The Ending Of Expend4bles Explained
Contains spoilers for "Expend4bles"
The Expendables return for a fourth adventure that sees them face one of their biggest threats yet and deal with some harsh losses. This time around, the group goes on a mission to stop a man named Rahmat (Iko Uwais) from stealing nuclear weapons for his mysterious employer known as The Ocelot -– whom team leader Barney (Sylvester Stallone) has been chasing for years. The Ocelot has been a ghost that's eluded Barney for many years and is someone he'd love to finally fight face to face. Unfortunately, the team's initial mission against Rahmat ends in disaster. So to stop Rahmat's plans to please The Ocelot, the Expendables have to rally together and gain some new allies so that they can put a stop to The Ocelot's plans to start World War 3.
"Expend4bles" is another star-studded action affair that sees generational icons of the genre collide for an R-rated, blood-splattering confrontation. Throughout the team's latest adventure, there are plenty of comedic one-liners, brutal kills, and unexpected backstabs to make it a classic Expendables story. There are also some big story moments that'll change the future of the team forever. So, let's delve into the ending of "Expend4bles" and see how the action-packed finale affects the franchise's foreseeable future.
What you need to remember about the plot
Before we jump into the finale of "Expend4bles," let's look at some important details leading up to it that have a big impact. When we're reintroduced to Barney and Lee (Jason Statham), Lee is in the midst of a heated argument with his girlfriend Gina (Megan Fox) — who is also an Expendable — and she ends things with Lee. Then, they rejoin veteran members of their team as well as new faces for a mission that sees them fly into Libya to stop Rahmat from stealing nuclear devices for his secret employer, The Ocelot, a former target of Barney's who he failed to capture many years ago. Although the group's plan initially goes as planned, Lee breaks away to try and save Barney as his plane is being pummeled by anti-air weapons. Although he's successful in destroying the anti-air weapon, Rahmat shoots down Barney's plane, causing it to crash. When Lee and the others arrive at the crash site, all they see is Barney's charred body.
With the leader of their group dead, Gina is named the new leader by Marsh (Andy Garcia) and Lee is kicked off the team for disobeying orders. However, Lee still wants to avenge Barney's death. So, he teams up with an old ally of Barney's named Decha (Tony Jaa) to stop Rahmat, discover who The Ocelot is, and rescue the Expendables team after they've been captured by Rahmat.
What happened at the end of the movie
So, once Lee meets up with Decha and they catch up to Rahmat's ship — which is carrying the nuclear warheads — he climbs onto the ship and starts to take down Rahmat's men. Eventually, he's joined by Decha, and the two absolutely slaughter most of Rahmat's army as they search for the team. While Lee and Decha fight their way across the ship, the team ends up escaping their room through a water hatch. However, they're without Marsh — who has been taken by Rahmat to complete a prisoner exchange for an important ally. Within no time, Lee and Decha rescue the team and everyone is reunited and armed to the teeth.
Unfortunately, the team still has to deal with the active nuclear warhead on board, and the clock is ticking. Rahmat sent the ship sailing towards the Russian coastline, making it appear like a US military vessel. So, when it detonates it'll look like a US attack, and World War 3 could begin. Also — according to demolition expert Toll Road (Randy Couture) — the only way to stop the bomb's detonation is through a kill switch that Rahmat is suspected to have. So, the group plans to find Rahmat, take the kill switch, and stop the bomb from going off.
What else happened at the end of the movie
Although the group tears through Rahmat's men with immense firepower, they still face some rough obstacles in the process. Toll Road is greatly wounded and in dire need of medical attention before he bleeds out. And, more importantly, the team suffers a grave betrayal that no one saw coming. Amidst all the chaos, the exchange Rahmat asked for is still happening on the ship and Marsh is brought towards the helicopter carrying Rahmat's ally. However, when Marsh and the hostage lock eyes, the prisoner looks mortified to see him and Marsh suddenly executes both him and the guards — revealing himself to be The Ocelot. It turns out that Marsh has actually been the one Barney has been hunting down for all these years, and now he plans to start World War 3 so he can financially benefit from the conflict.
Even worse is that Marsh is the one who has the kill switch and he throws it into the ocean. So, now there's no way to shut off the bomb. With few options and Toll Road on the verge of dying, the group swiftly kills Rahmat, but is forced to head onto Deche's boat and abandon the mission. However — after the rest of the crew is onboard Deche's boat — Lee remembers the impact and importance of Barney's sacrifice and decides to follow in the same path. He'll stay and try to keep the ship from reaching the mainland.
What else happened at the end of the movie, continued
With Lee the only one who can stop the ship from reaching the coastline, he fights his way back to the quarterdeck to turn the ship around. By using the anchor to slow the ship down, Lee is successful in turning the ship back towards the ocean and away from civilization. In the process, he also causes Marsh's escape routes to be thwarted, so he's not going anywhere either. With nowhere to go, Marsh calls Lee out to fight him, and Lee obliges. He puts on the thick knuckles that Barney gave him and is ready to beat Marsh to a bloody pulp. However, Lee arming up is ultimately not necessary, since Marsh is torn apart by the guns of the helicopter piloted by Barney, who faked his own death so that the file on Ocelot could be declassified, using the body of their old enemy Jumbo Shrimp as a decoy.
With no time to spare, Lee hops onto the helicopter while Barney pilots them away just in time for the bomb to go off in the middle of the ocean — sparing the lives of thousands. Back at their favorite bar, everyone celebrates the success of the mission. Lee and Gina have rekindled their relationship. And finally, Lee and Barney laugh over Jumbo Shrimp being used to fake Barney's death.
What does the end of the movie mean
Once the mission ends and everyone is chilling at the bar, we get some noteworthy moments that define the arcs of the various Expendables members. Newbies Easy Day (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) and Lash (Levy Tran) are more widely accepted within the team — with the latter having a more defined bond with Toll Road. Other newbie Galan (Jacob Scipio) — who is the son of Galgo (Antonio Banderas) from "Expendables 3" — is back to his old self after taking a vow of silence following Barney's death. For better or worse, he's back to making his sexually charged puns and idolizing Barney. To be honest, Toll Road and Gunner (Dolph Lundgren) don't change much throughout the film, but are seen being happy alongside their new teammates.
Despite their rocky relationship throughout the film, Lee and Gina end up together by the end, and it seems like they're in a much better place. Lee's sacrifice likely made Gina think differently about him, realizing that he can think about more than himself. Now it's up to Lee to commit to his own desires to have a real relationship — which he expressed to Barney earlier in the film. As for Barney, he's now at peace knowing that Ocelot is dead, and can revel in how he faked everyone out. Barney might be on the edge of retiring, but he's still got it.
Another possible explanation
Although the team is in great spirits by the end of their mission, the loss of Marsh has a greater impact on how they work going forward. Not only have they lost their mission manager/liaison, but now there's likely going to be some tension between them and the CIA going forward. After all, Barney's longtime enemy was hiding right under the CIA's nose and the team would probably have trust issues with whoever comes along to guide their team. So, whoever Marsh's replacement is has a lot of trust to rebuild within the team, and will have to deal with some harsh stares and mistrusting eyes before they're really accepted.
Maybe this opens the door for someone like Drummer (Harrison Ford) to return and manage the team, since he was a part of the CIA last we checked. He's at least someone the crew would be more open to trusting right away. However, maybe this makes the team start to distance themselves from the CIA altogether and act as a rogue operations force that saves the world their own way. Regardless, Marsh's betrayal has a lot of possible implications going forward that could result in a new direction for the team — or at very least, a new liaison.
Defining a bigger purpose for missions
One of the big overarching themes of "Expend4bles" is the impact and importance of sacrifice. After Lee tries to negate Barney's sacrifice but still ends up failing, everyone criticizes and questions his choice. Easy Day mentions that Barney's sacrifice now means less because Rahmat escaped and they failed the mission. Lee is cut from the team because he disobeyed Barney's order to not do anything. But it does ultimately cause the team to become more committed to stopping Rahmat and Ocelet, and for Lee to continue the mission on his own. Plus, when Lee decides to sacrifice himself, it really changes everyone's perspective of him, and he gains much more respect from his allies.
While Barney's death wasn't actually real, and Lee is also able to escape without really having to give up his own life for the greater good, the film does reflect the deeper meaning and impact of sacrifice. For the team, the action of sacrificing yourself is a form of inspiration and helps leave a lasting memory that causes others to act. Sure, it's sad to lose one of your beloved team members on any mission. But, if they go out on their own terms to help the group or save lives, it's seen as a defining moment that no one forgets. It's why the team criticizes Lee's attempted intervention, and it's a great reminder that sacrifice is a meaningful choice that causes deeper change within others.
The start of a new era?
If "Expend4bles" proves anything, it's that the team is in desperate need of younger talent. While it's been amazing to see the franchise bring legacy actors from the action genre into the mix over the years, some of them — and their characters — are showing signs of time catching up to them. Toll Road has already suffered enough injuries and Gunner has gotten to the point where he has to wear glasses to be an accurate sniper. Plus — even just outside the films themselves — Sylvester Stallone has made it clear that "Expend4bles" will be his last stint in this franchise, and that he's looking to hand the reins over to Jason Statham.
Even franchise veteran Randy Couture acknowledged how there are few veteran actors left in the franchise at this point. In an interview with MovieWeb, Couture said "Obviously there's only four old Expendables characters left, and that's me and Dolph [Lundgren] and [Jason] Statham and [Sylvester] Stallone." So, maybe it's time for the franchise to add a more stable roster of new blood. "The Expendables 3" had a strong roster of young talent included in the roster — including Kellan Lutz and Glen Powell — and maybe it's time to give them bigger stakes in the franchise, especially since they were absent in this film. "The Expendables" has done a fantastic job highlighting legends of the action genre, but now it's time for it to establish a new generation.
Solidified relationships
"Expend4bles" is clearly more focused on Lee and his personal story, and a big part of it is his relationship with Gina. Right when their relationship is introduced, there's a lot of tension. Gina is literally screaming her head off at Lee for not caring enough about their relationship and being emotionless while Lee uncaringly chats with Barney. From there, their relationship ends and Gina takes over Barney's role as leader of the Expendables after he's "killed" and Lee is booted off the team. Yet when Lee tries to steal information from Gina, their fighting leads to sex. So their romantic chemistry is still present, and Gina even comes to care for Lee more when he makes his sacrificial choice in the finale.
In an earlier conversation with Barney, Lee mentions that he desperately wants to find someone to be with so that he doesn't have to be alone like Barney. Despite some rockiness in their relationship, Lee does harbor real feelings for Gina that he may be too afraid to genuinely acknowledge and perhaps isn't mature enough to take ownership of them until he makes his sacrifice. Plus, with Lee not dying, the two have the opportunity to really explore their relationship — which makes them more solidified by the end. So, Lee and Gina's arc has some interesting ups and downs, but ends on a good note.
What does the ending mean for the franchise?
While Sylvester Stallone's departure and the absence of many of the series veterans might make fans think that "The Expendables" franchise is over, there's a good chance that it's not. Stallone has mentioned that he's essentially passing leading duties off to Statham, so it's possible plans are in place for the story to continue. Plus, there's always the opportunity for a new generation of action stars to join the fray and add some new energy to the team. For now though — at least according to the film's director and producers — there are no specific plans for the franchise's future.
In an interview with ComingSoon, director Scott Waugh discussed the possibility of a potential sequel and how he would go about it. After saying that he'd be thrilled to come back if he's asked, Waugh said, "If they ask me, you know, I think really we have to see kinda where it's at and what's the story most importantly. And then, once we find out what the story is, then we would go after actors." In a separate interview with ComingSoon, producers Kevin King-Templeton and Les Weldon talked about how it's up to the fans at this point. "It's a fan-driven franchise. You know, if there's an appetite for it, we'll make it," said Templeton. So, there are no exact plans for another "Expendables" movie, but the opportunity is out there if the right story can be found.