Glen Powell’s breakout role appeared in a Sylvester Stallone film

The path to becoming a contemporary movie star is no longer as simple as it once was. But then along comes an actor like Glen Powell, who has such a magnetic personality that it’s no wonder he’s become a household name. The big screen charmer is no stranger to good jokes in comedies like “Everybody Wants Some!!”“Anyone But You” and “Hit Man.” I also have a soft spot for the underrated “Set It Up.” At the same time, Powell managed to transfer that devious charm to the world of action films with blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Twisters.” With Powell stars in Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Running Man.” It’s important to remember that it took him time to cultivate his star power.

It’s always fun to see people discover Powell as the stock trader who catches the eye of Tom Hardy’s Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.” However, just two years after his brief stint in Christopher Nolan’s superhero epic, the future action prospect got the opportunity to star among some of the most recognizable action heroes of all time in 2014’s “The Expendables 3.” It’s not every day you get to rub shoulders with Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford and Jason Statham, although the film he himself is rather terrible.

The third installment of the action star ensemble sees mercenary Barney Ross (Stallone) call upon a generation of young talent to help the dinosaurs after an old adversary (Mel Gibson) rears his ugly head. Among them is Powell as Thorn, a thrill-seeking climber who also happens to be an excellent hacker. Although his screen time is rather minimal, it’s easy to see how Powell rose to fame.

The funny thing about Powell as the new face of the “Expendables” team is how he shines among the new blood. Here he joins the next generation of “exciting” new action stars like (*checks notes*) Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz and Kellan Lutz. It’s comical how much he stands out from his co-stars, even though he said lines like “I’m going to say it right now, I belong to you” while climbing a mountain. Everyone seems to casually salute the previous films in the “Expendables” series, and Powell’s introduction is no different. “I can do it,” Ross says of Stallone, referring to his Action film directed by Renny Harlin “Cliffhanger”.

Powell’s presence in the action sequel is because he wrote the “Rambo” star a letter about how he spent his childhood trying to find new ways to cheat death (via GQ). Ironically, this seems like the perfect thing you’d want to hear when launching your new group of death-defying mercenaries. If only Powell knew what he’d be doing a few years later, as he prepared for his aerial stunts in “Maverick.” While “Expendables 3” gave Powell the opportunity to star in a blockbuster action film with Stallone, the two had actually starred in the same film a decade before – type of.

“Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” was such a strange children’s film when it was released in 2003, but its cartoonish imagination comes across as rather endearing more than two decades later. It’s another child empowerment fantasy from Robert Rodriguez that feels like a mashup of “Tron” and “Ready Player One.” The cameo most people are talking about is a post-“Lord of the Rings” Elijah Wood as a game master who hilariously loses all of his 99 lives in one minute. But long before that, you’ll see a fresh-faced Powell make his film debut as a character credited as “Long-Fingered Boy.” It’s the Grandmaster of the Arena of Doom who asks Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) to fight an opponent in his mechanical suit in order to advance to the next level.

As for Stallone, he plays the villain known as “The Toymaker”, a rogue OSS agent who created a virtual reality video game called “Game Over” after being imprisoned in cyberspace. Juni is sent to stop the game before the toymaker can use him to take mental control of the many children who sign up to play it. Stallone goes all out and seems to be having a lot of fun doing it. He also does the Ernest thing by playing a whole bunch of weird and wacky supporting characters who all converse with each other.

Powell and Stallone don’t share any scenes, but it’s funny to see how they might work together later, even if in an arguably worse movie. I wonder if they ever talked about it on set…

“The Expendables 3” is currently streaming on Peacock.