Explore the action franchise with our xXx characters guide!

Vin Diesel is back as Triple X in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. The film opens on January 20, 2017 and will see X coming out of exile to, once again, save the world from a deadly weapon. The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson (returning as Agent Gibbons), Conor McGregor, Tony Jaa, Deepika Padukone, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose, Toni Collette and Ariadna Gutierrez. Donnie Yen will play Xiang, the evil villain X has to stop.

It’s been quite a while since xXx, which opened in 2002 and xXx: State of the Union in 2005 (starring Ice Cube), so we wanted to help you catch up with this handy xXx characters guide. Check out our refresher on who’s who in the world of xXx.

xXx

xXx Characters: Xander Cage

Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, an extreme sports pro who records his stunts and broadcasts them. He’s kidnapped by Agent Gibbons (Jackson) after one extreme stunt and given tests like a fake robbery and taking down a drug cartel in Colombia. Cage doesn’t want any part of it, but Gibbons tells him it’s this or Leavenworth Prison in solitary.

Xander ends up in Prague, trying to infiltrate a group called Anarchy ’99, to discover information about them and their secret project. The leader Yorgi (Marton Csokas) does a deal with him when Cage identifies his partner as a cop. Cage discovers that Yorgi’s brother is a fan of his work and gets him drunk. He learns all the secrets, but is enamored with Yelena (Asia Argento), Yorgi’s girlfriend. He learns that she’s also working against Yorgi and promises to get her out of the country. They work together to take down Yorgi, who has a group of scientists creating a biological weapon that can kill quickly, but turn harmless in deep water.

Despite Gibbons’ attempt to get him off the project once he’s made, Cage goes back in to help and to save Yelena, who he’s discovered is also an agent who was abandoned by the Russian government. He uses his extreme sports skills to save the day, including jumping ramps on motorbikes, snowboarding out of a plane, ahead of an avalanche and using crazy weapons in his souped up 1967 Pontiac GTO to get to the submarine holding the weapon. He risks his life to take down the weapon and ends up in Bora Bora with Yelena, while Gibbons summons him for another assignment. Cage is provided with James Bond-like weapons by Agent Toby Lee Shavers (Michael Roof).

In the sequel xXx: State of the Union, we learn that Cage has been killed in Bora Bora. As we know, Diesel stars in the upcoming film, so it’s clear that he’s still very much alive.

xXx Characters: Yelena

Asia Argento plays Yelena, the girlfriend of Anarchy ’99 leader Yorgi. At the beginning of the film, it appears that she’s only there for the money, but after Cage discovers her trying to take pictures of Yorgi’s secret project, we learn that she’s been working against him. She asks Cage to get her out of the country, asking for immunity, asylum and citizenship. He promises to get this for her, defying the NSA and Gibbons to rescue her after she goes back in undercover. We later learn that Yelena is a Russian agent who has been under cover for two years, but six months in, the agency changed and abandoned her. It’s revealed that Yorgi knew this all along and asked her to kill Cage. Though there is chemistry between Cage and Yelena, they don’t hook up until after she tells him the truth. Yelena and Cage take his tricked out GTO, given to them by Agent Shavers along with a manual, and chase down Yorgi and the weapon Anarchy ’99 has created, along with a submarine called AHAB. She reads the manual to help Cage figure out how to get from the car to the sub. When everyone thinks Cage is dead, Gibbons tells Yelena that he’ll make good on his promise to get her out of the country. When Cage returns alive, he and Yelena head off to Bora Bora together.

xXx Characters: Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons

Samuel L. Jackson plays NSA Agent Gibbons, who realizes that the group of former Russian soldiers in Prague called Anarchy ’99 can spot a trained agent easily. He decides to forcefully recruit civilians with skills by kidnapping them and putting them through tests. He sets Cage up in a fake robbery and drugs him, sending him off to deal with a drug lord in Colombia named El Jefe (Danny Trejo). When he’s satisfied, he gives Cage a choice; go to Leavenworth Prison or work for the NSA. He sends Cage in to infiltrate Anarchy ’99, but discovers that though successful, Cage is going to work in his own way. When they discover his true identity, Gibbons tries to send Cage home. He uses reverse psychology on Cage, saying that he’s going to send in a sweep team, putting Cage’s love interest Yelena in danger. He knows Cage will do the opposite of what he asks, asking him, “If I told you to jump off the Empire State Building, would you do it?” Cage replies that he would. Gibbons promises Yelena that he’ll get her out of the country, and keeps his word when he thinks Cage is dead. He keeps Cage on after this assignment is successful. He’s also got a dramatic way of having meetings in an empty theater during an opera performance.

In the sequel xXx: State of the Union, Gibbons decides to find a less civilian type of xXx agent for his program. He recruits Lieutenant Darius Stone (Ice Cube), one of the Navy SEALS that he served with. Stone is in jail serving a long sentence for disobeying a direct order and breaking a General’s jaw. Gibbons gets him out and puts him on the job, trying to find out who killed 16 officers at an NSA bunker. Gibbons is captured as part of a government plot to kill the President (Peter Strauss) and his death in an explosion is faked. Gibbons is held captive on the USS Independence. Once he’s released, he and Agent Steele (Scott Speedman) take a helicopter to save the President along with Stone. He declares that he’s expanding the xXx program and that he has a candidate in mind.

xXx Characters: Yorgi

Marton Csokas spent time in the Russian Army, but left with a group of men after seeing their friends die during the fight in the Balkans in 1999. He leads the group Anarchy ’99 (named in honor of the year they left) and runs underground dealings. He welcomes Cage into the group after they do a deal for expensive cars, and Cage seemingly kills an agent. Yorgi seems to push his girlfriend Yelena on Cage, though we later learn that Yorgi has known that she was a Russian agent all along. He sends her to kill Cage, though she saves him instead. Yorgi speaks about anarchy and we later learn that his secret project is to create just that. He’s had a group of Russian scientists develop a biochemical weapon called “Silent Night.” It can kill quickly and is rendered harmless in water. He also has a solar powered submarine called AHAB that can deliver this weapon. His plan is to take out the world’s great cities and have the governments blame each other, starting a war. He tests the weapon on the scientists, killing them, and after his plan goes awry, he tries to take out Prague. Cage and Yelena kill him.

xXx Characters: Agent Toby Lee Shavers

Michael Roof plays the very eager young NSA agent who is in charge of weapons. He hooks Cage up with a number of them, including a gun that shoots bullets, darts that can poison, darts that simulate a bloody death, explosives in a bandaid and a pair of binoculars that have “penetration mode,” allowing you to see through bodies and walls. He’s a little upset that Cage has been an agent for two days and gets to go out into the field, while he’s been trying for six years. Cage gives him a field promotion, cheering him up. He takes Cage’s GTO and fills it with weapons and gadgets, but doesn’t have time to explain how they work. He hands Cage the manual. When Yelena is trying to read it during a chase, she comments that he has terrible handwriting.

In xXx: State of the Union, Shavers is helping the new Triple X, Lieutenant Darius Stone out with a lot more this time. He hooks him up with weapons and souped up cars. He acts as a driver during a maneuver and hacks into the Department of Defense to get plans for Stone.

xXx: State of the Union

As you’ve seen, Gibbons and Shavers return for the film, though they’re the only ones. Here is a look at the new characters.

xXx Characters: Lieutenant Darius Stone

Ice Cube plays Darius Stone, former Navy SEAL. He started his adolescence as a minor criminal after his mom died and his father was murdered by a stray bullet. He ended up in the military, setting military records, including the longest dive at 250 feet. While leading a unit in Kosovo, he was ordered to set a fire to clear civilians and refused to obey. He lead a mutiny with half of his unit against General George Deckert (who is now the U.S. Secretary of Defense) and broke his jaw. He was given a court martial and a sentence of 20 years in Leavenworth Prison.

Gibbons comes to see Stone under the guise of a lawyer, offers him the position of xXx and breaks him out. Stone steals information from the NSA bunker that was recently attacked and finds out that a plot is afoot to kill the President, Vice President, Secretary of State and Speaker of the House, leaving Deckert as the next President. Deckert wants to increase the military, unlike the President who is working for peace. Stone goes to his old pals in his neighborhood in D.C., looking for his buddy Zeke (Xzibit) and Lola (Nola Gaye). Zeke says Lola is uptown now. She helps Stone, Gibbons and Shavers by providing high end, tricked out cars and a safe house.

Stone works with Charlie Mayweather (Sunny Mayweather) to find out the plan, but she frames him for the murder of a high ranking official. Stone gets away and works with Agent Kyle Steele to take down Deckert, finding Gibbons alive, along with the good guys from his SEAL unit who had gone missing. He recruits Zeke and his gang from the chop shop, and as they head to the White House, they jack a tank. Things go awry, so Stone gets a car from Lola, drives it behind the bullet train on which Deckert has the President hostage. He jumps into the back of the train and after hand to hand combat, gets the President out of Deckert’s hands. He shoots the water with one of Shavers’ crazy guns to break it up, allowing him to dive safely. The President honors Steele and gives the medal of honor to the unknown soldier who saved him. Stone shares one last kiss with Lola and drives away in his new ride.

xXx Characters: Agent Kyle Steele

Scott Speedman plays Agent Steele, who is at first suspicious of Stone, but realizes that the plot Stone has warned him about is real. When Stone is framed for murder, Steele goes in to see him and helps him get away. He provides a distraction while Stone microwaves a lot of food so the heat signature appears to show him in the house. Later Steele jokes with Stone about the fact that he had broken all of Stone’s military records. When the President is kidnapped and put on a bullet train, Steele dangles out of a helicopter and grabs the President, whisking him away to safety.

xXx Characters: U.S. Secretary of Defense General George Deckert

Willem Dafoe plays General Deckert, the Secretary of Defense. He was the one who gave Stone’s unit the order to set a fire in Kosovo to clear civilians and after Stone broke his jaw, got him sentenced to 20 years in Leavenworth Prison. He was the reason that the half of Stone’s unit that took part in the mutiny went missing. He kept the other half as personal body guards, taking part in his plot. He has Stone framed for the murder of an official and threatens Steele if he looks into it. His men fake Gibbons’ death and all of them are held prisoner on the USS Independence. He’s filled it with weapons in a plot to take down the President, Vice President, Secretary of State and Speaker of the House so he’ll be next in line for the Presidency. Then he can push his pro-war stance.

Deckert begins the plot, starting a massacre in the White House, and taking the President hostage. Stone begins to foil his plans, so Deckert takes the President out of the White House in a bullet train. He’s taken down by Stone and blown up with the train. He’s buried with full military honors to hide the plot.

xXx Characters: Charlie Mayweather

Sunny Mabrey plays this Senator’s aide who is also the daughter of a Senator. She appears to help Stone, taking him to her father’s house and flirting with him, framing him for the murder of a dignitary while he’s in the shower. She’s working for Deckert, and Stone finds her on the USS Independence. She’s talking to Gibbons who is imprisoned with the rest of the good half of Stone’s former unit. She taunts them and Stone shoots her. He doesn’t kill her, despite Gibbons’ urgings. She later tries to kill him after the President has been captured and Gibbons shoots her, killing her.

xXx Characters: Lola Jackson

Nona Gaye plays Stone’s former girlfriend who he left when he was sent to prison. She used to run a chop shop in Stone’s old neighborhood, but his friend Zeke now runs it. She’s moved uptown to run an exotic car shop. She’s upset by his return, telling him they couldn’t be together because he’s does too many dangerous things. Despite that, there is still chemistry and she agrees to help Stone, Gibbons and Shavers by giving them a safe house and tricked out cars, including a Shelby Cobra prototype worth half a million dollars. Lola and Stone have a moment after the adventure is over and share a kiss, but he says he’s at his best when he’s being chased by cops and leaves.

xXx Characters: Zeke

Xzibit plays Zeke, Stone’s old buddy who is now running the chop shop in their old neighborhood. When Stone needs to storm the White House to foil a plot by Deckert to kill the President, he calls on Zeke and his gang, telling them they can jack cars on Pennsylvania Ave. He brings out his tricked out trucks and does some crazy driving to get past the military guard, driving through roadblocks and walls. He also helps jack a tank, which he gets to keep.

Are you guys excited for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage? Are you psyched to see Vin Diesel back for another adventure? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @ComingSoonNet!