Every Jean-Claude Van Damme Franchise, Ranked
Action movie legend Jean-Claude Van Damme has only reprised the same role in different movies three times. Van Damme's talent for martial arts and passion for acting brought him to fame in 1986 with his role as Ivan 'The Russian' Kraschinsky in No Retreat No Surrender, which opened the doors for the actor's lengthy career in the action/martial arts genre. Iconic movies such as Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Double Impact, and Universal Soldier continued cementing his name as one of the main action legends of the 1980s and 1990s.
Jean-Claude Van Damme has revived his career with the crime drama JCVD where he played a semi-fictional version of himself, the ensemble film The Expendables 2, where he played the main villain to Sylvester Stallone's army of action stars, and more recently, The Last Mercenary, where he pays homage to some of his most famous roles. Regardless of which era of Van Damme is being discussed, the actor's signature physicality and intimidating presence have remained the same.
Related: Every Movie Where Jean-Claude Van Damme Has Played A Twin
It comes as something of a surprise that Van Damme has played the same character in only three different franchises. Although this puts him behind other action contemporaries such as and Arnold Schwarzenegger—who reprised the same role perhaps too many times in the Terminator franchise—and Rocky/Rambo legend Sylvester Stallone, Van Damme's varied performances are proof of his skills in bringing different characters to life with each original story he stars in. Here are Jean-Claude Van Damme's three franchise roles, ranked.
The Kung Fu Panda franchise featured several actors known for their roles in action movies. For instance, Jackie Chan played Monkey, Lucy Liu
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