Stone Cold Steve Austin. Randy Couture. Terry Crews. Jet Li. Dolph Lundgren. Jason Statham. Sylvestor Stallone. With just those few named, it is easy to see that the cast of The Expendables may be the most testosterone-filled cast in the history of film. That being said, the first star to come out for its Comic Con panel was Terry Crews, who undid his shirt and flexed his muscles for the crowd.
As far as new footage is concerned, two clips were screened for the audience. One was a fight scene in a tunnel where Austin and Stallone are fighting each other and the other was of Couture and Statham fighting each other with pistols and knives, and Crews takes out tons of enemies all at once with an auto-shotgun. The other was a plane scene that mainly involved Statham fighting a bunch of baddies. 
It should be noted that Austin and Crews came dangerously close to explosions while filming. You could say lots of things about this film, but you definitely won’t be able to walk out of the film and say that it isn’t action-packed.
It is interesting that famous action stars such as Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagal are not in the film, although all were approached to star, or so says Sylvestor Stallone:
"I talked to Van Damme, Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal There's things like schedules and--insanity--that keep that from happening."
Speaking of Stallone, he was clearly the highlight of the panel. The Academy Award nominee’s primary action influences were Jason and the Argonauts, Sinbad, and Sword and the Sorcerer. He confesses to being sort of a geek while growing up, having attested to wearing a Superman costume to school.
When it comes to the films themselves, Stallone actually enjoys directing films much more than starring in them. As for not using 3-D, he stated that he decided not to utilize it because he wanted to keep it an old school action film. Going in line with that, Crews claims that Stallone made the definitive modern action film and that he is excited to be working with action stars. He also reports that his neck was broken by Austin as the film was being made.
The cast wasn't reluctant to chat up the making of the film. Austin had nice things to say about Couture’s professionalism. Couture, who says that he joined because of the cast, noted that he used his own fighting style in the film. As for difficult scenes, he said that his hardest scene had lots of dialogue. What’s more, Stallone re-wrote it only an hour before it was to be filmed. However, Crews assisted him. Lundgren says that the film was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He enjoyed his scenes alongside Li and, like Couture, had some difficulty with the dialogue.
Whatever you may make of what happened at this panel, it is certain that many will flock to theaters on August 13 to see their favorite actions stars on the silver screen once more.
