This is the first film in which Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger co-star. The film is called Escape Plan. Asterisk 1: In the first two Expendables movies, Schwarzenegger was one of Stallone’s weekend-cameo all-stars. Asterisk 2: The two men starred in a film together previously. The 1980s were the running time of that film, which was set in America. The former adversaries who later became business colleagues and surgery partners rode high on the glory days of the action genre. Compared to their peers Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, and Mel Gibson, they were the quintessential Hollywood duo, more readily reduced to clichés and more widely recognized.However, the debate over who was a superior beefcake has only grown more nuanced over the following decades as the whims of post-golden age stardom have continuously altered our perception of the Schwarzenegger/Stallone difference. We have dissected their two careers into their constituent components and determined a winner using scientific means in an effort to chart the present status of the great ’80s action-guy controversy. You might be surprised by the outcomes!Box OfficeLet’s start with the one metric that we can truly quantify: the box office receipts of the two stars’ respective films. With a $1.8 billion career gross, Sylvester Stallone wins this award from BoxOfficeMojo, barely outpacing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $1.7 billion total. Regretfully, the figures are false, just like any other numbers. (Very accurate falsehoods.) (I apologize.) With a far lesser number of films to his credit, Schwarzenegger made $1.7 billion in box office revenue. Six years after Stallone’s breakthrough performance in Rocky, he landed his first non-Hercules main part in Conan the Barbarian. Schwarzenegger spent the majority of the 2000s on sabbatical in Sacramento. Schwarzenegger’s average is much greater because he made almost as much money with fewer films and in a far shorter amount of time. Let’s give Arnold this crown and score these metrics.So, Arnold SchwarzeneggerThe Influence of Their Star Persona on CultureIn one way or another, Rocky is a shadow of itself in every sports film. Either it’s an underdog tale, a la Rocky, or it’s overtly anti-Rocky, however even those movies eventually become Rocky productions. Rocky is like Moneyball for managers. Warrior combines two distinct Rocky films into one. The plot of Any Given Sunday is how even the most paid, swaggering, pompous, and generally un-Rocky players secretly think a lot like Rocky. Stallone, with his innocent eyes, personified the image of The Little Guy coming out on top in Rocky and First Blood. The issue is that Stallone abandoned that persona for the most of the ensuing two decades. The Little Guy was not who he wanted to be. His goal was to get large. He desired to be Arnold Schwarzenegger.Everyone else did as well. In the 1980s, Arnold Schwarzenegger redefined what it meant to be a manly man. He was a living machine, an animated version of Charles Atlas, and an irresistible force. For a significant portion of their childhood, every American male under 45 aspired to resemble Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition, Stallone did as well: You can feel the strain of Schwarzenegger’s impact as the Italian Stallion’s biceps grow throughout his ’80s sequels.So, Arnold SchwarzeneggerFranchise HardinessBoth the Conan and the Terminator movie franchises, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, are presently undergoing various stages of reboots. One great Conan, two terrific Terminators, and needless sequels followed. Stallone starred in Rambo and Rocky. Rocky had two masterpieces (the first and the hilarious Cold War cartoon Rocky IV), two mediocre films (the surprisingly sensitive Rocky Balboa and the edging-toward-camp III), and two unnecessary sequels. Rambo: First Blood Part II is dreadful and flawless, First Blood is fantastic but old, and the latter Rambos are superfluous.Stallone deserves recognition for how long his two primary franchises have been successful—more than three decades!—despite the fact that Terminator is the best series overall. In addition, the director and star of a prospective Oscar nominee both want to develop a Rocky spin-off. Additionally, Stallone created The Expendables, a move that may have combined the action star franchises of all other actors under his purview.Outcome: StallonePartnersSchwarzenegger collaborated with John McTiernan, the archetypal Hollywood action movie director, on several occasions. Additionally, he co-directed one film each with auteurist madmen Paul Verhoeven and John Milius. And there’s the issue of the King of the World, James Cameron. Cameron has directed eight films, three of which starring Arnold Schwarzenegger are classic megahits. In contrast, Stallone frequently works with his own preference for writers and directors.So, Arnold Schwarzenegger