Expend4bles Trailer: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham Prepare to Stop ‘World War III’

The Expendables 4 just got a trailer, ahead of its release on September 22. Officially titled ‘Expend4bles,' it's been almost a decade since the third film was released, and so the footage reveals a host of new faces including Megan Fox and 50 Cent, who would presumably carry the star-studded action franchise forward. Sylvester Stallone marks his final appearance as the leader Barney Ross, passing the baton to the knife expert Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), who will take over the commanding role. Scott Waugh — best known for the Need for Speed movie — directs Expendables 4, which brings back the mercenary gang for another world-saving mission.

The trailer for Expend4bles opens with Lee Christmas (Statham) going through his ex-girlfriend Gina's (Fox) drawers to find a confidential document. “Oh, I'm sorry. You weren't invited,” she tells Lee when he tries to join her on whatever classified mission was mentioned in those pages. What follows next is a bizarrely sexual fight sequence between the two, as they try and get their hands on the file. Fast forward to the next morning, and leader Ross (Stallone) pops in to say hi and brief his second-in-command Lee about their latest mission. “I need better friends,” Lee mutters in annoyance — a clever way to transition the trailer and offer a look at the new cast joining in.

First up is Easy (50 Cent), who seems quite distressed about their aged sniper Gunner's (Dolph Lundgren) abilities. Gunner claims he's got a prescription scope on his gun for better vision. “Look Hawk eyes, remember this face. Don't shoot it by accident,” Easy warns him — a direct tongue-in-cheek reference to when 50 Cent was shot in the cheek in real life, which led to him having a slightly slurred speech. “Terrorists have taken possession of nuclear missiles on a cargo ship off the coast,” CIA Agent Marsh (Andy García) describes the mission to his team in the Expendables 4 trailer. “If these babies go off, it'll be World War III.” Our heroes are then seen preparing to skydive onto the cargo ship and infiltrate its tightly secured corners. While the footage does feature Stallone a lot, it's worth mentioning that he's on-screen for only a small part of it — this being his last stint in the franchise and all. Meanwhile, Statham reportedly takes up 80 percent of the screentime.

As expected, the Expendables 4 trailer soon divulges into a flurry of action sequences, revealing the key antagonists. We've got Suarto, played by Iko Uwais (The Raid: Redemption), whose reputation as a real-life martial artist bleeds through in this film, as he takes on Lee in close-quarter knife combat. “You choose this life over friends, over family,” Ross explains, as we're treated to massive explosions, courtesy of the team's demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture). We see fighter jets unloading a barrage of missiles, the cargo ship being sunk sideways, and loads of vehicular combat. Other new additions to the cast include Tony Jaa (Monster Hunter), Levy Tran (The Haunting of Hill House), and Jacob Scipio (Without Remorse).

Expend4bles hits theatres worldwide on September 22.