The Expendables: Who Has The Highest Kill Count In The Franchise?

As we ramp up for the somewhat-anticipated fourth installment of the "Expendables" franchise, we look back on the path of destruction left by the group of elder mercenaries holding on to their glory days. The group is made up of some of the deadliest action stars of the last 40 years, from Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris. Sure, Arnie has taken out people by the hundreds as the Terminator, and Willis dispatched entire teams of terrorists for five movies as John McClane. And let's not even begin to count Chuck Norris' career body count. But who among the "Expendables" cast has accumulated the highest kill count in the franchise so far?

Conventional thinking would think it is probably one of the good guys, as Eric Roberts, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Mel Gibson, who each play villains in the first three films, may have killed hundreds off-screen before coming face to face with the mercs, but none of them killed many people in the movies themselves.

The main mercenary team has some pretty solid candidates, including Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who lugs around a large, loud gun, mowing down his adversaries. And of course, Yin Yang (Jet Li) dispatches handfuls of men at a time, sometimes with pots and pans. But according to the "List of Deaths" fan wiki, the highest kill count belongs to the leader's right-hand man and the team's resident knives expert, Lee Christmas (Jason Statham).

Lee Christmas is not as cheery as his name sounds, as he is responsible for the deaths of 280 people throughout the course of the first three "Expendables" films. That count beats out the second-place mercenary, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), whose count is estimated at 223. It shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Statham is known for being one of the top action stars and martial artists in the industry, so he is used to taking care of business.

In the first film, we see him as a dependable right hand to Ross, always by his side in every battle, even getting into skirmishes while they're simply doing recon on an island. He then assists in taking out one of the villain's lieutenants, known as the Brit (Gary Daniels). In the second film, he does more of the same, as Lee gets the pleasure of taking out droves of men in a church dressed as a priest before going mano a mano against Scott Adkins in the film's climax. In the third installment, he continues wreaking havoc, this time against several platoons of baddies.

As the fourth movie gears up for theatrical release, Christmas has the opportunity to break the 300 kills milestone, as he will only have to take out 20 adversaries to get there. Maybe he'll get a set of steak knives for the achievement. He does love a good blade.