Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t just compete with Sylvester Stallone; he needed him.

“I always need an enemy,” Schwarzenegger admitted in his Netflix doc, Arnold. And in the ’80s, there was no better rival than Stallone. Their legendary feud fueled a golden era of action cinema, with both stars battling it out on-screen and off.

Schwarzenegger and Stallone were literal warriors fighting for Hollywood supremacy.  The rivalry hit its peak in 1985 when Stallone’s Rambo: First Blood Part II exploded onto screens. Schwarzenegger fired back with Commando, determined to outmuscle, outgun, and outbox-office his competition.

“We were incredibly antagonistic. We couldn’t even stand to be in the same room. People had to separate us,” Stallone recalled.

For Schwarzenegger, it wasn’t just about making movies. It was about winning. “Every time he came out with a movie, like Rambo II, I had to figure out a way of now outdoing that,” he said. And it wasn’t just about who had the best action sequences.

This wasn’t a casual rivalry. It was an all-out arms race. “We were competing about everything,” Schwarzenegger confessed. “The body being ripped and oiled up. Who is more vicious? Who is more tough? Who uses bigger knives? Who uses bigger guns?”

Stallone, ever the underdog, saw Schwarzenegger as an unstoppable force. “Arnold started to come on strong… (we were) great warriors that are traveling the same course. There was only room for one of us,” he admitted.

And eventually, Schwarzenegger won. “He wanted to be number one. Unfortunately, he got there,” Stallone laughed.

Despite their intense rivalry, the two action icons eventually buried the hatchet. The once-sworn enemies teamed up in The Expendables franchise and Escape Plan, proving that even the biggest cinematic foes can find common ground.

“Sly and I were at war… Without Stallone, I maybe wouldn’t have been as motivated during the ’80s to do the kind of movies I did and work as hard as I did,” Schwarzenegger reflected.

From bitter rivals to battle-hardened allies, Schwarzenegger and Stallone’s legendary feud turned into one of Hollywood’s most unexpected friendships.

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