By joining The Expendables 4, the upcoming action sequel could give Indonesian action legend Iko Uwais the chance to show his capability as a villain in a way he hasn't gotten to yet. After a long hiatus following the commercial disappointment of 2014's The Expendables 3, the team is back for The Expendables 4, set to be released in 2022. Jason Statham's Lee Christmas will lead the way this time, while new cast members include Tony Jaa, Megan Fox, and 50 Cent, with Uwais reportedly portraying the main villain.
Following his film debut in 2009's Merantau, Iko Uwais has anchored one martial arts hit after another, most notably The Raid duology. Uwais has also had major successes in action films like Beyond Skyline, Headshot,and Triple Threat, itself a very Expendables-style ensemble. Aside from his more heroic roles, Uwais has stepped into villainous shoes on numerous occasions over the year but hasn't gotten as much of a chance to bring his usual fireworks to most of these antagonistic roles.
Iko Uwais was first seen as an antagonist in Keanu Reeves' directorial debut Man of Tai Chi, but for as action-packed as the movie was, his match with Tiger Chen in an underground fight club amounted to very little; Uwais and Chen thankfully got to have a much better rematch in Triple Threat. Star Wars: The Force Awakens also infamously had Uwais and his co-stars from The Raid films, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, make a brief appearance as members of the Kanji Club but gave them nothing to do. Mile 22 revealed Uwais as a veiled antagonist at the last minute, but his fight scenes in the movie were over-edited, while his later villainous role in otherwise entertaining buddy-cop movie Stuber also underutilized Uwais' talents.
To date, the only Iko Uwais villain role where he has truly gotten to shine is in Timo Tjahjanto's The Night Comes For Us, with his Indonesian gang enforcer Arian pursuing his one-time friend Ito (Joe Taslim). The latter's conscience begins to pull him out of his criminal life, while Julie Estelle's Operator also arrives as another shadowy enemy. The Silat-filled action scenes of The Night Comes For Us were up there with the best Uwais has ever done, while Arian was a starkly different role from the more upright characters he'd previously embodied. With Uwais as The Expendables 4's villain, it could give him his first chance to show his strengths as a bad guy in a Western action movie.
Tony Jaa being in The Expendables 4 also offers the very tantalizing possibility of the two facing off. Uwais and Jaa previously had a brief but exhilarating battle before becoming allies in Triple Threat, and it seems like a possibility they'll be true adversaries this time. Uwais could now really get to cut loose as the villain of The Expendables 4 against a fellow martial arts legend like Tony Jaa. Additionally, with the humanity and tragedy Uwais brought to Arian in The Night Comes For Us, he could have the chance to go in the opposite direction and channel a more ruthless antagonist, embodied by the franchise's past villains. Iko Uwais hasn't gotten to show his potential as a villain in his Hollywood outings yet, but The Expendables 4 could be where that opportunity finally arrives.
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