14 Times Action Heroes Got The Crap Beaten Out Of Them

Rocky Balboa is a piece of iron and seemingly invincible in the ring (despite always taking a beating by leading with his head). Unfortunately, the laws of physics that apply to him don’t apply to Apollo Creed. At least not in Rocky IV. Enter Ivan Drago, an Olympic gold medalist and amateur boxing champion of the Soviet Union with a record of 100-0-0. At 6 feet 6 inches, Drago is an absolute monster - which is exacerbated by intramuscular injections/anabolic enhancements. 

When Drago visits the US and challenges our champion, Rocky, former champion Apollo comes out of retirement to challenge the Russian in an exhibition match. At 43 years old, he’s no match for Drago, whose vicious punches bloody Apollo from the jump. He gets beaten so badly, Rocky prepares to throw in the towel, and then famously obeys his friend’s wishes to continue with the fight. In the next round, Apollo continues to take hits to the head until Drago ends him with a vicious final blow. Rocky ultimately goes on to beat Drago in his own backyard, but Apollo's demise forever changed the Rocky/Creed franchise. 

The Dark Knight Rises introduced yet another comic book character into its grounded universe, depicting one of his iconic moments from the source material. Bane breaks the Bat. The fight between Batman and Bane itself doesn’t feature any loud music (like the typical Christopher Nolan affair) or wild CGI, it’s just two men exchanging fisticuffs in the sewer - which is what makes it so intense. 

After being betrayed by Catwoman, the Dark Knight gets trapped and is forced to fight one-on-one with the physically superior Bane. Despite Batman’s gadgets and impressive combat skills, he’s no match for Bane’s monstrous strength - absorbing blow after blow before finally breaking Batman’s back, setting the stage for Bruce Wayne’s imprisonment, recovery, and “rise.” 

Officer Alex Murphy had to get the crap beaten out of him and lose for RoboCop to win. The first film depicts a dystopian and crime-ridden Detroit on the brink of collapse; therefore, the city grants Omni Consumer Products control of their police force. The corporation’s plan: the implementation of ED-209, a law enforcement droid to replace traditional officers.

Unfortunately, those droids begin to malfunction, so another project, “RoboCop,” moves forward. As this is happening, Alex pursues Clarence Boddicker and his group, who ultimately ambush the officer and shoot him in the head, making him - or rather, his corpse - the perfect test subject to turn into a heavily-armored cyborg.

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones redefined the action hero archetype. He felt like a cooler version of the everyman, even when he was getting beaten to a bloody pulp. No scene better epitomizes this than the fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After chasing the extremists to an airstrip, Marion guns down soldiers in a plane while Indy takes on a very big, bad, and bald Third Reich supporter around the plane.

The pair simultaneously throws hands and dodges propellers - Indy’s punches barely do anything while his opponent does a whole lot of damage. Thankfully, a well-timed propeller cuts our hero a break. 

Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine is one very much concerned with legacy. On his road to redemption, the mutant finds himself tainted by his adamantium skeleton. Finally seeing his aging and healing abilities failing, Logan meets two updated versions of his mutant genetics/DNA: X-23 and X-24. Created in a lab, X-23 is essentially Logan’s offspring, while X-24 is introduced as a ruthless and primitive clone of Logan in his prime.

In the final fight between our hero and the dark forces of the biotechnology corporation, Alkali-Transigen, Logan takes on the cloned version of himself. Seemingly devoid of humanity, X-24 repeatedly slices into a weakened Logan. Without his fast healing, every slice is harsh until Logan is ultimately impaled on a tree. The only reason he doesn’t “lose” this fight is because his daughter takes out X-24 with the very adamantium bullet the Wolverine was saving for himself. In more ways than one, Logan was the instrument of his own demise.  

Tony Stark gets beat a lot in Iron Man 3. The film itself deconstructs the quote “I am Iron Man,” taking a good look at the billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist underneath the suit of armor. The movie’s villain is a previously disabled scientist named Aldrich Killian, whose ideas were rejected by Tony many moons ago. Present-day Killian reinvents himself with the help of Extremis, an experimental treatment that helps the subject regrow limbs (among other things) - they’re basically indestructible... besides their proclivity to “get too hot” and blow up. 

In the final engagement with Killian, Tony whips out the big guns and summons all of his Iron Man suits. Even with his many suits of armor, he isn’t a match for Killian. Also there is Pepper Potts, who Killian has subjected to the Extremis procedure. Her powers not only allow her to survive a fatal fall, but she also intervenes at a pivotal moment and terminates Killian right before he finishes Tony.