HARD TARGET
Armed with only a mullet, a pistol and his legs, Wham Bam Van Damme delivers the finest action performance of his career thanks to the manic direction of John Woo. Sure, the story is as thin as your oldest pair of socks, but the action set-pieces are jaw dropping, allowing JCVD to kick baddies off their motorbikes and forward roll over a moving jeep. As an extra bonus, he punches a snake in the head, then bites its rattle off – making Jean Claude the hardest human being ever to rock double denim.

JCVD
The trailer for JCVD introduces the symbol for the studio behind it, Gaumont, with a Petit Prince-like silhouette story about Van Damme arguing with Gaumont's mascot over a flower… before he roundhouse kicks the youngster about the face. Straight off the bat, you know this isn't your average martial arts movie – if it's a martial arts movie at all. In fact, it's a post-modern thriller that looks like a spoof, a fictional representation of the real-life JCVD as he loses all his money, self-respect and ability to kick people upside the head. File this one under "Potential Oscar nomination" – no, really.

KUNG FU PANDA 2
The writers of the 1996 double-length Friends episode in which Van Damme appeared, The One After The Superbowl, reportedly found it so difficult to coin jokes that worked for Jean-Claude that they eventually came up with bizarrely intonated 'Van Damme-proof' catchphrases like "I can crack a walnut with my butt." But despite his purported inability to crack gags, there's no doubt about Van Damme's sense of humour: JCVD itself proved his self-awareness, Kickboxer his ability to dance drunk (a key comedy technique) and Kung Fu Panda 2 showed his kiddy-friendly side as he voices the menacing, scaly Master Croc.