If you can believe that Boots the Monkey from Dora the Explorer is actually Machete, you can believe in anything…
Machete is not just a man. He is a force of nature. A living legend. And Danny Trejo’s defining role goes a lot further than you might think.
First introduced in Spy Kids as Uncle Machete—a seemingly ordinary gadget-inventing grump who just so happens to be an elite assassin—he went on to headline his own series of films where he slices, shoots, and smirks his way through every enemy imaginable. Corrupt politicians? Dead. Drug cartels? Annihilated. A futuristic space battle featuring Mel Gibson? He really did the world a favour on that one.
He’s also responsible for making Steven Seagal deliver the undisputedly funniest line I’ve ever heard in a film.
Anyway, I recently did something that no sane person should attempt—I rewatched every single film Danny Trejo has ever been in. Somewhere between the fourth or fifth time he was shot and inexplicably survived, I found myself in front of the proverbial evidence board covered in red string, buzzing off too much caffeine and the crushing weight of the revelation in front of me. Danny Trejo isn’t playing different characters. He is always playing Machete. Every single time.
And I’m not saying he’s playing a similar role or that he can only do one flavour of character.
No, no. He’s actually Machete in everything.
No, you’ve got too much free time.
The most obvious examples are the Machete films and Spy Kids, where the connection is spelled out. Uncle Machete? That’s just a quieter, slightly more responsible version of the same man. The moment he’s done designing absurdly dangerous gadgets for children, he’s back to his usual routine—blowing up corrupt politicians, mowing down entire armies with a minigun, and getting more babes than I’ve had hot dinners.
But everyone knows that connection. But as I dug deeper, I started to see the pattern everywhere. In Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Machete is running with the cartels, taking mercenary jobs before realising that he prefers working alone. In From Dusk Till Dawn, where we find out he’s actually a vampire, which isn’t even that surprising. Even on a surface level, Machete is basically a paranormal entity in his own right.
This explains how he survived his supposed death in Predators. Sure, he looks pretty rough here, but with some of that Transylvanian juice running through his veins, who’s to say he didn’t make it back to Earth? The Predators clearly knew of Machete’s antics, and picked him as one of the most dangerous targets for their hunt. And if a race of intelligent, hyper violent hunter aliens know of the legend of Machete, maybe this goes even further than I first thought.
Big ‘Chete attempts normal life sometimes, but it never sticks. In Heat, he tries the professional criminal gig—bad idea. In Con Air, he’s locked up under the alias Johnny 23, which is either his body count or just another fake name to keep a low profile. Breaking Bad shows us yet another phase—Tortuga, a cartel informant who meets a grisly end. Except, we know like Rasputin, Doctor Who and ska punk, you can never truly kill Machete. Decapitation? Not a problem. The head just ends up somewhere else, watching, waiting, scowling.
Even when the genre takes a turn for the bizarre, Machete persists. Bubble Boy has him as a biker gang leader who gives sound life advice. The Devil’s Rejects puts him on the other side of the law as a bounty hunter, which, let’s be honest, is just a side gig. Anaconda supposedly kills him off early, but that’s just because Machete doesn’t have time for giant snakes. There’s always another mission, another corrupt government, another explosion to walk away from.
And the legend of Machete is still being written with more recent appearances. The Flash confirms what I’ve suspected all along—Machete can travel between dimensions. 3 from Hell shows him still running with outlaws, Dead Again in Tombstone suggests he may have been resurrected multiple times, and Zombie Hunter is, well, exactly what it sounds like.
I even went back and revisited Reindeer Games, where DT plays a criminal with an unshakable air of experience, as if he’s seen and done this all before. Because he has. In Halloween (2007), he’s a prison guard with a bizarre level of tolerance for Michael Myers, possibly because he’s seen worse, and also has sympathy for a fellow immortal, omega-level organism. Then in Anchorman 2, he’s inexplicably running a bar, hiding in plain sight from whatever interdimensional war he just finished fighting.
But here’s the real kicker: Dora and the Lost City of Gold (oh, I watched that too). Trejo voices Boots the Monkey. I initially thought this was where my theory would fall apart. But let’s be real—if anyone could pull off an undercover mission as a sentient, talking monkey, it would be Machete. He’s been through too much for me to doubt him now. It’s probably a training phase before he re-emerges into the chaos of the main timeline. It’s fine, I limbered up before I wrote this, I have no problem stretching or reaching.
At this point, it’s undeniable. Machete is not just a character. He’s a phenomenon, a man unstuck from time, reality, and basic mortality. He doesn’t die, he simply moves on. Even if he appears in Animal Crossing, fishing peacefully, you just know that somewhere, off-screen, he’s sharpening a blade and waiting for the next inevitable betrayal. The real question isn’t whether he’ll return—it’s where. Because no matter what, he will always pick up that machete and remind the world that he never left.
While you’re here, please subscribe to Upside Down Shark on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Tom Baker
I like Star Wars, heavy metal and BBQ Pringles.
