Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have been the undisputed kings of action cinema throughout the 80s and 90s. Apart from ruling the box office, the two stars were also popular for their not-so-friendly rivalry. Both Schwarzenegger and Stallone tried to outperform each other in terms of body count, one-liners, and muscles. However, in the later years, the two action icons made up and worked together on a series of movies back-to-back. 

The twenty-year-long rivalry robbed the action-movie enthusiasts of their excitement at seeing the stars together in a movie in their youth days. However, thanks to AI, fans can now imagine what it would have been like to have The Terminator actor star in one of Stallone’s popular movies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as an iconic villain in Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky

Rocky is the movie from where the decades of rivalry between Schwarzenegger and Stallone started. The roots of it go way back to the 1977 Golden Globe Awards where the American sports drama film lost in several categories. Later, the Rambo actor told Variety that the former bodybuilder made fun of him for falling short of the awards, marking the initiation of the ego battle. Recently, Brian Monarch, an Instagram user, posted some AI-generated pictures of the Commando actor playing Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.

With an average rating of 5.1, the 1985 American Sports Drama film received a lukewarm response from the audience and critics. However, Ivan Drago emerged as the highlight of the movie and won the Marshall Trophy for Best Actor at the Napierville Cinema Festival. One cannot tell for sure if Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of the antagonist would have rescued the movie’s storyline. However, the megastar’s collaboration would have definitely been a head-turner for all the action buffs.

No reason to be disappointed, though! After ending the long-drawn rivalry, both the stars paired up for several projects. 

Movies with Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone as leads

Both the stars marked their movie collaboration with The Expendables, which is now available on Netflix. However, the franchise failed to keep its magic alive after the second part. The Expendables 3 became an over-the-top action movie that lacked depth and storytelling. However, Schwarzenegger shared a small screen time as he was not a part of the main cast. In their other film together, Escape Plan, which did better business than the Patrick Hughes movie, they featured as the main characters. However, it still failed to have a lasting impact on the moviegoers. 

The best of the lot remains to be their first two movies of The Expendables directed by Stallone himself. Despite receiving an average rating from the critics, the first two installments became the highest-grossing movies of their respective release years. While the first part secured a #1 position at the U.S. box office, the second part went on to become the 25th-highest-grossing film of 2012.

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