The Expendables are a group of elite mercenaries comprised of former military personnel and outsiders who work above the law and conduct missions that the government agencies and the military cannot perform.
History
The Expendables
Ross, Christmas, Yin Yang, Jensen, Caesar, and Toll Road deployed to Somalia to rescue the hostages from the local pirates. However, Ross reluctantly had to release Jensen from the team due to his psychological problems. Both Ross and Trent Mauser went to the church to meet "Mr. Church", who offered them a mission in Vilena, South America, to overthrow a local dictator, General Garza. Busy with other things, Mauser gives the contract to Ross. Ross and Christmas did initial reconnaissance after meeting with their contact, Sandra, only for the mission to go awry. Sandra was revealed to be Garza's daughter. Ross then decides to abort, and caused casualties among the army as they made their escape, but felt guilty for leaving Sandra behind. Meanwhile, Jensen approached Garza and allies with the ex-CIA agent James Munroe and his henchmen Dan Paine and The Brit to identify his former comrades. It is revealed that Munroe controls the actions of General Garza, in exchange for his wealth.
Ross, Yang and Christmas discovered information about Munroe, and hypothesizes that "Church" is part of the CIA. Ross believed that Church had hired them to kill Garza, since the CIA could not. Jensen and a number of Munroe's men followed Ross and Yang, instigating a shoot-out during a car chase. Just as the pursuit ends in an abandoned warehouse, Yang and Jensen fought each other a second time. Jensen eventually got the upper hand and attempted to impale Yang on a pipe, only for Ross to shoot him. Believing that he was going to die from his gunshot wound, Jensen gave the layout of Garza's palace to Ross.
The Expendables then infiltrated Garza's compound, with Ross bent on rescuing Sandra while Christmas, Yang, Caesar, and Road were planting all C-4 explosives throughout the site. When Garza had a change of heart, Munroe killed him. Ross briefly rescued Sandra, only for Sandra to be re-captured by Munroe. The entire team fought their way through dozens of Garza's henchmen. Ross and Caesar managed to destroy the helicopter Munroe was going to escape on while Christmas, Yang and Road, killed Paine and Brit. Both Ross and Christmas managed to get Munroe and kill him, saving Sandra in the process. Instead of taking the payment of $5 million, Ross gives it to Sandra in order to restore the country.
The team went to the bar owned by their former teammate Tool, with the reformed Jensen and Yang having reconciled with each other and Lee and Tool challenging each other to a knife throwing game. Before his final throw, Lee recited a poem about his respect for Tool, whom he claimed cannot beat him in knife throwing as he walked outside of the bar before turning to make his throw, which lands perfectly in the middle of the screen, implying that it landed at the center of the board. They then rode off on their motorcycles.
The Expendables 2
The Expendables were deployed to Nepal to rescue Dr. Zhou who was captured by the Nepalese Armed Forces. The team consists of Ross, Christmas, Yin Yang, Caesar, Road, Jensen and Billy "The Kid" Timmons, the group's youngest and newest member. The team rescued Zhou and the captured mercenary and Ross' rival, Trent Mauser. Yang parts with the group to escort Zhou back to China.
After returning to the U.S., Billy told Ross that he wanted to finish the month out with the team and then be retired to France to be with his girlfriend Sophia, and Ross accepted his decision. Later, Ross was forced to accept a mission from CIA agent Mr. Church to retrieve an item from a safe in an airplane that was shot down in Albania. Church sends technical expert Maggie with the team to crack the safe. In Albania, the team successfully retrieved the item, but were ambushed by Jean Vilain and his mercenary group called the Sangs, who had captured Billy. Vilain demands the Expendables weapons and the item in exchange for Billy's life. The team surrenders the item, but Vilain kicked a knife through Billy's heart and flees with the Sangs by helicopter. Ross recovered a note for Sophia from Billy's body and the team buried their fallen comrade, swearing revenge on Vilain.
Maggie told the team that the item is a computer containing a blueprint to the location of five tons of plutonium abandoned in a mine by the Soviet Union following the Cold War. Vilain and his right-hand man Hector intended to retrieve the plutonium and sell it. The Expendables were able to partially track the blueprint computer's signal to follow Vilain. The team rested at an abandoned Russian military base overnight. The following morning, the team are ambushed by the Sangs and a tank. After the Expendables ran out of ammunition, they were saved by Ross' old friend, Booker, who quickly eliminated both the Sangs and the tank. Before he departs, Booker informs the group of a nearby village whose residents oppose Vilain. Meanwhile, Hector and Vilain discovered the plutonium and began its collection.
Arriving at the village, the Expendables found several armed female villagers guarding their children from Vilain's men: the local villages' inhabitants were taken by Vilain's men and put to work in the mine as slaves, never returning. The women plead for the Expendables to help. The Sangs arrived to collect more villagers, but they were ambushed and killed by the Expendables. After locating Vilain and the mine, the team assaulted the area with their plane before purposefully crashing into the mine itself. The team managed to save the enslaved miners from execution, but Vilain and Hector escaped with the plutonium. Vilain remotely detonated explosives in the mine, causing it to collapse and trap the Expendables and miners.
Trench and Church arrive and free the Expendables and miners. The pair then joined with the Expendables to pursue Vilain. The group intercepted Vilain and his men in an airport as he was preparing to leave by plane. Joined again by Booker, the Expendables, along with Trench and Church, engage the Sangs in combat. Christmas managed to decapitate Hector, while Ross and Vilain fought their own, personal duel elsewhere. Ross defeated Vilain, stabbing him and avenging Billy.
In the aftermath, Ross was provided with an old biplane by Church. Church, Maggie, Booker and Trench then leave the team. In France, Sophia discovered a box on her doorstep containing a large sum of money and Billy's letter. As the Expendables departed in the plane, they had given a final toast in honor of Billy.
The Expendables 3
The team extracted one of their former members, Doctor "Doc" Death, from a military prison during his transfer on a train. They recruited Doc to assist them in intercepting a shipment of bombs meant to be delivered to the warlords in Somalia. Arriving there, they reunited with Hale Caesar, who directed them to the insertion point, where Ross was angered to discover that the arms dealer providing the bombs is Conrad Stonebanks, a former co-founder of the Expendables who went rogue and was presumed dead. In the ensuing firefight, the team killed all but Stonebanks, who shot Caesar, severely injuring him. They were forced to retreat due to Stonebanks dropping a glide bomb on them.
Back at the U.S., CIA operative and the Expendables' new mission handler, Max Drummer, gave Ross a mission to capture Stonebanks and bring him to The Hague to be convicted for his war crimes. Blaming himself for Caesar's injuries, Ross disbanded the Expendables and left for Las Vegas, where he enlisted retired mercenary-turned-recruiter Bonaparte to help him find a new team of younger mercenaries. The recruits included former U.S. Marine John Smilee, night club bouncer Luna, computer expert Thorn, and weapons expert Mars. Skilled sharpshooter Galgo asked to be included in the team, but Ross turned him down.
The new team members rendezvoused with Ross' rival Trench Mauser, returning a favor for Ross. Drummer had traced Stonebanks to Romania, where he was set to make an arms deal. Ross and the new recruits infiltrate an office building Stonebanks is using and, having to kill a few men in the process including arms purchaser Goran Vata, capturing Stonebanks. In transit, Stonebanks taunted Ross and explained why he had betrayed The Expendables. Ross nearly killed him to shut him up but, despite Stonebanks egging him on, he stood down. Stonebanks' men caught up to them, with the aid of his GPS tracker, and fired a missile at the team's van. Ross was thrown into a river, while Smilee, Luna, Thorn and Mars were captured by Stonebanks' crew. Ross killed Stonebanks' retrieval team and escaped.
Stonebanks sent Ross a video, challenging Ross to come after him and giving him his location in Azmenistan. While preparing to leave and mount a solo rescue, Ross was found by Galgo, who re-offered his services. Ross accepted, later accompanied by the veteran Expendables. They rescued the young mercenaries, only to learn from Stonebanks that he had rigged the place with explosives. Thorn quickly used a hand-wrist device to jam the countdown, giving them just under half an hour before detonation. As a backup plan, Stonebanks ordered the armed forces, including tanks and attack helicopters, to attack the building in full force. As both the young and veteran Expendables fought one another, Ross convinced them to work together before the final battle began. Drummer and Trench arrived in a Huey helicopter to help, alongside the returning Expendables member Yin Yang.
The new and veteran Expendables work together to fight Stonebanks' forces. When a second wave moved in, Drummer landed on the rooftop to evacuate the team. As everyone reached Drummer's helicopter, Stonebanks personally attacked Ross after shooting him down. Having been forced to remove the armor and his weapon, Ross and Stonebanks engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Both were equally matched, but Ross knocked down Stonebanks before they took their weapons. Stonebanks fired, but Ross got the better of him. At his mercy, Stonebanks questioned Ross about delivering him to The Hague. Ross coldly shot Stonebanks in response. Seconds after Stonebanks' death, the batteries of Thorn's device ran out, causing the building to explode and collapse. The team made it to Drummer's helicopter and flew away to safety, as Ross held on to its rope from outside.
In the aftermath, Caesar recovered from his wounds, and Ross officially accepted Galgo, Smilee, Luna, Thorn, and Mars into the team. They all celebrated at a bar together.
The Expendables 4
Allies
- Trent "Trench" Mauser - Austrian-German mercenary and former teammate of Barney Ross (Leader of his own team in Part 1-3)
- Maggie Chan - Chinese-born American code breaking specialist (Member of Trench's team in Part 2).
- Mr. Church - CIA agent (Original client of The Expendables in Part 1-2).
- Booker - Ex-soldier turned lone wolf mercenary and Barney Ross' war buddy. Joins Team Trench at the end. (Member of Trench's team in Part 2).
- Max Drummer - Ex-Major of the U.S. Air Force and CIA operative, replacing Mr. Church. (New client of the Expendables in Part 3).
- Bonaparte - Retired mercenary and long-lost friend of Barney Ross. Helping Barney to find new recruits for the Expendables.
- Sandra Garza - Daughter of a ruthless officer, General Garza, and the protector of Vilena, the unheard Latina island country.
- Dr. Zhou - Chinese billionaire.
- Sophia - French wife of Billy "The Kid" Timmons.
Gallery
Trivia
- It is implied that all members of the group have fake names.
- For transportation, the group used the dual-engine XP 2112 flying boat for the first two films. At the end of the second film, they switch to the radial-engine GZ-1162 biplane.
- According to Stonebanks, the group ran missions for the Central Intelligence Agency when they had no intention to get their hands dirty and decided to hire others to clean up the messes they could not fix.
- Doc states that the group started out with five members (consisting of Doc himself, Barney Ross, Conrad Stonebanks, Hammer and Woodsman) before expanding to a total number of twenty-two members.