There isn’t an official competition for ‘coolest movie actor to appear in a fighting game’ happening right now, but you would certainly think so. Aside from Jean Claude Van Damme and Megan Fox making appearances in Mortal Kombat 1, upcoming fighter Tekken 8 may have just cinched victory with its latest character reveal and the actor portraying him.
Victor Chevalier is the latest character to join the Tekken 8 roster, a total newcomer to the series who’s voiced by legendary French actor Vincent Cassel. My uncultured brain mostly associates him as the French Robin Hood from Shrek, but Cassel has done a hell of a lot more than that. As well as appearing in a number of notable French movies like La Haine, Irréversible and The Specials, Cassel gained further recognition for his roles in English-language movies like Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’ Thirteen, Black Swan and even the third season of Westworld.
His career is pretty impressive, and Tekken 8 marks his first venture into videogame voice acting. In a behind-the-scenes video, Cassel said he played Tekken back in the 1990s. “I became interested in the game because there was a character called Eddy Gordo, who was a capoeirista, and at the time I practiced capoeira. So I bought the game and played exclusively with this character.” As someone who’s also quite fond of the capo crew, I’m loving Cassel’s initiation into the Tekken universe already.
As for the character Cassel is playing, Victor is a former French Navy officer and “living legend who founded the UN’s independent forces,” rocking a dapper suit and an entire armoury of high-tech weapons. His fighting style makes full use of this equipment too, with different moves whipping out his guns, daggers or even an energy sword as he teleports around, similar to fellow Tekken character Raven. It makes sense considering the two seem to have a story connection, with Victor acting as Raven’s mentor at some point in the past.
I already know that I’m going to detest fighting Victor, but I can’t deny that he looks incredibly fun to play. He marks the 31st character to be revealed for Tekken 8, meaning there’s only one more left for us to see. That character will be revealed on November 12. Unfortunately, due to leaks, most fans already have a pretty good idea of who it is, but their trailer is sure to be an exciting moment all the same.
