When news about The Expendables -- an action movie that would bring together stars like Sly Stallone, Jet Li, and Jason Statham -- hit in 2008, we wondered who else would join the ensemble affair. By the time Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture signed on, it was clear Sly was digging lots of old and new-school names out of the woodwork. But even after Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to make appearances, some names didn't, specifically Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Was there just no room for them, or was it something else?

According to another British "report" -- quotations used because these things only seem accurate maybe half the time -- Sly says the two '80s action stars weren't involved because the lacked the right sense of humor.

WENN shares a report from Britain's Sunday Times, where Stallone says: "I wanted to set Jean-Claude against Jet Li, but he didn't want to lose to Jet. He didn't think that was cool. But that's why it would be cool; to have Jean-Claude beaten by the other man. Hey, they could have a rematch. But Steven Seagal and Van Damme, they weren't really into our gallows humor."

Refusing to lose on the big screen may have kept the masses from seeing Van Damme beat down by Li, but it also kept him, and Seagal away from a number-one movie, which is something both aging stars could use right about now. Though, by the same token, it has kept them from a film chastised by many action film fans.

Did they make the right decision? Was the film missing the smarminess of Seagal and Van Damme's kickboxing ways?