Let's hear it for the has-beens, the also-rans, "The Losers"! 'Cause if every down-and-out failure were as badass as this collection of black-ops renegades — well, come to think of it, the world might be a far more dangerous place. More entertaining, for sure, but filled with explosions and wild car chases on city streets and the various other locales Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans and their cohorts visit in their quest for salvation.

The Losers, you see, formed a government-approved Special Forces unit before their handler, Max (Jason Patric), betrayed them, landing the crew on a top-secret CIA death list. The Losers mount up for one last mission: to clear their names and take down Max in the process. And MTV News has been tracking this big-screen mission from its inception, so now — as the film hits theaters on Friday (April 23) — here's our cheat sheet on the flick.

Mission Command
Adapted from a DC Comics/ Vertigo series that ran from 2003 to 2006, the film has been in the works since 2007. In the fall of '08, Sylvain White ("Stomp the Yard") signed on to direct, followed in early '09 by Morgan, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Zoe Saldana, Evans and Patric. As summer approached, "Losers" got an April '10 release date and started filming in Puerto Rico at the end of July.

Spying on These 'Losers'
Our first peek at the production came via a citizen spy in Puerto Rico, who snapped some covert pics of Saldana and her partners in crime. Weeks later came more pics, including Morgan with a machine gun in hand. All this was just a lead-up to the first trailer, which dropped in late January in all its explosive glory.

"She's lethal," Saldana told us about her character. "She could at any moment dive over to you and slice your throat and then lick the knife."

The trailer, of course, was just the beginning. MTV has posted no less than five "Losers" clips that show off wicked special-ops tricks, like how to steal a heavily guarded truck on the run, how to steal a helicopter and how to steal a kiss from a beautiful woman with some killer instincts. Are you sensing a theme here?

The Appeal of Being a 'Loser'
As the release date approached, we began to roll out our extensive interviews with the cast and crew. Morgan shared his reason for signing up for the flick.

"It seems to me that the best scripts coming out right now are based on graphic novels and comic books," Morgan told MTV News. "The best characters and the smartest writing is coming from that world."

For Saldana, it was a matter of returning to Earth after work on "Star Trek" and "Avatar." "After being in space for a year and a half with [my characters] Uhura and Neytiri, I got to put on some jeans and grab two guns and beat the crap out of Jeffrey Dean Morgan," she joked. "It was just awesome."

Evans, meanwhile, is keeping his fingers crossed for a sequel. "Absolutely, are you kidding me?" he said. "That would be great!"

Check out everything we've got on "The Losers."

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