Sylvester Stallone’s new action film Armor finds him in an unusual role: the villain. In the actor’s decades-long career, Stallone has almost exclusively taken on the role of the hero or anti-hero. And while it’s good to see the actor branching out and using his talents to do more than save the day, his new film has been a ratings disaster.
Coming in with a dreaded 0% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, Armor has the distinction of being Stallone’s lowest critical and audience-rated film yet. Directed by Justin Routt and written by Cory Todd Hughes, Armor has been slammed for being messy, cliché, and inconsistent. While critics agree that Stallone can still deliver, his performance in the doomed film doesn’t speak well for fans who might want to see more of a Stallone turned rogue. But given his limited history of villainy in his long-ranging career, it seems questionable that fans may ever get that chance again. Here’s a look back on all the times Stallone has played the villain.
Stallone’s Villains Can Get a Bit Out There
Back in 1975, before Stallone climbed those famous stairs in Rocky, the upcoming actor starred in the sci-fi dystopian action film Death Race 2000. The film follows the participants competing in the Transcontinental Road Race, a brutal yet popular sport where competitors earn points for the fastest time driving over and killing pedestrians. Stallone stars as “the roughest, tough guy of them all,” gangster and game enthusiast “Machine Gun” Joe Viterbo. The second-highest scorer of the games, Machine Gun Joe, drives a convertible with machine guns for headlights and thinks nothing of shooting into the crowd of onlookers. A fun and campy cult classic full of violence and mayhem, Death Race 2000 sees Stallone at his unhinged, villainous best. The film received an 82% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Stallone’s next foray into villainy saw the actor playing it up in the children’s action film Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. The third entry to the Spy Kids series saw Stallone as a former secret agent turned imprisoned traitor, The Toymaker. Having betrayed the Organization of Super Spies (OSS), The Toymaker has been imprisoned for 30 years. During his isolation, he hatches a plan to get his revenge by capturing and imprisoning children in a virtual reality game. A genius who has found himself driven to madness, The Toymaker is an unhinged and diabolical mastermind who schemes with holographic versions of himself. Stallone is a surprising addition to the Spy Kids franchise, but his quirky portrayal as The Toymaker works.
Anti-heroes and Tulsa King
Although Stallone has largely avoided villain roles, the actor has perfected the anti-hero trope. Some of his most notable protagonists would be considered villains if not for a sympathetic angle. Many viewers consider Stallone’s most popular roles of Rambo and Cobra to be anti-heroes. Though ‘vigilante’ would probably be the correct term, the characters float the rule of law and law enforcement to establish their own brand of justice.
If anti-heroes had a society, it would be The Suicide Squad. In 2021, Stallone joined as a card-carrying member as he took on the role of King Shark in the James Gunn-directed sequel to the disappointing 2016 film of a similar name, Suicide Squad. In The Suicide Squad, a group of convicts are recruited to join a task force to save the world in exchange for lighter sentences. The only problem is their tasks aren’t meant to be ones they walk away from. Stallone joins the team as Nanaue/King Shark, a half-man/half-shark hybrid whose loneliness makes him a sympathetic character. The Suicide Squad was rated certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. With a critical score of 90% and an audience rating of 82%, fans have come to love this band of villains.
Currently, Stallone is garnering acclaim for his scripted crime television series, Tulsa King. Created by Taylor Sheridan and streaming on Paramount+, Tulsa King sees Stallone as Dwight Manfredi, a mobster who sets up a new criminal empire in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The show, which sees Stallone once again as an anti-hero, is receiving great reviews from both audiences and critics. The second season has a rating of 100% from critics so far. The star has teased an upcoming third season of Tulsa King as well.
While Stallone’s turn as a villain failed in the disastrously sub-mediocre Armor, fans should check out his previous roles in the much higher-rated Death Race 2000. And as Stallone seems to excel in anti-heroes, make sure to watch Season 2 of Tulsa King, now streaming on Paramount+.