From the Terminator to Conan the Barbarian, Arnold Schwarzenegger has played some unbelievably strong characters in action movies, but some of his characters are stronger than others. After making his film debut in Hercules in New York and appearing in the documentary Pumping Iron, Schwarzenegger became a world-renowned movie star with the back-to-back successes of the Conan and Terminator franchises. In the decades since, Schwarzenegger has appeared in all kinds of different action movies, from lighthearted “buddy cop” comedies to grisly crime thrillers.
Since Schwarzenegger is a former bodybuilder and one of the most muscular actors in Hollywood, almost all of his characters are strong. But some of his characters, like the formidable warrior from Conan the Barbarian or the unstoppable killing machine from The Terminator, are more powerful than others, like the goofy ice-based villain Mr. Freeze from Batman & Robin. Schwarzenegger has played tough-as-nails cops, indestructible cyborgs, and a movie character who escaped into the real world, all with varying degrees of strength.
19 Emil Rottmayer (Escape Plan)
Arguably the weakest character from Schwarzenegger’s filmography is veteran prisoner Emil Rottmayer from Escape Plan. Rottmayer is just as physically formidable as Schwarzenegger’s other action movie characters, but he’s not strong enough to break out of jail on his own; he needs the help of Sylvester Stallone’s Ray Breslin.
18 Doug Quaid (Total Recall)
A lot of Schwarzenegger’s heroes are cops or soldiers or highly trained mercenaries, but Total Recall’s Doug Quaid is just an average blue-collar construction worker. When he tries to have memories of a vacation implanted in his mind, he gets unwittingly swept up in a spy mission on Mars. Quaid adapts to this dangerous lifestyle quickly, but he’s woefully unprepared for action.
17 Sheriff Owens (The Last Stand)
Schwarzenegger played into his age with the role of Sheriff Owens in the neo-western action vehicle The Last Stand. Owens and his fellow officers in the border town of Sommerton Junction, Arizona, become the last line of defense when a notorious drug lord tries to through on his way to Mexico. While Owens is slower and crankier than the average Schwarzenegger action hero, he still has just as much grit.
16 Gordy (Collateral Damage)
Los Angeles firefighter Gordy Brewer goes to Colombia to confront the guerrilla commando who killed his wife and son in Collateral Damage. Gordy is far from the gun-toting hero that Schwarzenegger has played in his police procedural roles or mercenary thriller roles. But, he does enjoy at least a few feats of strength in the film.
15 Jericho Cane (End Of Days)
Schwarzenegger combined his usual all-action thrills with Rosemary’s Baby-style demonic horror in End of Days. Jericho Cane is a former New York cop tasked with protecting a young woman from the religious cult that wants to use her to conceive the Antichrist with Satan. Cane's strength came in handy in his fight to defeat the Devil himself.
14 Mr. Freeze (Batman & Robin)
Schwarzenegger took on a rare villainous role in Batman & Robin. He plays Mr. Freeze, one of the most sympathetic villains in the Bat’s rogues’ gallery, who commits crimes so he can fund the medical research to save his terminally ill wife. Nearly all the trouble Mr. Freeze causes Batman stems from his ice gun, rather than his raw power. In fact, Mr. Freeze is more renowned for his ice puns than he is for his strength.
13 Breacher (Sabotage)
Sabotage, an action thriller reimagining of the classic Agatha Christie whodunit And Then There Were None, has some of the goriest violence in Schwarzenegger’s career. The actor plays DEA Agent John “Breacher” Wharton, who becomes increasingly desperate to save his Special Operations Team when they start getting picked off by a cartel whose stash they raided. Breacher is a powerful lawman, but he lets a lot of his cohorts die on his watch.
12 Sheriff Kaminski (Raw Deal)
Schwarzenegger’s Sheriff Kaminski single-handedly takes down a mafia ring in Raw Deal. Kaminski’s strength comes from the arsenal of firearms he assembles early on in the movie, but the mobsters have their own arsenal and Kaminski manages to defeat them without backup.
11 Trench (The Expendables)
In the sprawling all-star ensemble of The Expendables franchise, Schwarzenegger plays Trent “Trench” Ma, a fellow mercenary leader of Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross. Trench was a little out of practice when he was introduced, but when he returned to action in the sequels, he proved that he hadn’t lost his mojo and could still pull his weight in the field.
10 Ivan Danko (Red Heat)
James Belushi’s slovenly, laidback Chicago cop Art Ridzik is contrasted with Schwarzenegger’s stern-faced, razor-focused Moscow cop Ivan Danko when they’re reluctantly paired up in Red Heat. Danko is one of the toughest cops in the Soviet Union, and he’ll do whatever it takes to catch his partner’s killer, who fled to the United States.
