Arnold SchwarzeneggerandSylvester Stallonehad a very real contention in the 1980s - and it retain ( in tongue - in - cheek way ) today . The two iconic action heroes defined a propagation of muscular , gun - toting , violent flicks , but in their heyday three X ago , Arnold and Sly were as much at state of war with each other as Stallone ’s John Rambo and Schwarzenegger ’s John Matrix were at war with tons of opposition soldier .

Today , Stallone and Schwarzenegger are in their early 70s ( Sly is 73 , a year old than Arnold )   but four decades ago , their career trajectory begin to rise simultaneously before they intersected and activate a mutual dislike and feud . Both Arnold and Sly ’s movie career started to beguile fire in the tardy 1970s ; Stallone ’s origin story is famous for his writingRocky ,   featuring   a star role for himself as pugilist Rocky Balboa , which sling him to stardom and earned him Oscar nomination for Best Actor and Best Screenplay ( Rockyitself gain ground Best Picture in 1976 ) . Schwarzenegger was a human beings - renowned Mr. Olympia bodybuilder who moved to Hollywood to get into movies . Though his breakthrough function did n’t come until he starred in 1982’sConan The Barbarian , Arnold enjoyed a string of boxful bureau hits after James Cameron cast him as the iconic killing car in 1984’sThe Terminator .

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By   the mid-1980s , Schwarzenegger and Stallone were the top two action picture stars in Hollywood and they were at war , constantly trying to outperform each other with their testosterone - fuel , plosion - pack extravaganzas . Schwarzenegger had a literal size advantage over the more flyspeck Stallone and he worked with some of the top action directors of the earned run average , likeJames Cameronand John McTiernan , but Stallone had the bloodline of being a author and director who often crafted his own material . Later in the 10 , both expanded their range and ventured into comedy , a field Schwarzenegger had a clear vantage in thanks to starring diametric Danny DeVito in Ivan Reitman’sTwins(1988 ) . Meanwhile , Stallone ’s attempts to top Arnold in comedy failed miserably and Arnold even infamously bamboozled Sly into star in one of the worst comedies of the era : 1992’sStop ! Or My ma Will Shoot !

Today , Arnold and Sly have buried the tomahawk , have worked together in several films likeThe ExpendablesandEscape Plan , and they have become good supporter - albeit supporter who still tease each other mercilessly . But back in the 1980s , Stallone and Schwarzenegger were downright combustible and their real - lifetime hatred for one another is the stuff of Hollywood legend .

The Origin Of The Stallone/Schwarzenegger Feud

The"violent hatred"(in Stallone ’s news ) between Sly and Arnold began in the seventies as both their stars were on the rising slope . Schwarzenegger and Stallone were already very much aware of each other when they met expression - to - face for the first time at the 1977 Golden Globes , whereRockywas up for several awards . Stallone bristled as Schwarzenegger swash about his own next immensity and , afterRockylost at the Globes , Arnold smugly bemock Stallone ’s failure to win his prized accolades . In a madness , Sly then pick up a vase full of heyday and hurled it across the room at Schwarzenegger . With that , the warfare was on .

According to Stallone , who would publically tell these stories many years afterwards , he and Schwarzenegger had such animosity that"even our deoxyribonucleic acid hat each other " . Sly intromit his rancour that"Schwarzenegger was even on the same planet " . Throughout the eighties , both action maven were keenly cognizant of each other ’s career move and they made many decisions base on outgo the other . As Stallone severalize David Letterman in 2013,“After a while , I get down to like this competition , this one - upmanship . He ’d get a bigger gun . I ’d shoot more people . He ’d shoot more people . "

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Who Won The Stallone v Schwarzenegger Feud In The 1980s?

While fans of either superstar could contend that their ducky was the dominant action hoagie of the 1980s , the edge overall leans towards Schwarzenegger , especially when it come to overreach his rival Stallone . In the late eighties , both lead were trying their hands at funniness and Arnold consider advantage of Sly ’s loathing for him to pull off a tremendous antic : After Schwarzenegger scored withTwins , Stallone decide he needed to be rummy and star in the mob clowning dudOscar ! . But when a script forStop Or My Mom Will Shoot!- which Arnold called"a piece of sh*t”- was proffer to him , he reach Stallone and incorrectly bragged that he wanted to do it . Eager to sabotage his enemy , Stallone made sure that he star in the disastrous drollery that co - star Estelle Getty , a decision Sly regret to this day .

However , the Schwarzenegger / Stallone branch race ended up benefiting their careers . In Arnold ’s words , having the competition"really pushed you to quicken " . While he had misfires likeRhinestone , Stallone ’s turnout in the 1980s was his glory period as he star inRocky III , Rocky IV , First Blood , Rambo : First Blood Part II , Cobra , andTango & Cash , which were hit with fan if not with critics . Arguably , however , Arnold ’s 1980s picture were even giving ; besidesThe Terminator , Arnold make withCommando , The Running Man , Predator , andTwins . Both musclebound heroes create iconic characters in the Eighties that still last and they go on to play those function ; in 2019 , Stallone resurrected John Rambo inRambo : Last Bloodwhile Arnold once again played the Terminator inTerminator : Dark Fate .

While it ’s hard to definitively say who won the Eighties , both Stallone and Schwarzenegger struggled in the nineties . After Arnold ’s apex withTotal Recall , Terminator 2 : Judgment DayandTrue Lies , he stumbled withLast Action Heroand then began a career downslope . Similarly , Stallone entered the ' 90s with two hits , Demolition ManandCliffhanger , before his corner post power depart to fade . By the remainder of the 1990s , Stallone and Schwarzenegger ’s reign as the Action Kings of Hollywood was definitely over .

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The Stallone/Schwarzenegger Feud Today

Today , Stallone and Schwarzenegger search back lovingly at their het up contention and both seem subject matter with how their fortune turned favourably in the twenty-first century . Of naturally , from 2003 - 2011 , Arnold Schwarzenegger serve as Governor of California ( AKA The Governator ) and he stopped acting during his term in office . Meanwhile , Stallone slowly put on a calling replication : Sly returned to his best - loved role in the well - receivedRocky Balboain 2006 before continuing the Rocky saga with theCreedfilms , for which Sly hit a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination . Stallone also engineer bringing together his fellow 1980s legal action Heron icon inThe Expendablesfranchise - which includesArnold Schwarzenegger . Arnold and Sly teamed up again in 2013’sEscape Plan , testify they had at long last settle down their youthful divergence .

Nowadays , Arnold and Sly plow their onetime competition as a joke and they in the main tease each other over their preceding achiever and failures . Stallone can always hold the fact that he ’s a author and director who has won Academy Awards over Schwarzenegger , who has accomplished none of those things . But in the field of politics , Arnold displace Stallone as a former Governor who knows Presidents of the United States . Either way , Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are inarguably the two biggest natural process headliner of the Eighties who thrilled and inspired generations of fan . Their rivalry is now a thing of the past tense and a source of interminable amusement but they can still count on their fans to indicate in their stead over which 1980s activity hero are good : Rocky Balboa and John Rambo or the Terminator ?

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