Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas join Expendables 3

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas are the latest names to be added to the cast list of the veteran action star ensemble sequel Expendables 3, the Guardian reports.

This follows the revelation - and subsequent Twitter spat - that Harrison Ford had been recruited to replace Bruce Willis in the Sylvester Stallone-scripted franchise.

Gibson, of course, will prove a controversial choice: although an accomplished action star and genre icon after the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon movies, the scandals that derailed his career in the 2000s saw his ability to participate in relatively light-hearted and mass-appeal projects severely curtailed: a projected cameo in The Hangover 2 was dropped in 2010.

Banderas is a much less divisive figure, though not in the same league, action-wise, as Gibson. The Spanish actor's action chops rest primarily on the two Zorro films he made opposite Catherine Zeta Jones, and the string of films he made with Robert Rodriguez, including Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

The Expendables 3 will be directed by Red Hill's Patrick Hughes, with a script co-written by Stallone. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Wesley Snipes and Jackie Chan are all set to appear. The franchise has proved to have commercial muscle, with a combined take of $586m at the worldwide box-office for the first two films.