evidence: Xander Cage was supposed to be dead. In the 2002 movie xXx, Diesel starred as the extreme athlete turned deep state operative with a proclivity for getting out of jams via Jet Skis, skateboards, and charisma (often while wearing Penny Lane’s coat). The film cost $70 million to make and ultimately grossed $277.4 million worldwide. But Diesel did not sign on to appear in the 2005 sequel xXx: State of the Union, reportedly over issues with the script, and the project instead featured Ice Cube in the lead role and briefly referenced Cage having been killed in Bora Bora. [...] During the 2002 xXx filming, a Navy SEAL–turned–stuntman named Harry O’Connor was killed during a parasailing stunt. And anyone in the freestyle ski world has not only known someone who was killed on the mountain, but has likely had close calls themselves. Both Saugstad and Holmes have each survived being buried by an avalanche when friends and rescuers dug them out; both Saugstad and Townsend now give avalanche safety lectures. But they keep free skiing because it’s their lifeblood: pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible, in art or in life.