All 4 ‘The Expendables’ Movies in Order: Not So Expendable Watch Order
Fans of all-time greatest action stars were overjoyed when the first ‘The Expendables’ movie was announced. This action-packed series of movies is not for everyone’s liking, but the first movie was successful enough in terms of box office that it justified not two but three additional sequels.
So far ‘The Expendables’ franchise consists of 4 movies that were released in the span of 13 years, and considering that it’s a decent-sized franchise at this point, we decided to bring you a comprehensive ‘The Expendables’ watch order.
‘The Expendables’ movies in order by release date
The first ‘The Expendables’ movie was released back in 2010, and it was met with a lukewarm response by the critics. It did manage to bring back $274,470,394 in worldwide box office on top of its $82 million budget. Additional three movies welcomed numerous other great action stars to its roster, and the franchise can be considered successful. Here are all four ‘The Expendables’ movies in their release date order.
- ‘The Expendables’ (2010)
- ‘The Expendables 2’ (2012)
- ‘The Expendables 3’ (2014)
- ‘Expend4bles’ (2023)
Please keep in mind that the rest of this post might contain spoilers if you’re not up-to-date with the latest developments in the franchise!
Are all ‘The Expendables’ movies connected? What’s the best order to watch them?
Absolutely all movies in ‘The Expendables’ franchise are connected and should be watched in their release order. The movies are set within the same continuity, and the story of the next installment is closely tied to the story of the previous installment. The overarching character arcs also wouldn’t make sense if the movies were watched out of order. The core team remains the same, but their individual stories are developed with each new release.
The established continuity between the installments also wouldn’t make sense if you started watching them randomly.
‘The Expendables’ movies in chronological order
The chronological watch order is exactly the same as the release date order, which makes following the established timeline of ‘The Expendables’ franchises easy to follow.
The first movie establishes the members of the elite group of mercenaries calling themselves ‘The Expendables. ‘ The team consists of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), a former member of the Special Air Force, who excels at anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master of close combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) has known Barney for ten years and is a specialist in long-barreled weapons; Toll Road (Randy Couture) is skilled in demolition and is considered the brain of the group and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) a combat veteran and sniper expert, who fights his own demons. The team is tasked with going to the small Island nation of Vilena to overthrow a small-time dictator, General Gaza, before his deeds become as big as his ambitions.
The second movie is set after the events that transpired in Vilena, as the team tries to get revenge on Jean Vilain, who murders the latest recruit to the team, Billy the Kid, who plans on retiring with his girlfriend. In the third movie, we’re greeted with a blast from the past as the whole team organizes a hunt for Conrad Stonebanks, the co-founder of The Expendables. Barney Ross also decides to include some younger recruits in the team, keeping up with the theme of aging and the past.
The last movie in the franchise, ‘Expend4bles’ shares a similar blast from the past theme as Ross is once again set to face ghosts from the past. His team is set to apprehend the mysterious Ocelot, who he failed to stop 25 years ago. During the events of the movie, Barney Ross seemingly dies, taking part in his deadliest mission so far, with the whole world at stake.
Where to watch the above-mentioned movies?
‘The Expendables’ is a pretty popular franchise, and it’s really available on a lot of streaming services. The first three installments of the franchise (‘The Expendables,’ ‘The Expendables 2,’ and ‘The Expendables 3’ can be streamed or rented on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Peacock. The last installment in the franchise ‘Expend4bles’ is only available in cinemas as of now, but once it’s theatrical run is over, there’s no doubt that it will appear on the afore mentioned streaming services.
Will there be more ‘The Expendables’ movies?
The future of the franchise depends on how successful ‘Expend4bles’ will be. The fourth installment was rumored to be the last, at least for Sylvester Stallone, but this doesn’t rule out that a younger team can completely take over the franchise. We will update this as soon as we have more info.