What Makes Arnold Schwarzenegger the Most Influential Action Hero of All Time?

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born to Gustav and Aurelia Schwarzenegger in the small village of Thal, Austria. Arnold Schwarzenegger had the odds stacked against him since childhood. Arnie’s father was a police chief. However, he was an alcoholic and never had enough money to support his family. Schwarzenegger grew up in poverty and had to work hard to earn his keep. However, young Schwarzenegger became enamored with America as a child. He came across bodybuilding magazines and saw his idol, Reg Park. Park had won multiple Mr. Universe titles and starred as Hercules in Hollywood films. Arnie decided to follow in the footsteps of his idol and began training to become a bodybuilder. However, due to his financial circumstances and his father’s disapproval of bodybuilding, the Junior Mr. Universe winner came to America in 1968.

Arnie arrived in the US with little money and a dream to become the greatest bodybuilder. By 1970, the Austrian Oak had already won the Mr. Olympia title. For the next five years, he won the most prestigious show in bodybuilding consecutively. During this time, Arnie also strived to kick-start his acting career. While he found it difficult to make headway in Hollywood initially, in 1976, Arnie won a Golden Globe for portraying a bodybuilder in Stay Hungry. Yet, Arnie’s breakout role came in 1982 with Conan the Barbarian. After The Terminator (1984), Arnie’s journey to becoming the most influential action hero of all time had well and truly begun.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: The action hero ahead of his time

Arnold Schwarzenegger started his journey from a poverty-stricken family in Thal and became a seven-time Mr. Olympia, with a Golden Globe by 1976. However, after starring in the cult classic docu-drama Pumping Iron (1977), Arnie got an offer that would help him follow further in Reg Park’s footsteps. After watching the five-time Mr. Universe in Pumping Iron, one of the producers thought Schwarzenegger would be the perfect fit to play Conan the Barbarian. The Austrian Oak met with director John Milius, who thought the Mr. Olympia winner’s 240 lbs physique was too muscular to play the comic book character. So Milius instructed Schwarzenegger to train for an athletic look. Thus began Arnold Schwarzenegger’s journey to build the physique that would define the comic book hero physique.

18 months before filming began, Schwarzenegger diversified his training. The Austrian Oak ran, swam, learned swordplay and horse riding, and lost 30 lbs. The result was an athletic but powerful-looking physique. Thanks to his training, Arnie looked effortless while performing stunts and during sword fights. Schwarzenegger blew fans’ minds with his physique. While Reg Park and Steve Reeves had starred as Hercules, the movie-going audience hadn’t seen a physique like Arnie’s on the silver screen. With Conan the Barbarian, Schwarzenegger had set the standard that holds up even today. With the comic book film genre’s exploding in popularity in the late 2000s, most of Hollywood’s leading men today strive to build a physique like Schwarzenegger. However, this was just the beginning for the Mr. Olympia winner.

Arnold Schwarzenegger films that revolutionized sci-fi action

After the massive success of his 1982 film, Schwarzenegger starred in The Terminator (1984). The bodybuilding icon teamed up with then-newcomer James Cameron. Cameron brought fresh ideas to the table, and despite its humble budget, The Terminator was grand in scope. While Schwarzenegger was initially billed to star as the protagonist, Cameron thought he would fit better as the antagonist. Yet again, Arnie’s Olympia-winning physique made him the perfect candidate to play the killer robot sent from the future. The sci-fi film utilized the time travel trope to great effect. Schwarzenegger played T-800, a nearly indestructible robot assassin with human features sent by the AI Skynet. His objective? Kill the mother of the man who would destroy the AI in the future, before his birth. The film was a massive hit, revolutionizing the time travel sub-genre forever.

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Before Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) could further build on the concept, Arnie starred in another genre-defining film. After The Terminator, Arnie had evolved into a star, and in 1987, his stardom would reach new heights with The Predator. Just like Cameron’s film had revolutionized the time-travel trope, The Predator would give the popular alien invasion trope a new identity. While Hollywood films depicted large-scale alien invasions, the 1987 film scaled it down. Instead, Schwarzenegger’s character and his elite group of soldiers found themselves hunted by an alien belonging to an advanced race who traveled to various planets to hunt the strongest of its inhabitants as trophies. Within three years, Schwarzenegger had starred in films that reinvented the sci-fi action genre. Yet, sci-fi action isn’t the only thing Schwarzenegger changed.

One part of the rivalry that defined an era of action cinema

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rivalry with Sylvester Stallone started at the 1976 Golden Globe Awards. Their rivalry played out throughout the 80s and most of the 90s as the two juggernauts of action cinema tried to outdo one another. In each film, Arnie and Sly compete to beat the other in every aspect. From box office numbers to how many bad guys each actor killed on screen, nothing was off the table for the rivals. Eventually, with their films raking in millions, the two actors influenced the creative processes of filmmaking. They began influencing how action scenes would play out.

Their rivalry resulted in an era of films with over-the-top action involving bombastic explosions, scores of bad guys, and grand action set pieces. Since Sylvester Stallone had great success with Rambo: First Blood (1982) and First Blood Part 2 (1985), Arnie played a similar character in Commando (1985). Rambo had killed scores of bad guys throughout the films, so Arnie’s character in Commando caused similar levels of carnage in the climax. This cycle played out through several films and defines what we identify as 80s action. Hence, considering everything, it’s a no-brainer that Arnold Schwarzenegger is indeed the most influential action hero Hollywood has ever seen.

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