Photo courtesy of My Flair Pix

The panel for The Expendables 2 opened with Sylvester Stallone, who hit the stage with the audience chanting “Rocky”. It’s fitting for Stallone, who made a great impact with his first visit to Comic-Con a couple of years ago.

After he settled, a film reel played showcasing his film career. Afterward the moderator asked Stallone his opinion on the reel — he replied that all he can think is “Ouch, ouch, ouch”.

Stallone talked about action heroes evolving in film. In the 80s action stars were musclebound, very physical, and spouted one-liners. Nowadays they’re more technical and lean towards a sci-fi approach. Regardless, Stallone believes both versions are valid in their own right and that it will continue to evolve.

Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren joined Stallone on stage, but before the panel really kicked off, the moderator mentioned there was an empty seat. The lights dimmed and another film reel began; this time it featured Arnold Schwarzenegger. Afterward, the man himself made his way out to a thunderous applause.

At that point it wasn’t a surprise that all these charismatic action stars would start taking playful jabs at each other. Stallone and Schwarzenegger led the charge discussing their rivalry. Schwarzenegger admitted, “I was really competitive; who killed more people on-screen, who had more muscles, who had more oil on their muscles.”

As you can imagine, the crowd erupted with laughter.

Schwarzenegger then turned his focus on Crews, and without hesitation said, “You have gained unbelievable muscle size! Muscle, definition, low body fat!” Crews jokingly chimed in with, “Point-four percent!”

Crews paused for a moment, realized Schwarzenegger complimented his bodybuilding, and excitedly exclaimed, “I can die now! Arnold loves my muscles! I can die now!” Schwarzenegger responded with, “I hope you don’t take it the wrong way,” but it was clearly too late — he was blushing. So Schwarzenegger did the natural thing and placed his hand on Crews’ cheek to feel his blush. It was a beautiful and tender moment.

Randy Couture — rather than being a jokester — was completely sincere when he spoke, and discussed how he wants to further his acting career, and working on the film was a huge step in the right direction.

The moderator asked about the incident when Lundgren knocked Stallone out on set. Stallone answered that he asked him to try to knock him out for realism, but then he actually did. Lundgren added, “He was my boss; he said hit me, so I did.”
Stallone went on to discuss that he receives injuries in films that are successful and jokingly hopes he gets beheaded in the next one.

Photo courtesy of My Flair Pix

Schwarzenegger — who clearly enjoyed making the audience laugh — fabricated a story that when he first moved to the States, Sylvester Stallone was his English teacher. Stallone in good humor laughed and said that no one could understand each other on set, then turned to Schwarzenegger and added, “We should have a spelling bee one day.”

During the questionaire portion a crazed fan shouted, “Take your shirt off, Terry!” proving that his earlier tease only riled us up — I mean . . . so Crews started to loosen his tie but stopped when Stallone remarked, “Your wife will kill you, Terry.” Like any sane man, Crews shouted, “I love you, baby! Don’t kill me!”

Upon being asked on each other’s favorite films . . . of each other, Stallone jokingly said his is Junior, then gave his serious answer: Terminator 2. Schwarzenegger on the otherhand became sentimental and expressed his love for the Rocky and Rambo franchises and mentioned how he’d love to see more being made, all while Stallone softly said, “No,” with a smile.

Stallone’s reaction made something click in Schwarzenegger’s head and he went off on a tangent about a skill that Stallone has that most of us wouldn’t know about: he’s a painter. Stallone suddenly looked embarassed while Schwarzenegger gushed about his artwork. Stallone’s embarassment only made him more giddy and proudly told Hall H that Stallone has given him a painting for his birthday. He didn’t want to be too mean on the guy and admitted that he has painted too for his own family.

Oh — did you ever wonder how the hell you use the three seashells in Demolition Man? Stallone finally offered insight — by which I mean he simply said, “Have you ever used chopsticks?”

I felt that was a very profound tidbit of information to leave you with.

The Expendables 2 punches theaters August 17.