The Expendables 3 - 13 Easter Eggs & References You Need To Know

7. Rambo

While Barney and Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer) are busy recruiting younger members for their decrepit team, they come across former Navy Seal John Smilee (Kellan Lutz), a tough youngster with a serious authority problem. Barney says to him, "I hear you lost a few friends in the desert. They bought it, you didn't, you wear the guilt. I've been there, he's been there, we've all lived it." Though from any other Expendable this would seem like a throwaway reference to the nature of their work, that any Expendable could die in any mission, but from the mouth of Stallone? It's gotta be a First Blood reference, especially considering Stallone's brilliant speech near the end of that movie where he tearfully recalls a buddy being blown to pieces in front of him. It fits. The second reference occurs when Thorn (Glen Powell) mockingly says to Barney, "Ok, so, our plan is to, what, kick down the door and start spraying bullets?", and Luna (Ronda Rousey) says, "That's a great plan, if it's 1985", much to Barney's offence. 1985 happens to be the year that Sly starred in Rambo: First Blood Part II, and could very well be seen as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that the movie was widely criticised for being a brainless shoot-em-up successor to the more dramatically potent original movie.