate the anti-illegal immigration politician John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro). After getting shot in the neck before he can shoot McLaughlin, Machete realises that he has been set up in a false flag operation. Booth is revealed to be working with Torrez, a staunch supporter of McLaughlin. Seeking vengeance, Machete kidnaps Booth's daughter and wife with the help of a few allies, and also takes down his henchmen. This eventually leads to a confrontation between Machete and his allies (mostly Mexican immigrants) and Torrez and his gang. Machete triumphs, leaving the criminals for dead.

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World
Machete makes a cameo appearance in Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, where he is seen tripping in a laboratory when time is frozen by Danger D'Amo, a.k.a. Armageddon. In a deleted scene, while Cecil and Rebecca are running from two OSS agents, they end up in his laboratory, managing to ruin several experiments. As they are found by Machete, he hides them from the OSS agents.

Machete Kills
Machete returns in Machete Kills, where he is employed by Rathcock (Charlie Sheen), the President of the United States, to foil a plan of world domination. The perpetrator is initially thought to be Mendez (Demian Bichir), a crazed revolutionary planning to missile-bomb the Congressional Palace. However, Machete finds out that the true mastermind is Luther Voz (Mel Gibson), who is keen on initiating rampage throughout the U.S. Machete finds Voz and foils his plans, but a now-disfigured Voz, having been burnt by Machete, escapes into outer space with his henchmen. Without hesitating, Machete agrees to track him down in space. The end of the film advertises a third Machete-led spin-off film entitled Machete Kills Again in Space.

Reception
Sharon Knolle of Moviefone called Machete the Mexican equivalent of fictional British spy James Bond.

Film appearances

 * Spy Kids (2001)
 * Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
 * Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
 * Grindhouse (2007) (fake trailer)
 * Machete (2010)
 * Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011)
 * Machete Kills (2013)