The Expendables 4 will bring back some familiar faces, but which characters are the most likely to die? Long before Marvel assembled The Avengers on the big screen, Sylvester Stallone showed the value of gathering together a supergroup of iconic heroes. The Expendables was the actor's follow-up to Rambo, and he felt that collecting a bunch of famous action stars for one movie - such as himself, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren - was something audiences would love to see. His bet paid off, as the three movies to date have all been successful.
The Stallone action franchise has never quite lived up to its potential, however, lacking the standout action setpieces, memorable one-liners or energy of the '80s and '90s blockbusters they're imitating. The Expendables has never lived up to the title either since, over the course of the series to date, only one team member has actually died. This happened with The Expendables 2's Billy The Kid (Liam Hemsworth), a new recruit whose death motivates the gang to hunt down his killer. While characters such as Lundgren's Gunner Jensen or Mickey Rourke's Tool were all on the chopping block at different points during the making of the movies, they all made it to the end credits.
The Expendables 4 is set for a 2022 release, and in contrast to previous films, doesn't appear concerned with bringing in further action icons. Instead, the sequel has put together an eclectic list of Expendables newcomers including Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, 50 Cent and Iko Uwais. It will also bring back some of the original team, including Statham, Stallone, Lundgren and Randy Couture as Toll Road. Story details for The Expendables 4 are fairly slim currently, those it's known that Stallone will take a step back from the series and Statham is poised to become the new lead. Rumors have suggested Stallone's Barney may die during the sequel too, though Gunner and Toll Road are the more likely candidates.
The Expendables series has long had an issue with killing off its characters, but if the fourth movie is to set a new path, it might have to get a little darker. Instead of killing Barney, the more likely outcome is the character will retire after a mission gone wrong and become more of a team liaison like Mickey Rourke's Tool, which would allow him to return for future entries in a more reduced role. In The Expendables 3 Barney also (briefly) disbanded his team because he feared getting them killed on a mission of revenge and that they were too old for it, so it would track that the deaths of some of his men would push him to quit.
The demise of either Lundgren's Gunner or Couture's Toll Road - or both - would act as a strong catalyst for this. It would also see Statham's Christmas have to assemble a new, unfamiliar team, which are roles that 50 Cent and Fox will likely fill. Of course, The Expendables 4 may have some surprises in store and the whole team will, once again, live to see another day.