Who Is The Best Action Hero

Arnie vs Stallone

And More! By Adam Sinicki

Special note: Action heroes are people too, and beloved icons of the 80's. It is not fair to subject them to brutal deathmatches for amusement or entertainment. No action heroes were harmed during the writing of this article.

Okay so I've seen many articles dealing with who the better action hero was - Stallone or Arnie? Chan or Lee (or Li)? Segal or Van Damme (all the sweeter for the bad blood there)? These articles then tend to deal with which action hero had the better films, the better one liners, the more enduring career... But then that's not really what The Biomatrix is about. We're about the beat down. So the question here is, put all of these great action heroes in an ultimate death match and who would come out on top?

So I'm geeking out, it's a bit of fun, but I also think it's an interesting opportunity to test the power quotient and to have a look at what really counts in a fight, the different types of strength/fitness and the different fighting styles.

We're going to rate them using the power quotient described on this site and in the book (Project Superman) to give the best overall hero. For those who don't frequently frequent the site enough, here's a reminder of how the power quotient looks:

Strength x Speed x Endurance x Technique x Intelligence x Agility

So those are the factors on which the action heroes shall be judged. But which heroes will make the grade sufficient to be counted in this deathmatch at all? Behold, the cream of the action hero crop:

Dolph Lundgren

Sylvester Stallone

Jet Li

Bruce Lee

Bruce Willis

Tony Jaa

Mel Gibson

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Chuck Norris

Steven Seagal

Jean Claude Van Damme

Jackie Chan

The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)

Jason Statham

Samo Hung

Chow Yun Fat

Yuen Biao

Akshay

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Clint Eastwood

The best 5 heroes in each category will get a mark while those coming bellow will get nothing (five points for top place and one for fifth). The overall winner will be determined as the one with the most points. Unfortunately for obvious reasons Chuck Norris had to be disqualified (his blood technically counts as a performance enhancing substance). All results bellow should be considered the result 'imagining Chuck Norris didn't exist'.

Okay happy feat-let's go.

Strength

Okay already we're starting on something rather controversial. But the strength award has to be narrowed down to Stallone, Arnie, The Rock�or surprisingly, Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee you say? Well yeah, the guy could allegedly hold a 40k barbell out infornt of him using one straight arm and keep it there for ten minutes. That's not about sheer muscle but something else, something he likely learned through static contraction and Qi Gong training - Arnie or Stallone could never do it. At the same time though, put him on a bench and he's unlikely to be able to bench anywhere as much as those two. The question then is which type of strength is most useful in a fight, and sadly for Brucey the answer has to be the lifting strength. Being hit in the head with a punch from Stallone or Arnie would feel like being hit by the Express Train (Rocky 6 quote). Dolph Lundgren also needs a mention for being built and massiveas height does in some cases = strength.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger (5 points)

2. Sylvester Stallone (4 points)

3. Bruce Lee (3 points)

4. Dolph Lundgren (2 points)

5. The Rock (1 point)

Speed

Obviously a martial artist is most likely to win this category. This is righting speed and running speed. We've all heard how Bruce Lee and Jet Li are too fast to be caught on camera, and Jackie Chan most likely falls into that category as well. In terms of the speed of strikes however Bruce Lee has the edge for being able to swap a coin in your hand for a different coin before you can close your hand which is probably the most impressive display any of them has demonstrated. Jackie Chan though has both types of speed - being able to dodge shuttle cocks and catch fans out of the air. His whole body can move far to fast to catch... The other martial artists in this category (Segal, Van Damme etc) don't come close as they do harder (thus slower) styles and also lack the same amount of training. It's tough but I'm settling for this:

1. Bruce Lee (5 points)

2. Jackie Chan (4 points)

3. Jet Li (3 points)

4. Van Damme (2 points)

5. Seagal (1 point)

Endurance

Endurance is a tricky one to rate as most action heroes don't brag about their good cardio fitness. As such there's not much on record about who can run the furthest. However this type of endurance simply means how long could the action hero keep it up? In other words it's also about mental endurance, and the ability to take hits. To have good CV you're likely looking at someone with a low BMI, but to take a lot of hits you need someone with layers of armour like muscle. For these reasons, Stallone should probably win the award for endurance. Few people realise that in his prime Stallone had a body fat percentage of about 3% putting him at even lower than Bruce Lee. At the same time he has a good layer of muscle second to only Arnie. But Stallone also has by far the best mental endurance, demonstrating time and time again an unwillingness to give up. Look at him now - 63 and in one of the best shapes of his life after a remarkable come back in film (this just may well be the most muscular anyone's ever been at that age... genuinely). Add to that his boxing experience and you have someone who if nothing else will keep going. Arnie then comes fairly close for his similar relentless attitude and for his thick layers of muscle, whereas those who train long and hard and who knowingly include CV as part of their training must come elsewhere on the list.

1. Stallone (5 points)

2. Arnie (4 points)

3. Bruce Lee (3 points)

4. Jackie Chan (2 points)

5. Van Damme (1 point)

Technique

Here we're looking at the technique each competitor uses to deliver their punches, locks and blocks and how many lethal moves they have at their disposal. Few people know that Bruce Lee only had about 6 months of training in Wing Chun before he developed his own style - but the amount of reading and practicing he did leading up to it, and the amount of times he demonstrated its effectiveness means he still probably reaches the number one spot (the Martial Arts council in America made him fight one of their top students for the right to teach white and black guys - he won demonstrating his technique but decided he was 'too slow' and so had to develop a more efficient style. Legend.). Following that Jet Li has a lot of training but in a far more showy style (Wushu) that wouldn't be overly effective in a fight. Jackie Chan similar learned to fight at a Peking Opera school which was largely for entertainment purposes focusing on breakfalls, fake punches and singing (though he would have gotten one of the most rounded teachings in Martial Arts). Samo Hung and Yuen Biao got the same. The Rock of course has Wrestling, but that again is a lot more of a showman's fighting style (come on, you know it's true really...). Kudos then have to go to the ones who've also won real fights and done well in competitions: Chuck Norris (of course) who was also hand picked by Bruce Lee as a worthy opponent and Van Damme.

1. Bruce Lee (5 points)

2. Chuck Norris (4 points)

3. Jackie Chan (3 points)

4. Van Damme (2 points)

5. Steven Seagal (1 point)

Intelligence

There's a misconception that action heroes are lumbering idiots with no brain cells left that haven't been beaten out of their thick skulls. As you're about to see though this isn't really the case. Okay Van Damme is flat out an idiot, but the rest all have something going for them and are actually pretty smart. Many of them direct/write their own films, and in the case of Stallone in Rocky this was actually how he got started and won various Oscars. Not a bad start in the business. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Mel Gibson and a large list of the others all do the same to a lesser degree. Then take those who pursue other interests or creative pursuits outside of their chosen field. Bruce Lee for instance majored in philosophy and had a lot to say on the matter, posthumously inspiring a lot of books of inspirational and thought-provoking quotes (writing books and creating your own fighting style is no mean feet either). Then there's Dolph Lundgren who's gone further and done a masters degree in chemical engineering and can speak a total of five languages and play several instruments. Smart guy. As well as being a great writer, Sylvester Stallone is also a painter and has sold many paintings for thousands of dollars (not to mention a thriving supplements business). Arnie though has to be the un-hailed hero in this category however - thought of often as dumb due to his film roles, thick accent and lumbering presence, Arnie is in fact something of a genius - being highly successful in business and amassing a small fortune before he even began bodybuilding, then moving on to conquer bodybuilding, acting and now politics. He has written books and has an innate grasp of business, marketing and PR and the steadfast determination to do incredible things with these abilities. Stallone comes out on top however for his IQ which is an astonishing 160. Action heroes are not idiots - largely they are geniuses.

1. Stallone (5 points)

2. Arnie (4 points)

3. Dolph Ludgren (3 points)

4. Bruce Lee (2 points)

5. Jackie Chan (1 point)

Agility

For agility there can really only be one winner: Jackie Chan. While others like Tony Jaa or Yuen Biao might seem to have more gymnastic ability for flips and tumbles, they do not have the smooth fluid movements and ability to use their scenery that Chan demonstrates. Jackie practically invented Parkour and has been flying over buildings long before Sebastian and his crew took to the streets. Watch some of Chan's earlier films and you'll be amazed. Following him then is Yuen Biao - his lighter more gymnastic companion, Tony Jaa for being able to do every flip under the sun and leap miles, Sammo Hung for being close to Jackie despite his large size, and Bruce Lee who scores lower than some might think for the fact that none of the flips in his films were performed by the man himself.

1. Jackie Chan (5 points)

2. Yuen Biao (4 points)

3. Tony Jaa (3 points)

4. Sammo Hung (2 points)

5. Bruce Lee (1 point)

The Final Results

Stallone - 19 points

Bruce Lee - 19 points

Arnie - 13 points

Jackie Chan - 11 points

Dolph - 6 points

Van Damme - 5 points

Chuck Norris (were he human) - 4 points

Yuen Biao - 4 points

Jet Li - 3 points

Tony Jaa - 3 points

Seagal - 2 points

Sammo Hung - 2 points

The Rock - 1 point

So there you have it; using the Power Quotient system - which by the way *rock* - it's apparent that Stallone and Bruce Lee would whoop ass in an action hero show down, demonstrating that it is indeed better to be an 'all rounder' rather than a specialist. The two are both fast, agile, intelligent, durable and strong, which would put them ahead of the strong but lumbering Arnie and the nimble but relatively weak Jet Li. Of course Chuck Norris in reality would simply destroy the universe with his little toe, but for the sake of this article we're imagining he can't do that...