25 Awesome Action Heroes

2. THE TERMINATOR, MODEL T-800

FROM The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009)

PLAYED BY Arnold Schwarzenegger

PROGRAMMING Having failed to kill Sarah Connor, mother of anti-machine resistance leader John Connor, in the first movie, the time-traveling T-800 is reprogrammed to protect young John against even scarier new-model Terminators in the two sequels.

SPECIAL FEATURES Though he lacks the molten-metal-morphing ability of T2's T-1000 (Robert Patrick), or the ability to turn his limbs into complex weapons like T3's T-X (Kristanna Loken), T-800 is just as relentless, nearly as indestructible, and much more charismatic (in T2, he's even an unlikely father figure for John). Also, he looks good in leather and sunglasses.

WHY HE PUSHES OUR BUTTONS Like the actor-turned-California-governor-turned-actor-again who plays him, T-800 has proven surprisingly adaptable for such an inexpressive, monotone guy. Good or evil, he's an all-purpose golem, a double-barreled horseman of the apocalypse.