Steven Seagal to Battle Mel Gibson in 'The Expendables 3'?

While it's still a little disconcerting to know that Steven Seagal has been anywhere near some sensitive diplomatic meetings with the Russians, the fact remains the former bone-breaking action star has been making a comeback. A couple of years ago Robert Rodriguez tapped into his nostalgic side and brought Seagal in as a villain in Machete, and now rumors have the Under Siege star possibly joining Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 3.

Take these rumors with a grain of salt, as they come from a ExBlog, taking from a number of sources in Bulgaria, when Stallone usually likes to break casting additions on Twitter. The reports state that Seagal will be facing off against Mel Gibson, who was reported last month to be joining the film as a bad guy....

"Today many Bulgarian news sites have reported again that Gibson has negotiated (or is) with Stallone to play the #1 villain role in EX3. In addition to reporting Gibson, there are now new elements in the Bulgarian reports confirming that Seagal will fight Gibson alongside Stallone, Statham & Lundgren, and that the script has been rewritten many times to create enough room for so many stars specially after Schwarzenegger has joined the cast, and to include Chan, Cage, Snipes, Jovovich & Rourke."

Stallone has talked about adding Seagal to the roster of old school heroes before, but nothing was ever confirmed despite their being some level of interest in making it happen. If this were anything other than The Expendables, learning that the script is basically being rewritten as new characters are added on the fly would be troubling, but the writing has never been the franchise's concern before and isn't likely to start now. It sounds like Seagal would be fighting on the side of good alongside Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, and likely Jackie Chan because he doesn't really do villainy. That would seem to suggest that Mel Gibson's army could includeWesley Snipes and Milla Jojovich.

If there's any truth to this, expect Stallone to tweet about it soon. The Expendables 3 will be directed by Patrick Hughes and opens on August 15th 2014.