That Shocking 'Expendables 4' Ending, Explained
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Spoilers follow for the plot of Expend4bles.
The fourth installment in the Expendables action franchise is rife with plot twists and surprise reveals that are almost as explosive as, well, the many actual explosives featured in the movie. The legacy cast of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture all return for Expend4bles, joined by franchise newcomers 50 Cent, Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, and Jacob Scipio—but not everybody makes it out of the movie alive.
In fact, the film's extended opening action sequence sets the plot in motion with a genuinely surprising death.
Again, spoilers follow.
Sylvester Stallone confirmed while shooting was still taking place on Expend4bles that this would be his final time playing team leader Barney Ross in the franchise, saying that it was time to "pass the baton" to a new line-up of action stars. And in the first act of the movie, in which the Expendables try to stop nukes from falling into the hands of mysterious terrorist "Ocelot," Barney is killed off when his plane is shot down, leaving only his burned body and signature skull ring behind.
"When you're an Expendable, you're allowed to die," director Scott Waugh has said of this movie. "That's your job."
At Barney's funeral, Jason Statham's Lee Christmas is approached by CIA agent and former teammate of Barney, Marsh (Andy Garcia), who removes him from the Expendables, brings in several new team members, and goes off in search of Ocelot. But when Lee trails the team across the world to confront Ocelot, it isn't long before it starts to look like the old-time Expendables will be bumped off one by one, with Toll Road (Randy Couture) being seriously stabbed and Lee preparing to sacrifice himself to complete the mission.
"We liked the idea that after Barney dies, we're just going to pick all the old guys off one by one," Waugh told USA Today. "Even Statham is going out gloriously with that cry, 'Make my sacrifice count!' That's the tongue-in-cheek aspect of the franchise."
Seriously, spoiler alert NOW.
At the eleventh hour, we get two major reveals: Agent Marsh is unveiled to be the mastermind Ocelot, and Barney Ross returns from the grave to kill him.
WTF, right?
So, who actually died in The Expendables 4?
It turns out, Barney had suspected Marsh of shady behavior on previous missions, and long harbored the belief that he was the true identity of Ocelot. But in order to flush him out, he had to fake his own death.
Expend4bles ends with the nuclear warhead going off deep beneath the ocean and far from any populated areas, leaving Barney with the task of explaining to his teammates exactly how he stage-managed his own demise in the middle of a war zone. In flashback, we see the thug biker he fought with in an early scene steal his skull ring, leading to a fight—but what is only revealed now is that Barney kidnapped the dirtbag and put him in his place on the plane right before it got hit, while he parachuted to safety. Which feels a lot like cold-blooded murder, but this is the Expendables so don't worry about it.
The real-life explanation behind all of this plot chicanery is that Stallone knew he would be stepping down from the franchise, and it made sense for his character to have a reduced role in the movie. And while it would have been a bold move to kill off the character who has been such an anchor in the ensemble cast, fans will likely be glad to know that Barney gets a happier ending than that.
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