WMG / The Expendables

There will be a sequel, but it won't start filming before the end of the year

So that Arnold Schwarzenegger can have a real role, as then both he and Stallone will lead a team of mercenaries and compete with each other. And then truly the fans, nay, the world of Men shall rejoice.

• Slated to come out in the second half of 2012. Arnold is confirmed.

Trent Mauser was just a cover name for Dutch

Arnold is playing the same role he did in Predator, and is no longer taking mission in South American jungles after the last one didn't go so well.

• You do realize this means we'll have the Expendables fighting Predators eventually, don't you? AND IT WILL BE AWESOME.
• Alternatively, Trench is John Matrix out of retirement.

Yin Yang is the last descendant of Nameless

After sparing the life of Emperor Qin and getting killed anyway for making the attempt, Qin decided to honor the man by burying him with honors and marking the tombstone with his own birth name - Yin Zheng.^note Chinese names place the surname in front just so you know. He's killed off the only remainder of his innocence and the last shred of the man he used to be.

• The actual move to America took place when Nameless' great-grandson had to flee the country after sparing someone he should have killed...

In the Sequel, Arnold Schwarzenegger will reappear with his own team of mercenaries, consisting of...

Danny Trejo, Kurt Russell, 50 Cent, Steven Seagall, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. (See the What Might Have Been entry on the main page.)

• Needs a token Asian - Donnie Yen? Tony Jaa?
  • Neither has the American name recognition of Jackie Chan.
    • Jossed. He appears alone, but it's alluded to that he has a team.
• Tony Jaa had a Start of Darkness-esque role in Ong Bak 2, maybe he'd be fine with the role of The Dragon. If so, he could possibly be the first person to kill off an Expendable.
• Needs more Rock.
  • To make this even better, they will be pursued by a brutal team of CIA killers who have decided that the Expendables are too badass to live. The leader of the team will of course be Mr. Church. Mêlée à Trois, you gotta love it.
• Chuck Norris, since he's a devout Christian in Real Life, will play the minor role of Badass Preacher of the church where the trio met. His screentime will be short, but it will include one of the sequel's Crowning Moments of Awesome. Presumably him going all Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass on some mooks or thugs. Or something like this: the trio meets again in the church, but this time a fight is about to break out, until Chuck appears and subdues them with a hammy "THOU SHALT NOT FIGHT ON HALLOWED GROUND!" (roundhouse kicks optional). If I could find it, I'd put here a link to a photo of Chuck Norris in a cassock from Firewalker.
  • Chuck Norris should be the Affably Evil Big Bad. And kung fu fight entire Expendables teams singlehandedly.
    • Chuck Norris has commented that he'd feel inadequate among such famous action stars, and as such doesn't really intend on joining the cast.
    • Inadequate!? Does Chuck Norris have any idea who Chuck Norris even is??
    • Looks like Chuck Norris changed his mind, as he's in the movie in some form.
• Bruce Campbell has to be in there somewhere. How about as a retired, over-sexed former CIA agent who has information that one of the teams need. There will be a shootout where Campbell casually kills a half dozen crazed killers and picks up chicks at the same time, spouting one-liners throughout.
  • And this exchange must occur:
    • Nude Girl who's life he saved: Thank God I was with a good guy like you.
    • Campbell: Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
  • ... no.

Ross is a Time Lord who's gone insane and he's hallucinating everything that takes place in the film as he slowly starves to death in a broken-down TARDIS

• Because no WMG page is complete without morbid dying dreams and references to Doctor Who.
• Alternately, they're all a group of surviving Time Lords that the Doctor hasn't discovered because he's been too busy dealing with his own (and his companions') issues.

This movie is set before the events in RED, and Mr. Church's real name is Frank Moses.

Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson will make a surprise appearance in the sequel.

He's one of the few action stars they HAVEN'T mentioned. Stallone's obviously keeping him in reserve.

• Jossed.

The last scene is a kind of shared Dying Dream.

Explaining why Gunnar is Back from the Dead, Christmas manages to hit the target, etc.

• Going off this, Expendables 2 and the planned Expendables 3 are also part of the Dying Dream, and the entire series will end with this being revealed.
  • Or alternately, everyone died and the last scene of #1 and the entirety of the sequels are the characters going through purgatory.

Expendables takes place in the same universe as Burn Notice

Just thinking...this would be an awesome way to shoehorn Bruce into this one.

Barney Ross is the estranged son of General "Thunderbolt" Ross.

This would make him Betty Ross's brother, and The Expendables part of the MCU.

• And then we could get that Samuel L. Jackson cameo mentioned above.
  • Nick Fury meets The Expendables and recruits them for a team-up with The Avengers. Yes. The only thing I fear about that is that the world might explode from the sheer awesomeness.
• Going by their age difference, more like the General's brother.

Dr. Christmas Jones is related to Lee Christmas.

No-one could possibly name their daughter Christmas (which is clearly the main problem with Denise Richards playing a globe-trotting Nuclear Physicist). It's probably a hyphenated name, because she is either the half-sister, or an ex-wife, of Lee Christmas of The Expendables. That only leaves the question of what her real first name is, and why she's too embarrassed to use it.

• It's obviously Mary!

Yin Yang was killed sometime after the first movie

• Hence why he isn't shown much in the trailer and only appears with some new footage and archive footage from the first movie in the trailer as well.
  • Considering that one plot point in 2 is the death of one of the Expendables, this is a possibility. It doesn't help that Jet Li speaks terrible english (well... relatively speaking compared to everyone else) which has hurt his ability to be a success in the West since it's a lot more difficult to make an impression when you're struggling around both an accent and non-fluency.
  • Nope - Yin Yang shows up for the first twenty minutes and survives the second movie.

Then Yin Yang was killed after he left the second movie...

...by Yulaw.

• Jossed again.

The creators are tropers

• The movie provides the friggin' image for Troperrific!

The movie is what GI Joe would be in a less cartoonish world.

Trench Mauser is John Matrix.

Sure, John retired again at the end of Commando and went into witness protection, but he needed more money so he became a merc.

In the tradition of the previous WMG about how Trench/Ahnold was going to have his own Mercenary team, Expendables III will feature...

• Steven Seagal as a Martial Pacifist who abandoned the Expendables years ago in order to journey to Asia for soul-searching.
• Nicolas Cage as the bad guy. Because, really, how could Nicolas Cage NOT be a Large Ham of a villain in a film of this?
  And they will call Clint's character by his last name which is Callahan
• Jackie Chan as Yang's old training partner.
  • Jackie would be more effective as a villain. He's played happy-go-lucky good guys for so long that coming in as the bad guy would have a huge impact.
• Wesley Snipes as Caesar's equally-if-not-more badass cousin.
• Samuel L. Jackson as himself. Oh, sure, they could give him a name, but, really, nobody would even bother calling him that, even in the movie.
• Charlie Sheen as a shell-shocked war veteran with a drug problem. Or a CIA agent coming after Church, which was apparently the original plan.
  • Sheen could even play the burned-out older version of his "Navy SEALS" character.
• Harrison Ford as a retired pilot who joins up with the Expendables for a time when the villain kidnaps his family. Is scared of snakes, doesn't like being told the odds, and really doesn't like it when people try to get on his plane.
  • Alternatively, as the president of the United States.
• Michael Biehn (who Stallone has said he'd like to get in, since he was somebody who had one moment of fame) as an old Friendly Enemy of Trench who has been tricked into aiding the bad guy.
• Michael Pare as some other mercenary who is aiding the Expendables, perhaps telling them to help finish a job he could not.
• Carl Weathers as a old member of the Expendables who quit the group after repeatedly butting heads with Jensen.
• Mel Gibson as an Ax-Crazy alcoholic with a tendency to quote the bible as a Bond One-Liner.
• Adam Baldwin as a mercenary working for the highest bidder, who in this case is the Big Bad. By the end of the movie, the Expendables are the highest bidder (their bid being that they are offering not to shoot him full of a thousand holes).
• Female action/genre stars who could make appearances:
  • Linda Hamilton, presumably having some sort of metafictional connection to Trench or Biehn's character.
  • Sigourney Weaver, who would, of course, suggest that the Big Bad be nuked. Just to be sure.
  • Maggie Q (Sixth Ranger), Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Heart), Lucy Liu (The Smart Guy), Jennifer Garner (The Lancer), Summer Glau (Psycho Party Member) and Uma Thurman (The Hero) as a female sub-group that prefers more covert methods, trading knives for guns and at least one katana. The bad guys get Bai Ling, Michelle Rodriguez, Daryl Hannah, Grace Jones and Lena Headey.
  Stallone: "I hate to say it, but you girls got some moves."
  Uma: "Yeah. It's what women have instead of balls."
  Crews: "Ooh-hoho... BURN!"
  • Semi-Confirmed, in that there'll be a female-oriented Expendables Spin-Off. Nan Yu and Rhonda Rhousey would most certainly reprise their roles as "Maggie Chan" and "Luna" respectively, while a good deal of the other suggested roles for the "Fem-pendables" will be likely - the one exception would be that Michelle Rodriguez wouldn't be a villain (or if it is, there are good odds she'll be a Noble Demon/Anti-Villain/Punch-Clock Villain, and/or undergo a Heel–Face Turn), as she often plays heroic characters (albeit ones with a nasty habit of getting killed or horribly maimed. Oh, and at least one of the villains they fight (if not their Big Bad) will likely be a Straw Misogynist He-Man Woman Hater that gets his ass handed to him when he picks on a girl "his own size".

Gunnar Jensen actually is Dolph Lundgren.

In-universe, I mean. Gunnar's life is basically that of Lundgren's anyway, and if you buy into the idea that most (if not all) of the team uses codenames, then maybe Gunnar Jensen actually IS Dolph Lundgren moonlighting as a mercenary. Could be delightfully meta, considering Lundgren played Ivan Drago in Rocky IV...

Jean Claude Van Damme ain't done yet

He might have been stabbed and had his head chopped off, but he will be back somehow, either using the Powers of Satan (He HAS a Satanic tattoo on his neck), a back-up twin or a clone. Either way, he'll be back.

• Its VAN FREAKING DAMME!! Of course he has a backup twin.

The third movie will feature Wesley Snipes as an old archenemy of Barney's

• Given the fact that they reportedly want him, and the fact that in Demolition Man he and Stallone played archenemies who fought across two different eras of time, and given the series' tendency towards Actor Allusion, it seems likely.
  • He appeared, but as an old comrade that they bust out of prison.

The team that Mauser leads is likely or would be jokily called The Un-Expendables

• Given how "Mr. Church" would give missions that would likely kill assets like Ross' team, there would be assets that the CIA uses where if they get the job done more effectively. Trent's team would likely be considered to be unexpendable since they would be an A-Team of sorts, performing jobs within a wetwork/Black Op mission.

The Expendables series is a Stealth Sequel to the Rambo series

• The fourth Rambo film ends with John Rambo finally going home after 30 years of suffering, war, and killing. But despite finally earning his happy ending, John finds himself restless. While he no longer wants to kill, he realizes that a man with his experience and skills can do a lot of good in the modern world. Thus, deciding to fight only for just causes, he decides to leave his old life behind, and changes his name to Barney Ross, creates a fake history, gets in touch with some mercenary buddies he's met over the years, and forms the Expendables.

The third movie will contain a Take That! directed at Bruce Willis

• It's clear that Willis' demand for more money and subsequent removal from the third film has caused a rift between him and Stallone, who tweeted "GREEDY AND LAZY....A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE" shortly after announcing that Bruce was out. Being that this whole series is basically Sly's pet project, it seems unlikely that he'll be able to resist an onscreen jab or two at his former co-star.
  • Confirmed, and it is glorious. Spoken by Harrison Ford: "(Church) is...out of the picture."

Stonebanks daughter will be the Big Bad either in the 4th movie or the all-female Spin-Off

• There’s no reason for Stonebanks to mention that he has a daughter other than to set her up as a future antagonist of the team. The fact that she’s female could also be a way to bring the all-female into the picture, to fight fire with fire, so to speak.

Max Drummer is the Earthen descendant of Han Solo.

Well, they're both very skilled pilots, so...

There will be a spinoff dedicated to the early martial arts genre.

The story will more than likely be an Enter the Dragon rehash. Stars include:

• Jacky Cheung (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Kent Cheung
• Maggie Cheung
• Gary Chow
• Stephen Chow
• Chow Yun-fat (Only if Applicable)
• Mark Dacascos
• Summer Glau (Firefly as River Tam)
• Steven Ho (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Chan)
• Cynthia Kwan (In The Line of Duty Hong Kong films as Rachael Yeung)
• Danny Lee
• Moon Lee
• Waise Lee
• Will Yun Lee
• Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Brigitte Lin
• Lucy Liu
• Ray Lui
• Nan Yu
• Maggie Q
• Sammo Hung
• Robin Shou (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Liu Kang)
• Ti Lung
• Tsui Hark
• Ming-Na Wen (Only when Applicable)
• Don "The Dragon" Wilson
• David Wu Dai-Wai (Wu-Man)
• Simon Yam
• Sally Yeh
• Donnie Yen
• Michelle Yeoh
• Bolo Yeung
• Yuen Qiu
• With a big enough miracle, Jackie Chan
• and Dick Wei as the Big Bad
• Cameos from the main series include:
  • Randy Couture
  • Jet Li
  • Dolph Lundgren
  • Chuck Norris
  • Wesley Snipes
  • Jason Statham

Barney Ross will die in the fourth movie.

• Considering the fourth movie will be about Passing the Torch to Christmas, and that Stallone has confirmed that the fourth movie will be his final appearance in the franchise...
  • Jossed. While he appears to die when he plane goes down, he actually survives because he used Jumbo Shrimp as a body double.

A Predictions List of potential stars in future sequels after the fourth film

This list is a prediction (Not confirmation) of who has a chance of starring in later Expendable sequels. However, this all depends on how big the Budget will be for later films in the franchise and who the Producers can get to star in later sequels after Lee Christmas takes the lead as the main protagonist. Here is a predictions list of actors and actresses from older action films from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that have a chance of appearing in future sequels after the fourth film. Heroes, supporting characters, and villains ahoy:

• Idris Alba (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Nancy Allen (Robocop 1987)
• Hakim Alston (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Liu Kang's first Opponent)
• Linden Ashby (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Johnny Cage)
• Sean Bean
• Michael Beck (The Warriors 1979 as Swan)
• Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport 2)
• Michael Biehn
• Billy Blanks (Expect No Mercy)
• Carole Bouquet
• David Bradley (The American Ninja series)
• Pierce Brosnan
• Clancy Brown
• John Boyega
• Nicholas Cage
• Chris Casamassa (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Scorpion)
• Damian Chapa (Street Fighter 1994 as Ken)
• Kathy Christopherson (Guyver Dark Hero as Cori Edwards)
• Keith Cooke (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Reptile)
• Daniel Craig (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Willem Dafoe (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Kenneth Edwards (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Art Lean)
• Lawrence Fishburne (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Morgan Freeman (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon)
• Gary Graham (Robotjox as Achilles)
• Pam Grier
• Taimak Guarriello (The Last Dragon 1985 as Bruce Leroy)
• Linda Hamilton
• Kevin Peter Hall (Predator)
• David Harris (The Warriors 1979 as Cochise)
• David Hayter (Guyver Dark Hero as Sean Baker... Yes... Solid Snake in the flesh)
• Tony Jaa
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Famke Janssen
• Anne-Marie Johnson (Robotjox as Athena)
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
• Michael B. Jordon
• Paul Koslo (Robotjox as Alexander)
• Christopher Lambert (Only if Applicable)
• Diane Lane (Streets of Fire as Ellen Aim)
• Byung-hun Lee
• Amy Madigan (Streets of Fire as McCoy)
• Byron Mann
• Tom McKitterick (The Warriors 1979 as Cowboy)
• Jalal Merhi (Tiger Claws)
• Terry Michos (The Warriors 1979 as Vermin)
• Helen Mirren
• Dan O'Herlihy (Robocop 1987)
• Yukari Oshima
• Michael Pare (Streets of Fire as Tom Cody)
• Francois Petit (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Sub Zero)
• Norman Reedus
• Keanu Reeves (John Wick as... John Wick. Only if applicable, but most likely impossible)
• James Remar (The Warriors 1979 as Ajax)
• Ernie Reyes Jr.
• Cynthia Rothrock (Yes, Madam as Inspector Carrie Morris)
• Kurt Russell (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• John Salvitti (Tiger Cage 2 as Drug Goon)
• Hiroyuki Sanada
• Marcelino Sánchez (The Warriors 1979 as Rembrandt)
• Talisa Soto (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Kitana)
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Only if Applicable)
• Danny Trejo
• Brian Tyler (The Warriors 1979 as Snow)
• Deborah Van Valkenburgh (The Warriors 1979 as Mercy)
• Christopher Walken (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Denzel Washington (Only if Applicable, but most likely impossible)
• Carl Weathers (Predator)
• Peter Weller (Robocop 1987)
• Michael Jai White (Spawn as Al Simmons)
• Bridgette Wilson (Mortal Kombat 1995 as Sonya Blade)
• Jeff Wincott (Martial Law II: Undercover)
• Michael Woods (Tiger Cage 1 & 2 as Drug Goon)
• Dorsey Wright (The Warriors 1979 as Cleon)
• Billy Zane