# Machete (character)
**Machete** (Machete Cortez) is a fictional ex-Mexican Federale turned vigilante played by [Danny Trejo](https://www.edgepedia.org/danny-trejo) in the films of [Robert Rodriguez](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-rodriguez), including the *Spy Kids* series, *[Grindhouse](https://www.edgepedia.org/grindhouse-film)* (2007), *Machete* (2010), and *Machete Kills* (2013). Conceived on the set of *Desperado* in 1995, he first reached the screen as the children's uncle in *Spy Kids* (2001) and later became the hero of a full-length Mexploitation feature made from a fake trailer.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name / portrayer | Machete Cortez, played by Danny Trejo[1](https://303magazine.com/2013/10/reel-deal-danny-trejo-stars-machete-kills/) |
| Origin | Character idea born on the set of *Desperado* (1995) when Trejo was mistaken for the film's star[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills) |
| First appearance | Uncle Machete in *Spy Kids* (2001); later in all three original *Spy Kids* films plus *Spy Kids 4*[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills) |
| Breakthrough | Fake trailer in *Grindhouse* (2007), one of five faux trailers between *Planet Terror* and *Death Proof*[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills) |
| Feature debut | *Machete* (2010), Trejo's first leading role, earning $44 million worldwide[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills) |
| Character type | Ex-Federale day laborer in Texas, a near-silent avenger whose weapon of choice is the machete[3](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/machete-venice-film-festival-2067905.html) |
| Signature line | "Machete don't text"[5](https://tilt.goombastomp.com/film/machete-self-aware-flashy-and-fun/) |
## Character overview
Machete is a highly skilled former Mexican federal police agent, a Federale, who crosses into Texas and works as a day laborer. In the 2010 feature he is set up as the failed assassin of Senator McLaughlin ([Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro)), survives, and takes revenge while becoming embroiled in a fight between the pro-immigrant "Network" and anti-immigrant forces led by a Texas state senator; he ultimately leads an army of immigrant workers in a bloody revolt against a Minutemen-style white-supremacist border militia[3](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/). The *Independent*'s Venice review describes him as an ex-Federal agent out for revenge against the drug baron Torrez ([Steven Seagal](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-seagal)), "an X-rated version of the Pancho Villa-like folk hero, out to avenge the indignities wrought on migrant workers," adaptable enough to improvise weapons from whatever is at hand, including a victim's intestines used as a makeshift escape ladder[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/machete-venice-film-festival-2067905.html).
His manner is distinctive for an action lead. The character contributes only minimally to the dialogue; a [University of Edinburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-edinburgh) thesis on film trailers describes him as a silent hero, a blank canvas onto which the viewer ascribes internal expectation, whose pervading silence casts him as a manifestation of the social concerns raised by the narrative, including political corruption, immigration, and social and moral degradation[6](https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/9469/2/Hesford2013.pdf). Trejo compensates with presence rather than words: critics note his deadpan minimalism and the catchphrase "Machete don't text," delivered in menacingly humorous deadpan[4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/machete-venice-film-festival-2067905.html) • [5](https://tilt.goombastomp.com/film/machete-self-aware-flashy-and-fun/).
## Origins and development
Trejo and Rodriguez conceived the character during the shooting of *Desperado* in 1995. Trejo, walking the Mexican-town set without a shirt, drew requests for pictures and autographs, and Rodriguez joked that people thought he was the star. With nowhere to place the idea, they inserted "Uncle Machete" into *Spy Kids* when that film went into production[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills). Rodriguez later explained that he named the character "Machete" after the hero of the movie they thought they would never get to make[7](https://www.comingsoon.net/dvd/features/84548-exclusive-robert-rodriguez-on-spy-kids-all-the-time-in-the-world).
The adult version arrived with *Grindhouse* (2007), Rodriguez and [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino)'s homage to 1970s exploitation cinema. Between Rodriguez's *Planet Terror* and Tarantino's *Death Proof* ran five fake trailers, of which "Machete" was one; Trejo said they made it to finally show the character as they imagined him, and audiences responded by asking when the film would actually exist[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills). The trailer, directed by Rodriguez and starring Trejo, told of an ex-Mexican federale struggling to find day labor in Texas[8](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/763555). It outlined the feature's skeletal plot: Machete set up as the failed assassin of Senator McLaughlin, revenge, and the enlistment of his brother Padre, a priest played by [Cheech Marin](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheech-marin)[3](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/). Rodriguez described the development as the evolution of a joke that became a real film[9](https://thepeoplesmovies.com/machete-kills-interview-robert-rodriguez/).
## Film appearances
**Spy Kids (2001 onward).** In the family films Machete appears as the uncle of Carmen and Juni Cortez, a gruff but lovable gadget-maker, a much lighter version of the character[10](https://www.wired.com/2010/09/10-things-parents-should-know-about-machete/) • [11](https://as.com/meristation/cine/de-trailer-falso-a-pelicula-la-broma-de-robert-rodriguez-que-termino-siendo-un-exito-en-taquilla-f202609-n/). Uncle Machete appeared in all three original *Spy Kids* films as well as *Spy Kids 4*[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills).
**Machete (2010).** Directed by Rodriguez with Ethan Maniquis, the feature made Trejo a leading man for the first time after nearly three decades of bit parts. It grossed $44 million worldwide according to Trejo's account[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills); a Spanish-language retrospective gives the production budget as $10.5 million and the gross as $45.5 million[11](https://as.com/meristation/cine/de-trailer-falso-a-pelicula-la-broma-de-robert-rodriguez-que-termino-siendo-un-exito-en-taquilla-f202609-n/). The cast included Robert De Niro as the anti-immigrant senator, [Jessica Alba](https://www.edgepedia.org/jessica-alba) as border agent Sartana, Michelle Rodriguez as the immigrant-rights activist Shé, Steven Seagal as the drug lord Torrez, Don Johnson as a vigilante leader, and [Lindsay Lohan](https://www.edgepedia.org/lindsay-lohan) in a comic cameo[3](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/) • [4](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/machete-venice-film-festival-2067905.html). On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 70% Tomatometer from 195 reviews; the critics consensus calls it "messy, violent, shallow, and tasteless... and that's precisely the point of one of the summer's most cartoonishly enjoyable films"[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machete).
**Machete Kills (2013).** The sequel follows the ex-Federale after he is recruited by the U.S. president to prevent an arms dealer and a Mexican revolutionary from causing a world war, with [Charlie Sheen](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-sheen) (credited by his birth name, Carlos Estevez) as the President, Amber Heard, Mel Gibson, Sofía Vergara, and Demián Bichir alongside Trejo[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills). Its ending teases a further sequel, *Machete Kills in Space*[13](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/machete-movies-great-but-not-enough-talk-about-hobo-with-a-shotgun).
## Politics and critical reading
The 2010 film arrived amid the U.S. immigration debate intensified by Arizona's SB 1070 enforcement law. Rodriguez released a special "Arizona trailer" for the character on [Cinco de Mayo](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinco-de-mayo) of 2010, and critics read the film directly against that context; some of Senator McLaughlin's lines echo hard-line campaign rhetoric of the period[3](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/) • [14](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvp2n39f). A study in the *International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics* argues that the film's strength as social commentary lies in its borrowing of narrative traits from different genres, placing it in dialogue with ethnic exploitation cinema, Chicana/o labor films, racial parody, and debates on the racialization of citizenship and migrant labor exploitation[15](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274324453_Razing_Arizona_Migrant_labour_and_the_%27Mexican_avenger%27_of_Machete). Scholars have also noted the tension in that politics: the disempowered group shown on screen is, in the same moment, being exploited by the commercial ambitions of the film itself[6](https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/9469/2/Hesford2013.pdf).
Trejo has framed the character as a parody of Mexploitation (Mexican exploitation) films with a throwback feel akin to 1970s grindhouse pictures[2](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills). Academic commentary situates him within that tradition's conventions, in which a racialized hero works outside the law, while also showing a character of traditional heroism, masculinity, and rugged individualism[16](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1492606102229575&disposition=inline) • [17](https://web.ung.edu/media/university-press/latinx-media.pdf?t=1774137600043).
## References
1. [The Reel Deal: Danny Trejo Is Machete, 303 Magazine](https://303magazine.com/2013/10/reel-deal-danny-trejo-stars-machete-kills/)
2. [Danny Trejo opens up about 'Machete Kills', The Arizona State Press](https://www.statepress.com/article/2013/10/danny-trejo-opens-up-about-machete-kills)
3. [¡Viva la Brown Peril! The Political and Temporal Landscape of Machete, Flow (Esteban del Río, University of San Diego)](https://www.flowjournal.org/2010/09/viva-la-brown-peril/)
4. [Machete, Venice Film Festival review, The Independent (Geoffrey Macnab)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/machete-venice-film-festival-2067905.html)
5. [Machete: Self-Aware, Flashy, and Fun, Tilt Magazine](https://tilt.goombastomp.com/film/machete-self-aware-flashy-and-fun/)
6. [Daniel Hesford, The Art of Anticipation: The Artistic Status of the Film Trailer, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013](https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/9469/2/Hesford2013.pdf)
7. [Exclusive: Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/dvd/features/84548-exclusive-robert-rodriguez-on-spy-kids-all-the-time-in-the-world)
8. [Critical Approaches to the Films of Robert Rodriguez, ed. Frederick Luis Aldama, University of Texas Press, JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/763555)
9. [Machete Kills Interview - Robert Rodriguez, The People's Movies](https://thepeoplesmovies.com/machete-kills-interview-robert-rodriguez/)
10. [10 Things Parents Should Know About Machete, WIRED](https://www.wired.com/2010/09/10-things-parents-should-know-about-machete/)
11. [De tráiler falso a película, MeriStation (AS)](https://as.com/meristation/cine/de-trailer-falso-a-pelicula-la-broma-de-robert-rodriguez-que-termino-siendo-un-exito-en-taquilla-f202609-n/)
12. [Machete, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machete)
13. [The Machete Movies Were Great, But Not Enough People Talk About Hobo With A Shotgun, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/machete-movies-great-but-not-enough-talk-about-hobo-with-a-shotgun)
14. [Latinx Ciné in the Twenty-First Century, JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvp2n39f)
15. [Razing Arizona: Migrant labour and the 'Mexican avenger' of Machete, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 7(3)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274324453_Razing_Arizona_Migrant_labour_and_the_%27Mexican_avenger%27_of_Machete)
16. [Dissertation on the character Machete and exploitation-film visual style, OhioLINK ETD](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1492606102229575&disposition=inline)
17. [Latinx Media: Student Key Creatives Profiles, University Press of North Georgia](https://web.ung.edu/media/university-press/latinx-media.pdf?t=1774137600043)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › Action and thriller film characters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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