This weekend saw the ears of Die Hard fans around the world perk up with the arrival of an interesting mystery. It was announced via a Tweet from Bruce Willis' daughter, Rumer Willis, that John McClane was going to be making his return – but no other context was provided, leading to internet-wide speculation. Well, you can wonder no longer, as it turns out that what was being teased was a new Die Hard commercial starring Bruce Willis for... DieHard batteries, featuring the return of two characters we haven't seen since the 1988 original: De'voreaux White's Argyle and Clarence Gilyard Jr.'s Theo. Check it out below:
This ad aired this afternoon during the NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, and Die Hard fans won't exactly be hard-pressed to notice that there are a handful of Easter eggs from the classic action film. For example, mimicking his move while navigating around Nakatomi Plaza, John McClane once again finds himself crawling around in a vent – this time trying to escape an Advance Auto Parts while escaping gunmen who want him dead.
So why are these killers after John? There aren't any firm answers given, as there isn't exactly a lot of dialogue provided to add context to the plot, but it would appear that the hit is being executed as an act of vengeance by Theo, who fans will remember was the joke-loving member of Hans Gruber's team who used his computer skills to hack into the Nakatomi vault.
Unlike Hans Gruber, who clearly dies when he falls from a high window at the end of Die Hard, Theo does believably survive the events of the whole adventure. His escape in an ambulance is thwarted by Argyle, who crashes into him with his limo, but the movie makes it look like he is only knocked unconscious in the accident and not killed.
Moving back to the hero side of things, Argyle is back as John McClane's ally here, and not only does he seem to still have the gig he did back in the late 1980s, but he even has the opportunity to say a censored version of John's most famous catchphrase. And, of course, fans will note that John once again sits in the front seat with Argyle rather than in the back:
One thing that's different between this adventure and Die Hard is that Theo definitely doesn't survive this time around. He apparently fails to see the grenade that John McClane throws into the cab of the excavator that he's driving, and the result is a massive, fiery explosion that he can't possibly walk away from.
It's a cute ad, but for those of you now wondering about what John McClane's real future is, the answer is... unclear. The franchise has been relatively quiet in the time since the studio that owns it, 20th Century Fox, was acquired by Walt Disney Studios. That being said, there have been talks about a Die Hard 6 in the past – specifically a sequel/prequel titled Die Hard: Year One. Whether or not that movie will ever be made is presently unknown.
