Summary

Sylvester Stallone reflects on breaking his neck while filming a fight scene with Steve Austin in The Expendables, revealing that he's never fully healed.
Stallone cautions actors against doing their own stunts due to the risk of injury.
The Expendables 4's failure suggests that the franchise Stallone started won't be continuing.

Directed by Stallone, the action-packed franchise-starter assembles an impressive list of action stars, including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and more. The film follows Stallone's Barney Ross as he leads his team of mercenaries on a dangerous mission in South America, with one tense sequence featuring Stallone's character facing off against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's Paine.

During a recent episode of The Family Stallone on Paramount Plus, Stallone reflects on the injury he sustained while doing his own stunts for the Austin fight in The Expendables. The star, who was 62 at the time, broke his neck filming the scene, resulting in him getting surgery for a hairline fracture. Check out his comments (via Business Insider) about the lasting damage from the injury, as well as his advice to other actors about stunts:

"I thought I was going to be OK. I had my back operation, which is why you should never do your own stunts. There's something kind of romantic about doing your own stunts. There's something very unromantic about after doing your own stunts. I did stupid stuff. I was directing Expendables, and like an idiot, I'm doing take 10. I never recovered from Expendables 1. After that film, I was literally, physically, never the same. So, I warn people, don't do your own stunts."

Can The Expendables Succeed Without Sylvester Stallone?

The Expendables 4 Killed The Franchise

Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross in Expen4bles

The first two movies in the Expendables franchise are generally considered the best. The first film remains the only installment that Stallone himself directed, and it ended up earning $268.3 million worldwide. The Expendables 2 in 2012 earned better reviews from critics and topped the first movie at the box office, earning $312 million. After this, however, the franchise takes a bit of a nosedive, as seen in the chart below:

Title	Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score	Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
The Expendables (2010)	42%	64%
The Expendables 2 (2012)	67%	67%
The Expendables 3 (2014)	31%	48%
Expend4bles	14%	70%

Ditching the R rating that the first two movies had in favor of a PG-13, The Expendables 3 brings in an even bigger cast of recognizable actors, but it lacks the violent thrills of the first two. The third film saw diminishing returns at the box office, too, leading to questions about whether the franchise could continue. The Expendables 4's box office last year essentially sealed the franchise's fate, with the movie earning a dismal $51.1 million and the worst critics reviews of the bunch.

The Expendables 4's cast features Stallone in more of a ing role as the baton is ed instead to Statham and other newcomers. Stallone was featured heavily in marketing materials, however, but even this wasn't enough to draw audiences to theaters, suggesting a general sense of fatigue with the whole franchise. The Expendables franchise is now essentially dead in the water, which is clearly for the best as it doesn't sound like Stallone will be taking on too many strenuous action scenes moving forward.

Source: The Family Stallone (via Business Insider)