Sylvester Stallone has played his fair share of tough guys throughout his career, with Rocky Balboa and John Rambo as the two most famous. In the 1980s, there were no bigger action movie stars than Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They were the two biggest names when it came to getting big-budget action movies into theaters, and they remained at the top of the genre until names like Bruce Willis offered a fresh alternative, with an average, more relatable hero thrown into fantastical situations.

However, while the actor was a bankable action hero, even stretching into the 2000s with The Expendables, his most popular characters were nowhere near as strong as Sylvester Stallone's most powerful movie characters. The actor mostly banked on being an overpowering "regular guy" for much of his career, even in science fiction releases like Demolition Man and war movies like the Rambo franchise. This changed in 2022, when Stallone took on the lead role in a smaller, independent superhero film, playing a man named Joe Smith.

Joe "Samaritan" Smith Is Sylvester Stallone's Most Powerful Human Character

Joe Smith Is A Retired Superhero WIth A Healing Factor

In 2022, Sylvester Stallone starred in the superhero film Samaritan​​​​​, an Amazon Prime Video exclusive. The movie offers a grittier and darker take on superhero entertainment in a futuristic world where Stallone's superhero, the Samaritan, is believed to be dead. The storyline features a young boy named Sam, who finds himself targeted by a gang after a deal goes wrong. This leads a stranger named Joe Smith to step in and save the boy, causing Sam to believe that Joe is the long-believed-to-be-dead superhero, the Samaritan.

Sam is right. The film then sees the gang target Joe. As the movie progresses, Joe proves that he is stronger than anyone might have believed, especially those who had only heard the legends of his exploits before his apparent death 25 years prior. The Samaritan has super strength and durability, as well as a healing factor, with one major downfall. When he heals, he starts to overheat and needs something to cool down before he possibly explodes.

The movie also sees the Samaritan's backstory, including an interesting twist at the end concerning his twin brother, who was formerly the villain, Nemesis. Throughout the film, Joe shows that he can take a beating, much like most Sylvester Stallone characters. However, his healing factor and super strength make him much more powerful than any of the actor's previous characters, including the scrappy boxer Rocky and the resilient, yet still human, Rambo.

Sylvester Stallone told SyFy:

"I thought that this guy, his trait would be in his resolve. He still has great physical power as opposed to speed and he's not jumping through the air. He can't fly, he can't see through walls, and fire doesn't come out of his mouth. He's just a unique sort of superhero, like a modern-day Hercules. He's that kind of a mythic hero and I think those are ones that you can identify with."

Sylvester Stallone Has Only Played A Couple Of "Super" Characters In His Career

Stallone Also Had Superhero Roles In The MCU, DCU, & 2000 AD Series

While Samaritan offered Sylvester Stallone the chance to play a superhero as the lead, it wasn't his first comic book-styled role. In 1995, Stallone played his first super character in the science fiction film Judge Dredd. Based on the 2000 AD comic character, Judge Dredd is a law enforcement official in a dystopian world, serving as judge, jury, and executioner. While he has no superpowers, he is a larger-than-life figure in an expansive universe.

Sylvester Stallone "Super" Characters:

After Judge Dredd, it took Stallone 22 years to return to the superhero genre with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, an MCU film with Stallone portraying Stakar Ogord, an alien member of the Ravagers who holds a grudge against Yondu (Michael Rooker). He has no known powers in his two MCU appearances, but the character does have powers in his Marvel Comics appearances.

Finally, the most powerful of Sylvester Stallone's super characters is King Shark from James Gunn's 2021 film The Suicide Squad. He is a man-eating shark-human hybrid. Standing six feet seven inches, he is invulnerable to almost any weapon used against him and is seen throughout the movie eating nearly every enemy he encounters. While The Samaritan presents Stallone's strongest human character, he has taken on some fantastical roles later in his career.