Every Expendables Character Who Was Supposed To Die

Here’s every member of the Expendables crew who nearly died in the trilogy, and why they were ultimately spared. The prototype of the Expendables gang appeared in 2008’s Rambo, which was the fourth entry in the Sylvester Stallone series. This led to Rambo teaming up with a group of mercenaries for a rescue operation in Burma, with some of them dying in the finale. Stallone’s first concept for the original The Expendables was more in line with this decidedly unglamorous portrayal of the life of a mercenary.

The second and third installments of the Sylvester Stallone franchise were rated PG- leaning more towards comedy and light-hearted shenanigans, with the latest sequel even 13. The franchise also apparently hated to live up to its title and actually killed off any of the central gang. “The Expendables” Of the three films, only Liam Hemsworth’s sniper Billy died in the second part, and his death prompted the film crew to take revenge. The other members were severely injured but eventually recovered.

However, Stallone, who had a hand in writing the first three parts, flirted with the murder of several Expendables. The first was Dolph Lundgren, who once had a fake JCVD feud, and Gunnar, who is kicked off the team in the original and decides to sell the team to villain Eric Roberts. He even leads an assassination attempt on Barney (Stallone) and Yin Yang (Jet Li), but the former is shot dead and apparently mortally wounded. However, The Expendables’ ending shows that Gunnar not only survived, but was forgiven by the team.

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Gunnar survived The Expendables simply because Stallone enjoyed working with Lundgren and wanted him to return for the sequel. The next Expendables was Mickey Rourke’s Tool, which powers the team in the first film. Rourke’s tool was supposed to return in The Expendables 2, and he was the one who had to die, much like Billy Hemsworth. However, Rourke left to play a role in Psychopath 7 opposite Colin Farrell. Rourke primarily made his extended cameo as Tool in the original as a favor to Stallone, who gave him a job during a lean period in his career, so it goes without saying that he didn’t have a major investment in the franchise. Ironically, Rourke also later dropped out of Psychopath 7 due to a conflict with director Martin McDonagh.

The last Expendables to die was Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar. In The Expendables 3, Caesar is shot and left in critical condition by Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), the main antagonist of the sequel and a former member of the group. In the original script, the character was supposed to die, and Crews’ schedule at Brooklyn 99 prevented him from playing a larger role. However, according to Stallone, Crews “begged” him to spare the character’s life, which is why Caesar is shown alive and well in the final scene of The Expendables 3. The upcoming The Expendables 4 will have a few returning players, so it will be interesting to see if they all make it through the next installment safe and sound.