Introduction

The Expendables is an American ensemble action thriller franchise spanning a film series, written by Sylvester Stallone, based upon (mercenary) characters created by David Callaham, and additional media.

The films star an ensemble cast, notably Stallone and Jason Statham, produced by Avi Lerner and Kevin King-Templeton. The film series, an acknowledgement to former blockbuster action films made in the 1980s and 1990s, pays homage to action stars of former decades, and the more recent stars in action. The series consists of the films The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014), Expend4bles (2023), and an ongoing comic book series, The Expendables Go to Hell (2021).

Though criticism with regard to plot and dialogue between characters has been expressed, critics praised the use of comic relief in between action.

Outline

The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables, a group of elite mercenaries who carry out all sorts of missions, ranging from assassination to rescue, are deployed to a South American island, Vilena, to overthrow a Latin American dictator, General Garza, who is interfering with the plans of a group of “people” led by a man known only as Mr. Church. However, the team leader, Barney Ross, soon realizes that Garza is merely a puppet being controlled by a ruthless rogue CIA officer, James Monroe, who is Mr. Church’s real target.

The Expendables 02 (2012)

A while after the first film, the Expendables accept another mission from Mr. Church to make up for losses caused by the mission in Vilena, but they end up in a conflict with a rival mercenary group, the Sangs, and their newest and youngest member is murdered by their leader, Jean Vilain. Ross swears vengeance on Vilain for his protegé’s death and starts to track him down, in the process learning that Vilain threatens the world with five tons of weapons grade plutonium he intends to excavate from an abandoned Soviet mine and sell to the highest bidder.

The Expendables 03 (2014)

The Expendables come face to face with the team’s co-founder Conrad Stonebanks. Ross was forced to kill Stonebanks after he became a ruthless arms trader, but Stonebanks survived and has now made it his mission to destroy The Expendables. Ross resorts to recruiting a new and younger generation of Expendables to help the team overcome his old adversary.

The Expendables 04 (2023) (Expend4bles)

Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on, the Expendables are the world’s last line of defence and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table.

Reception

• The Expendables received mixed reviews from critics.
• The Expendables 02 received mixed reviews from critics.
• The Expendables 03 received negative reviews from critics.
• Expend4bles was panned by critics, with much criticism aimed at its lacklustre CGI.

Television

In May 2012, it was announced that a television spin-off of the film series had entered development at Lionsgate. In March 2015, it was confirmed that the franchise will expand, with a television event series in active development. The project will be a joint-production between CBS Television Studios, Lionsgate Television, Shane Brennan Prods., and Rogue Marble Productions. Shane Brennan has signed on as creator, producer and showrunner; as well as serving as co-writer with Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward. Stallone will serve as executive producer alongside Avi Lerner, Kevin King, Grant Anderson, and Brennan. The plot of the series was announced to feature a new team of Expendables, composed of ‘iconic television stars’, who are on a mission to stop the dangerous activities of terrorist organisations.

Originally scheduled to air on Fox network, beginning in June 2016 the series was being shopped around to other networks and streaming services. In November 2021, President of Millennium Films Jeffrey Greenstein, confirmed that the studio is once again actively developing a television series for the franchise. In November 2022, Greenstein reiterated that development for a television series is ongoing, with plans to expand each of the studio’s franchises into additional media.

Comic Books

• The Expendables: A miniseries based on and serving as a prequel to the titular film, written by Chuck Dixon and published by Dynamite Entertainment in 2010. The comic series featured artwork by Esteve Polls.
• The Expendables Go to Hell: Conceptualised during the writing of the second film, the series was written by Chuck Dixon, from the original story co-written by Sylvester Stallone and Dixon. Based on a concept that Stallone had written for a movie he knew would never be produced, together with writing contributions from Richard C. Meyer, the series centres around the supernatural war that the titular mercenaries face after being killed and their adventures in hell. Together the team works to thwart the devil and his army of villainous minions (including Adolf Hitler, Sadam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and Osama bin Ladin, among others). Funded through an online campaign, the series is published by Splatto Comics.

Video Games

• The Expendables 8-bit is a single-player side-scroller browser video game created by Flipline Studios as a promotion for the first movie in collaboration with Lionsgate. Stylised after Nintendo Entertainment System games, playable characters included Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, and Yin Yang. It was available for free on the official Facebook page for the movie.
• The Expendables 2 Videogame is a downloadable four-player cooperative shoot ’em up video game. It was published by Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation Network (PSN) and Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and released on 31 July 2012 for PSN and August 20 for PC (via Steam) and XBLA. The game’s plot is a prequel to The Expendables 2, with Barney Ross, Gunnar Jensen, Yin Yang and Hale Caesar appearing as playable characters. Lundgren and Crews voiced their respective characters. According to review aggregation websites Metacritic and GameRankings, the game received generally negative reviews.
• The Expendables 2: Deploy & Destroy is a single-player tower defence, real-time strategy online-only game. Published by Roadshow Films and Soap Creative, the game was released on 13 July 2012. Its plot was derived from village scenes in the film, where players can choose their squad from the cast, set up defences and battle the enemy.
• The Expendabros: A standalone expansion of the game Broforce, which was based on The Expendables 3 and released in August 2014. Later, The Expendabros expansion became free to play in order to promote The Expendables 3 and remained so until 31 December of the same year when it was discontinued.

Bollywood Adaptation

In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce Bollywood remakes of First Blood (1982), The Expendables, 16 Blocks, 88 Minutes, and Brooklyn’s Finest, with the productions for First Blood and The Expendables expected to start at the end of that year.

Cancelled Projects

The Expendabelles

In October 2012, plans for an all-female centred film were announced titled, The Expendabelles. Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith were hired to co-write the script, while Avi Lerner, Mark Gill, Julie Kroll, Boaz Davidson, and Kevin King will serve as producers. The film was intended to be a joint production between Millennium Films, Eclectic Pictures, and Summertime Entertainment. Stallone is not involved with the project. By the following month , Lerner had entered early negotiations with actresses Meryl Streep, Cameron Diaz and Milla Jovovich to star in the film. The producer stated that they were looking for a female director for the project, while also stating that principal photography was scheduled to take place in Bulgaria, where previous instalments had been filmed.

By February 2014, it was announced that Robert Luketic had been hired as director. Stallone stated that he is not involved with the spin-off, but that he would like to see Sigourney Weaver appear in the movie. By August, Lerner stated that the script was nearing its final draft. Later that month, the studio released an updated official synopsis for the film as: “The Expendables universe has a new team. An elite group of highly trained female mercenaries are brought together for a covert hostage rescue mission. Once they are behind enemy lines, the women discover that they will also need to topple an evil dictator bent on world domination. It becomes clear there is no such thing as the right man for the job. The ExpendaBelles is the ultimate story of female empowerment and kick-ass teamwork.” All studios involved had intended to begin production early-2015. In November 2022, President of Millennium Films, Jeffrey Greenstein officially stated that the project was shelved. Stating that the project went through various iterations of having to “explain” why a team of only females was the centre of the movie, the creatives have opted to instead integrate more female characters into the franchise.

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone … Barney Ross (4 films).
• Jason Statham … Lee Christmas (4 films).
• Dolph Lundgren … Gunner Jensen (4 films).
• Randy Couture … Toll Road (4 films).
• Jet Li … Yin Yang (3 films).
• Terry Crews … Hale Caesar (3 films).
• Arnold Schwarzenegger … Trent ‘Trench’ Mauser (3 films).
• Charisma Carpenter … Lacy (3 films).
• Bruce Willis … Mr. Church (CIA Agent) (3 films).

Trivia

• Jason Statham has the last line at the end of every Expendable film.

Production & Filming Details

• Release Date:
  • The Expendables: 13 August 2010.
  • The Expendables 02: 17 August 2012.
  • The Expendables 03: 15 August 2014.
  • The Expendables 04: 22 September 2023.
• Running time: variable.
• Rating: 15 or 18.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)