Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone’s historic rivalry is over and they are now friends. However, it seems to resume in the strangest way.

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger Rivalry

SUMMARY

 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone’s rivalry has been renewed with both releasing documentaries about their lives and careers on Netflix in 2023.
 Stallone admitted on Arnold that Schwarzenegger was the superior action star and had all the answers, body, and strength.
 Schwarzenegger and Stallone took their competitiveness to the extreme during their feud, trying to have the best body, kill the most people in their films, and have the biggest guns.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone had a massive rivalry during the 1980s, and it has now continued in the strangest way, despite the two burying the hatchet.

Each of the actors cemented their name as one of the greatest action icons of all time by headlining some of the most popular movies and franchises in a similar timeframe.

Schwarzenegger became famous for roles in Predator, Conan the Barbarian, and The Terminator during the ’80s, while Stallone reached fame with the Rocky and Rambo franchises.

Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have continued their careers with high-profile roles, doing both action, comedy, and drama films, and even working together on the Escape Plan film series and The Expendables franchise.

However, Schwarzenegger and Stallone had a historic feud to establish themselves as the number one action star of the time. It included fierce competition, digs in the press, and even trying to derail each other.

Despite them squashing their long-time beef, they have unexpectedly found themselves competing with each other once more.

Schwarzenegger & Stallone Both Had Netflix Documentaries Release In 2023

The Two Are No Longer Official Rivals

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables 2 Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the poster for Escape Plan Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench Mauser and Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross in The Expendables 2 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone on the poster for Escape Plan

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone’s rivalry has been renewed (perhaps unintentionally) with both men releasing documentaries about their lives and careers on Netflix in 2023.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first one to do it, releasing Arnold on Netflix on June 7. The three-part miniseries follows his life from his early claim to fame to his bodybuilding and political career and even provides new details about Schwarzenegger and Stallone’s feud.

This was made possible with Stallone taking part in the Arnold documentary, further evidence of their original rivalry being a thing of the past.

Following his fellow action star colleague, Stallone released his own documentary with a similar title, Sly, based on his nickname.

Stallone’s doc premiered on Netflix on November 3, only five months after Arnold debuted. The documentary, which has a length of one hour and 35 minutes, covers Stallone’s career of nearly fifty years.

It gives an intimate look at his struggles at the beginning of his career, the importance of Rocky, and his acting, writing, directing, and producing.

This documentary doesn’t cover their rivalry, but Schwarzenegger also made a cameo. Stallone’s documentary became a hit on Netflix, entering the top ten movies chart.

What Schwarzenegger & Stallone Have Said About Their Rivalry

Stallone Called Schwarzenegger “Superior”

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a prison cafeteria in Escape Plan

Over the years, both Schwarzenegger and Stallone addressed their historic feud. Stallone appeared on Arnold and admitted that Schwarzenegger was the superior action star.

He said, “The ’80s was a very interesting time because the definitive ‘action guy’ had not really been formed yet.

Dialogue was not necessary. I saw that there was an opportunity because no one else was doing this except some other guy from Austria, who doesn’t need to say much.”

That is when Stallone admitted, “He was superior. He just had all the answers. He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger also agreed that he and Stallone had an extreme rivalry during an interview with The Graham Norton Show (via NME).

He said, “We were movie rivals, but we took the competitiveness to the extreme – we each had to have the best body, we had to kill more people in our films, and we had to have the biggest guns. It got out of control, and we tried to derail each other.”

Luckily for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, the feud is over and they are now friends willing to appear in each others’ documentaries.