The Losers



"Pooch: You're talking about declarin' war on the Central Intelligence Agency. Cougar: They started it."

The Losers is a largely unknown comic book series by Vertigo Comics about Black Ops who were betrayed by their handler, a CIA mastermind called Max, and presumed to be dead. Years later, the Losers come back for some payback. The series run for 32 issues (August, 2003 - March, 2006). A film adaptation was released in April 23, 2010 that was pretty much Adaptation Distillation (most of the first volume and some parts of the fourth).

Named after a DC Comics squad of the same name who fought in World War II, but are otherwise unrelated.

Members:
 * Clay: The Leader.
 * Roque: The second-in-command.
 * Jensen: The hacker.
 * Cougar: The sniper. Wears a cowboy hat.
 * Pooch: The pilot. A family man.
 * Aisha: The Ax Crazy Dark Action Girl.

There are five volumes encompassing the entire story:
 * Ante Up (2004)
 * Double Down (2004)
 * Trifecta (2005)
 * Close Quarters (2005)
 * Endgame (2006)

"Clay: Remember where we parked."
 * Actor Allusion: the office scene ends with Jensen (Chris Evans) claiming to possess telekinetic powers.
 * Which he received from a "secret government experiment".
 * Might be more of a coincidence, but at the start of the film you get a close-up shot of aflag star and Jensen talking about how he died for this country.
 * Adorkable: Jensen (at least in the movie).
 * Anti-Hero: The majority the losers Are Type IV, while Aisha is a Type V.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Ascended Extra: Wade only appeared in the first few issues of the comic before dying horribly. In the film he's placed as Max's Dragon.
 * Badass Bookworm: Jensen, especially in the movie.
 * Badass Grandpa: Stegler. Never mentioned how old he is, but he's noted as being a bit of a dinosaur around the CIA offices.
 * Badass in a Nice Suit: Since this series is mostly about the CIA this trope pops up quite commonly with the most noteworthy examples being Clay, the leader of the Losers, and Max.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Couple times. The Losers for the children and later
 * In the finale of the comic,
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Bolivian Army Ending: Aisha.
 * Brick Joke: In the movie (see Real Men Wear Pink below). After the first appearance of the Petunias tee, Jensen is shown doing research on their opponents, the Marigolds - which turns out to be comprised entirely of Huge Schoolgirls. Later during the credits, we see the actual match.
 * But for Me It Was Tuesday: In the movie, Max does not remember setting up anyone and has no idea who Clay and his team are. Wade has to remind him about Bolivia for Max to even get a vague recollection. Max claims he can't be bothered to remember every time he has someone betrayed and/or killed.
 * Car Fu: Twice in the Montserrat part of the book. The first time Clay takes out a paratrooper in mid-air. The second time they hijack a tilt-a-rotor by driving into it...and on top of the unsuspecting welcoming committee.

"Jensen: I ain't never felt more heterosexual in my entire life an' you gotta go spoil it!"
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The militant Fahd, who Aisha bails out of American custody, returns for the final arc in a BIG way. So too does the Sheik the team initially encountered in Qatar.
 * Changed My Mind, Kid:
 * Cold Sniper: Cougar is a partial example because, even though he is the quietest of the group, he does show emotions and even called off an air strike because there were children in the compound.
 * It's even mentioned in the comics that he used to talk a lot more before the incident, but being close enough to the crash to hear the children scream as they burned and  haunted him for the entire series.
 * Companion Cube: Pooch's bobblehead chihuahua in The Movie.
 * Dead-Man Switch: Max arms the by pressing and keeping his thumb on the button. Releasing it resumes the countdown, which is already under 10 seconds.
 * Destructo-Nookie: Clay and Aisha's hotel-room duke-out looks like the roughest foreplay imaginable.
 * The Dragon: Max has one in The Movie, named Wade.
 * Dramatic Necklace Removal: (Movie again.) Done by the Losers themselves, throwing their dogtags into the wreckage of the copter to get themselves pronounced KIA.
 * Duct Tape for Everything: Pooch uses it to assemble an improvised RPG.
 * Clay also uses it to "disarm" a Dead-Man Switch by taping the button. No further steps of actually disarming the device are shown.
 * Empathy Doll Shot: The burning teddy bear in the helicopter wreckage.
 * Mr. Fanservice: The whole goddamn team. (Including Aisha.)
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Extended Families: Movie Wade is not pleased with being ordered to kill some random team he assembled to take down the Losers for this reason.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: The Losers aren't evil, but they do kill for a living, and even they are completely unwilling to allow 25 children to be killed while trying to take out a target.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: Zoe Saldana is fuckin' hot.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Jason Patric as Max seems to get the idea, but doesn't fully exploit it. Shame.
 * Eye Scream:
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Colonel Franklin Clay.
 * The Lancer: Roque.
 * The Big Guy: Cougar.
 * The Smart Guy: Jensen.
 * The Chick: Pooch.
 * The Sixth Ranger: Aisha.
 * Female Gaze: The women on the floor Jensen's elevator accidentally stops on while his, ahem, dangly parts are exposed. They can't be blamed, though: Chris Evans is Mr. Fanservice to the umpteenth degree.
 * Finger Gun: Jensen in the last part of the movie's office infiltration scene.
 * It's in the book, too.
 * Fingore: In the book, Roque introduces a pair of wire cutters to Pooch's pinkie.
 * Friend to All Children: Cougar.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: See Fingore. And be grateful.
 * Gun AND Knife Porn: What the Losers are wagering while playing Liar's Poker.
 * He Who Fights Monsters:
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: (In the movie, obviously.) Clay is played by John Winchest--um, The Comedi-er, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
 * Zoe Saldana as a native girl who hates American soldiers, anyone?
 * Max used to be concerned with not blowing up a cruise ship...
 * Jensen is in his third movie based on a comic (with a fourth one coming up).
 * Hey, it's Stringer Bell, er John Luther, um, Heimdall... yeah, Idris Elba must get this a lot these days.
 * Hey, Wade is John Hagen and Patrick 'Lights' Leary all rolled into one, only more evil.
 * Ho Yay: Cougar and Jensen (in the film at least). Roque and Clay too, with Roque going very jealous boyfriend-y when Clay and Aisha get close.
 * They have their moments in the comics as well.

"Roque: See you in hell, Pooch. Pooch: I'll be waiting."
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Oh man, where to start? The men who call in an airstrike on the team when they have grenades, just 'cause? Or the Arab militant who accidentally fires an RPG in the air and doesn't notice until too late that it's coming back down? Or...you know what, just expect there to be a lot of them, complete with Oh Crap and This Is Gonna Suck moments.
 * Infant Immortality: Has Max blowing up a helicopter full of children been brought up yet?
 * Insult Backfire:

"Jensen: Ohhhhh...shit. She's got a gun and...it's pointed at my dick. CLAY, IT'S POINTED AT MY DICK!! Pooch: Would you rather it was pointed at your face? Jensen: I KNOW IT MAKES NO SENSE, BUT YES! [Aisha aims at his face] Pooch: Better? Jensen: Not...really."
 * Jerkass: What Max is to literally everyone around him.
 * Kick the Dog: How else do you explain blowing up a helicopter full of children?
 * Of course, the movie is one long continuous Kick the Dog moment for Max.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: Camera-guided, anyway.
 * The Last DJ: Agent Stegler is a textbook case.
 * Male Gaze: All the guys (those in the audience included) for Aisha. But can you blame them?
 * Mexican Standoff: Aisha vs. the Losers. Includes a Crowning Moment of Funny from (an unarmed) Jensen:

"Clay: Jensen, I have to ask... are you hacking in your undies again? Jensen: No way, Jose! I'm wearing a HAT."
 * Mythology Gag: Max in the Movie sometimes wears a white glove or a black glove on his right hand depending on the scene. This is because.
 * Name's the Same: The Losers (original), who fought Nazis and dinosaurs.
 * There is a possible Shout-Out to the original in the comics; Clay shares a surname with one of the original Losers, and he mentions that his grandfather was in World War II. Pooch is named after the dog kept by Gunner and Sarge of the original squad, as well.
 * Never Found the Body: Lampshaded when Roque turns up alive and well unexpectedly and belts the crap out of Clay, telling him to always check for a body. Clay takes it to heart; after a later episode wherein the hunt for Roque winds up sinking a couple of ships, someone asks if Clay thinks Roque is dead. Clay says he won't believe it until he sees a body.
 * Nice Hat: Cougar: "Never touch the hat."
 * Jensen gets one too. A PIRATE hat. Of course, the situation he uses it in, well...:

"Roque: Gee, I hope they don't see us sitting in this bright yellow Pinto. Clay: Are you ashamed to be seen in an American classic?"
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Dear god, just about every volume has at LEAST one.
 * Nonverbal Miscommunication: When on top of a tall building, villain nods to his agent, who then throws a businessman down. Villain then "complains" that it wasn't that kind of nod and he just wanted the agent to beat the victim.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: Max is described to have the ability to be in more than one place at a time.
 * Oh Crap: In the book,
 * Come to think of it, there's a LOT of moments like this.
 * Outrun the Fireball: with a schoolbus in the opening of the movie.
 * President Evil:
 * The Quiet One: Cougar
 * Race Lift: Aisha goes from Afghan to Bolivian.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Literally in The Movie with Jensen in a Petunias (his niece's soccer team) tee. "What? They're in the playoffs..."
 * Red Right Hand: Max in the Movie has a nasty burn on his right hand, so wears a glove on it almost all the time. The glove is sometimes black and sometimes white.
 * Sadistic Choice: Lampshaded in the climax of movie.
 * Sedgwick Speech: A mook even uses the "couldn't hit an elephant at this distance" line shortly before getting a bullet in the head.
 * Shoot the Money: The sequence on top of the telescope seems to have benn put in purely to amp up the "exotic locale" factor.
 * Shout-Out: Jensen sneaking through an office, even saying "I need an exit."
 * Shut Up, Kirk: In the book, Clay is stalking Wade through a hangar, ranting about how he knew it would come down to the two of them. Wade says "You talk too much" and shoots him through the shoulder.
 * Single-Minded Twins:
 * Sixth Ranger Traitor:
 * Small Girl, Big Gun:
 * Spared by the Adaptation:
 * Steal the Surroundings: The eponymous group steal an entire armored car to obtain the hard drive it was carrying.
 * Taking You with Me:
 * The Movie
 * This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "That's right, bitches! I got a crossbow!"
 * War for Fun and Profit: One of the ways that Max gets his funding for his grand plan is P.A.M. (Policy Analysis Market) a special program that reads changes in the stock markets as a way of predicting terrorist attacks and also allows investors to earn huge profits by betting on the probability of said attacks. Max also runs a special outfit called P.2.O.G. (Proactive Preemptive Operations Group) whose objective is to provoke terrorism. You do the math.
 * With Catlike Tread
 * With Catlike Tread


 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: