Picture this: You grow up in post-World War II Austria, immigrate to the United States to become a professional bodybuilder, invest your earnings in real estate, and then make an attempt at acting in movies; you succeed at it and become one of the biggest movie stars of all time, marry a Kennedy, and then eventually run for Governor of California and win. Not many people can accomplish even half of what is mentioned above in their lifetime. Arnold Schwarzenegger did all of that in half a century. Schwarzenegger has lived a life we will be talking about for centuries, long after he’s left this world. He is the ultimate alpha male, the prototype of what you think of when you think about who the ultimate badass is.

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In terms of his persona on screen, it’s unmatched. Schwarzenegger has one iconic moment after another. Prime examples are him getting in the head of Lou Ferrigno backstage at the Mr. Olympia competition in the documentary Pumping Iron and, of course, the iconic moment in The Terminator when the T-800 examines the durability of the front desk at a local Los Angeles police station and then utters the words, “I’ll be back.”

With Season 2 of his Netflix show, FUBAR, returning soon, it’s time to look at three movies on the former governor of California’s resume that make him the epitome of what an action star is. No, Collateral Damage didn’t make the cut, sorry. 

Conan the Barbarian

The Terminator would launch Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere. Still, it was the John Millus-directed epic tale of an orphaned boy who was enslaved very young, only to grow into a warrior who goes on a long quest to avenge the murder of his family in the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age. Adapted from the comic book tales of the sword-swinging warrior, Conan the Barbarian was a role Arnie was destined to play. Before its 1982 release, he had not been able to fit into any mold of the kind of actor he could be. Despite winning a Golden Globe in 1977 for Best New Star of the Year, Schwarzenegger was at a crossroads before Conan.

Schwarzenegger holds the screen with his face for two hours and nine minutes, saying minimal lines in an Oliver Stone-penned script. You can see the masculine persona that got millions enamored with him in the film. Conan’s arc is easy to get invested in, and the film as a whole hit before the campy sword and sorcery films would plague the 1980s. It’s another example of how Schwarzenegger always knew to be in the right place at the right time, with the right role. 

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The 1980s were very kind to Arnold Schwarzenegger. The 1990s were a different kind of beast. By the decade’s end, Schwarzenegger had to switch things up as box office numbers were not as big as they once were heading into the new millennium. However, earlier in the decade, he was back in the title role of one of the greatest science fiction films of all time, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

James Cameron’s landmark contribution to the growth of CGI effects only propels the film to classic status. Still, in terms of the Terminator franchise, many feel this is the last quality performance dialed in by Schwarzenegger as the cybernetic organism under living tissue. After being the sinister killing machine in the original 1984 film, he plays a cyborg reprogrammed by John Connor (Edward Furlong) in the future and sent back in time to protect him and his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Arnold thrives on screen from frame one on. He swings his rifle around, firing off rounds at the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) that are reminiscent of John Wayne in True Grit, shows well-written comedic timing, and gives us an ending scene that makes grown men cry. T2 showed us that Arnold Schwarzenegger was indeed the best living action star, but he sure knew how to elevate that label to a new level.

Predator

There are Schwarzenegger films before Predator and then ones after it. The Terminator proved he could be compelling on screen, Commando proved he could deliver his now trademark one-liners, but when you think of Schwarzenegger holding a machine gun on a movie poster shirtless, you think of him toe to toe in the jungle with that alien that was “one ugly mother f-cker.” Predator is a peak Ronald Regan-era action film. Military guys in the jungle blowing stuff up and getting hunted by a creature from a distant planet. 

Predator has big muscles, big action, Jesse Ventura chewing tobacco, Carl Weathers flexing, and Bill Duke saying, “I’m gonna have me some fun,” repeatedly. As for Schwarzenegger, he has the ultimate action-hero moment that trumps anything Stallone, Van-Damme, or Segal were doing at the time. The moment he lights the torch, he yells into the night to initiate a showdown with the Predator to let him know that he is now being hunted. It’s the battle cry that every man wishes he could do. You don’t have to YouTube it, we’ve got you covered right below.

Do you agree with this list? Should we have put Red Heat on here? Let us know in the comments below!