Cold War franchise (A World of Difference)

Cold War, stylized as CoLD wAR, is a historical fiction film franchise that depicts the major events of the late 20th century from the eyes of a US Marine, a Russian pilot, a French tank gunner, and a Japanese submarine operator. The four first cross paths as three inexperienced enscripts serving in Australasia that are eventually captured by Van Diemenian troops are put under the watch of a disgraced Japanese officer. After being captured, they bond, but are forced fight again once they are rescued. They are later discharged and begin undertaking missions to do illegal work for their respective governments.

Cold War (1993)
Cold War, the first film, focuses primarily on Jace Alden (Samuel L. Jackson), who operates on a ship with an all-white crew, as he battles the racist torment his fellow soldiers deal him. Quentin Winoc is shown to have the same problems, being of Hessian heritage, whereas he is mostly surrounded by Belgians and Gascons. However, Max Nazarian (Tom Hanks), a Russian, does not face such problems but instead serves with an entire division of inexperienced and lazy pilots and bombers, causing him to bear the weight of the punishments they receive. Kaede Kwok (Bruce Lee) is notably the most unprepared and easily scared of the four main protagonists. Alden and Nazarian, being on the same side in the war, end up stranded in Nouvelle-Gascony, a major border city between Australasia and Van Diemenia. The French are the only international forces stationed in the location. However, an unexpected Diemenian raid in early 1956 leads to the capture of Alden, Nazarian, and Winoc. The three are initially held in the city, but are later transferred across the border into Japanese hands. There, they are overseen by a demoted and dishonored Kwok who is quietly threatened into giving them food, as well as materials to build a two way radio. Eventually they inform the Russians of their location and escape with Kwok to safe Australasian ground. It is later revealed that Kwok pinned the blame on his disliked superior officer and regained his status as a submarine operator. He promises to the trio that they will cross on the battlefield again, as enemies.

Cold War 2: Hot War (1995)
In Cold War 2: Hot War, Jace Alden, now a Captain, and Kaede Kwok, Lieutanent Commander, are on the same side of the Indochinese War in 1964, having been transferred after the end of the Australasian War. However, Kwok's submarine is strafed by none other than Max Nazarian and is presumed dead along with his crew as part of the casualties of the Battle of Phan Tiet. Alden's ship is sunk as well, and he is captured by the French, who are supporting the rebels. Winoc is revealed to have been discharged following the end of the Australasian War and an unofficial guerilla supporter of the Vietnamese-led Indochinese government. After the Japanese bomb the camp, Winoc and Alden are captured once more by the rebels, who no longer receive aid from the superpowers as the Truce of Ha Noi was signed during the year that the two spent as POWs. They forced into manual labor for the rebel war effort and are brutally beaten when attempting to escape to Indochina. However, when they are transferred from the rebel capital of Phnom Penh to the small town of Rach Gia, Kwok, who is still alive, rescues them and they sail together to Novopolshe, where they take part in the Vlazhnygrad Riots. After rejoining their militaries, with Winoc in the US military, they participate when the rebels attempt to capture the American territory in Borneo in 1967, reigninting the proxy war in Indochina. All three take place in a planned coup against the rebel government along with Nazarian and several of his comrades and other US soldiers. Peace is restored under Indochinese control soon after, but most of the men who took place in the event are discharged. The protagonists escape to Novorossiya and adopt new identities, unaware that they are being tailed.

New Front in a Cold War (1998)
The third film takes place mostly in the Novorossiyan capital of Novomoskovsk, where Bruce Hawthrone, Gale Adams, Yugin Fiskar, and Hakuro Ritko run a massive private bank. Few people in the city are aware that they were among the main instigators of the coup d'etat against the Indochinese rebels six years ago. However, they have been folllowed by East Chinese agent An-ding Gue (Jackie Chan). He discovers their birth names of Jace Alden, Quentin Winoc, Max Nazarian, and Kaede Kwok, who were wanted in the first two years after the war to be tried for their involvement in the coup. Gue arranges for them to be arrested, however, their massive connections in the national government prevent this from happening. Instead, Gue kidnaps them and sets sail to Indochina, but they escape en route in Singapore, where they fly to Jaipur. However, Jaipur is the location of a large Hindu-Sikh-Muslim riot, and they are nearly killed when attempting to flee the city. When the Indian military arrives to end the riot, they are caught and recognized by the names they once had. A local crime boss bails them from prison and uses them to complete his illegal weapons trade to Sikh rebels in exchange for larger power in the event of their success. The Sikhs take a disliking to them, being foreigners, and assume that the boss does intend to follow through on his end of the deal. A gunfight erupts between the gangsters and the Sikhs, with massive injuries being inflicted upon Nazarian. They are forced to go to a hospital, where they are identified by their birth identities and arrested. Nazarian is separated from the other three, being detained in India until he heals, while the other three are being sent for trial to the International Court for Justice in Austria. However, they hijack their plane over the Black Sea and return to rescue Nazarian and escape to Patagonia, where they are unknown. Gue intercepts them in the Patagonian International Airport and steals their passports, rendering them stranded in the airport. During their stay at the airport, they uncover Gue's massive illegal weapons trafficking network, which the Jaipur bosses were a part of. They kill Gue and escape the country with one more death on their hands.

Underground Cold War (2000)
After fleeing from Patagonia into Brazil, the four protagonists are captured by border police at a small town near the border with Argentina. This time they are held until the US Navy arrives to transport them to Austria. An unknown government official intervenes and has them tried at the hands of the American military, with Winoc and Alden being dishonorably discharged and Nazarian and Kwok reclassified as dead by their respective countries. The man who released them from naval custody is later shown to be none other than Vice President Stuart Symington (Jon Voight), who recruits them for the ITF (International Task Force). They accept, and are assigned the duty of breaking out Michael Kristoffer (John Travolta), a Scandinavian political prisoner, and convincing him to assassinate Prime Minister Simon Ulrik Haall (Mark Hamill), who is pursuing an indepdent plan for Scandinavia, and the expanse of the Scandinavian space and nuclear programs. Kristoffer is sprung from jail in Turku. The five fly to Copenhagen on a commercial flight, but are forced to make an emergency landing in Russia. There, they are unable to find any direct flights to Copenhagen, having stopped at a domestic airport. Transport vehicles from the Russian military are delivered to move all passengers to a larger airport in Moscow. From Moscow, the group travels to Copenhagen and infiltrate the Presidential Palace, which the Prime Minister is visiting to deliver a speech. However, they are unable to reach him before the speech starts and Kristoffer is killed by armed guards. Alden fires six shots at Haall, purposefully missing, and places his gun in the deceased Kristoffer's hands to aviod being framed. Upon returning the United States, Symington, now out of office with the election of John S. Kennedy reveals that it was merely a test and the easiest of all missions they will undertake. He then authorizes the team, given the title Team 39, to recover all stolen West Chinese intel on nuclear weapon contstruction, which is being held in West Zhaoqing. They are reluctant to return to China and instead travel as far as Japan and break into the Japanese national security system to retrieve all documents related to East China to ease their mission. Once they discover that the East Chinese are actually constructing a nuclear warhead in Ethiopia and travel there. They find the location and steal all the uranium and destroy all progress made thus far. Symington is informed of Ethiopia's involvements and attempts to craft a reasonable casus belli against Ethiopia. However, this is not necessary when Arabia and Ethiopia engage in a dispute over the possession of Socotra (which is owned by Arabia but claimed by Ethiopia). The American government encourages a proxy war in Ethiopia and sides with the Arabians, quietly destroying the East Chinese bases and testing grounds.