They are two of Hollywood’s biggest action stars.

But even Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham couldn’t escape a bloody battle sequence on set of The Expendables 3 without a few scrapes.

While the muscular duo’s injuries were clearly the work of a pro make-up artist, they looked convincingly roughed up for the tense shooting taking place in Varna, east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

An offering: Sylvester Stallone looked worse for the wear as he accepted a gift from mayor Varna Ivan Portnih in-between takes on set of The Expendables 3 with Wesley Snipes and Randy Couture in Bulgaria, on Thursday

Not the only one: Jason Statham was also covered in blood as he chatted with the Bulgarian politician

Sly took a short break from his gun fighting duties to receive a gift from the mayor of Varna, Ivan Portnih.

As the action legend ceremoniously accepted the honour he was flanked by former UFC champion Randy Couture and martial arts star Wesley Snipes.

The trio looked convincingly like they’d just gotten out of a war zone as the dignitary presented them each with a gift bag.

Still packing the heat: Sly looked in fine form next to his fellow action heroes

The big guns: Terry Crews accepted his gift bag while sporting both blood and huge muscles in a mesh vest

The Rocky star matched Statham in army fatigues as they rested in-between the surely taxing stunt-heavy sequences.

The set for the day of filming was intended to mimic a Somali shipyard with various extras walking around toting AK 47s.

Meanwhile, the latest additions to the film Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson, who were brought on to replace Willis were nowhere to be seen.

Old school legend: Dolph Lundgren was not spared the blood bath

Bruce  was reportedly ditched from the upcoming movie – which is  penned by Sylvester – after demanding an astronomical $4million fee.

Despite already commanding a rather generous pay packet for the role, which required four days of consecutive work on location in Bulgaria, the 58-year-old actor is said to have wanted an eye-popping million dollars a day.

A source told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘He said he’d drop out unless he got $4million. A million dollars a day. Stallone and everybody else involved said no.’

And the demands didn’t appear to have gone down too well with Stallone, who replaced Willis on the project with fellow A-list actor Harrison Ford within just 72 hours.

Ambush: An action sequence was shot with guns and trucks depicting a Somali shipyard

Gunmen on the roof: The Expendables long list of action heroes have their work cut out for them with a slew of armed combatants to face off with

The source added: ‘I think [Willis] was pretty surprised he was replaced in 72 hours by Harrison Ford – a better actor, a much nicer person and a more interesting direction for the film.’

Stallone raised eyebrows earlier in the month when he launched an astonishing attack on his fellow action man.

Moments after announcing the Die Hard favourite was being replaced by Harrison Ford in the third film in his Expendables franchise, the branded his former colleague ‘greedy,’ ‘lazy’ and a ‘failure’ on his Twitter page.

It would have been a surprise for fans of the series, as Willis appeared in both the previous films as Mr Church, a CIA agent who would pay the film’s eponymous band of mercenaries to carry out dangerous missions.

Historic moment: It seems action fans will never get the chance to see Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sly and Bruce Willis firing guns on-screen at the same time again

Stallone’s announcement on Twitter initially seemed upbeat,as he said: ‘WILLIS OUT… HARRISON FORD IN !!!! GREAT NEWS !!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!’

However it seemed there was more to the casting change than initially met the eye, as moments later he wrote: ‘GREEDY AND LAZY …… A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE.’

A spokesman for Stallone, who created the franchise, confirmed the actor had been talking about his old colleague and rival, but refused to comment further.