Sylvester Stallone says Rambo will not fight Islamic State in new film

As Congress and the president continue to weigh precisely what measures of face to take against the Islamic State — also known as ISIS and ISIL — one force that will likely not be employed is John Rambo.

In an interview published by Vine Report, actor Sylvester Stallone, who portrayed the character of the troubled Vietnam vet in four films of increasing gruesomeness between 1982 and 2008, said that the terrorist army will not figure into the fifth, and likely final, film in the franchise — tentatively titled “Last Blood.”

A debunked report from San Diego’s recent Comic-Con had Mr. Stallone allegedly saying Rambo would go to Iraq in “Last Blood,” but the actor’s representatives quickly quashed the rumor.

“Sylvester Stallone did not attend Comic-Con 2015, and consequently there was no official remark from him regarding Rambo made there at the event. This is not an accurate report,” the representative said, according to Vine Report. 

In 1982’s “First Blood,” Rambo is bullied by a police force under the authority of small-town Washington state sheriff, played by Brian Dennehy. In 1985’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” Rambo, sprung from jail by his former team leader (the late Richard Crenna) to lead an insurgency into Vietnam to rescue U.S. POW’s. “Rambo III,” in 1989, saw Rambo teaming up with Afghan mujahideen to fight against Russian occupiers. It would be 19 years before Rambo returned to the screen in the strangle simply titled “Rambo” in 2008, in which the soldier, now living as a hermit in Thailand, makes an incursion into Burma to rescue American missionaries.

While Mr. Stallone has consistently said that “Rambo 5” — aka “First Blood Part 5,” aka “Rambo: Last Blood,” aka “Rambo II: First Blood Part V,” aka “Rambo II: First Blood Part V: Last Blood” — has been in gestation for some time, the plot is yet unknown. Rumors have ranged from a plot involving Rambo rescuing his daughter from Mexican drug lords to the aforementioned battle royale against the terrorist army in Iraq and Syria.