This list is a work in progress, so we'll be adding names and updating scores as we work our way through the canon of exploding helicopter films.
To qualify for entry, actors must have appeared in at least four films which feature an exploding helicopter.
1 - Mike Monty
Exploding helicopter films: 15
- Raiders Of Atlantis (1983)
- Tornado: The Last Blood (1983)
- Slash (1984)
- The Firebird Conspiracy (1984)
- Commando Leopard (1985)
- Double Target (1987)
- Tough Cop (1987)
- Phantom Soldiers (1987)
- Eye Of The Eagle (1987)
- The Last American Soldier (1988)
- Dog Tags (1988)
- The Commander (1988) uncredited
- Eye Of The Eagle II (1989)
- Last Platoon (1988)
- Last Flight To Hell (1990)
If you are asking yourself ‘Mike who?’, don’t be embarrassed. Unless you are well-versed in exploitation and low budget genre cinema, you are unlikely to have come across Mr Monty’s work. During the Sixties and Seventies, he was a prolific face – often uncredited - in Italian-made schlock, appearing in everything from Westerns and war movies to soft-core porn. However, it was after relocating to the Philippines that Michael O’Donnell – as he was really called – became a key figure in the world of exploding helicopter cinema. The country had become a mecca for the booming ‘Namsploitation’ genre and filmmakers who wanted to make cheap Rambo knock-offs for the home video market. A perennial presence in these films, Mike Monty has racked up a truly formidable number of exploding helicopter films. Sir, we salute you!
= 2 - Dolph Lundgren
Exploding helicopter films: 11
- A View To A Kill (1985)
- Red Scorpion (1988)
- Silent Trigger (1996)
- Sweepers (1998)
- Bridge Of Dragons (1999)
- Retrograde (2004)
- The Expendables (2010)
- Detention (2011)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- The Expendables 3 (2014)
- Skin Trade (2014)
Still, science's loss is action cinema's gain. And since breaking into films with a bit-part in A View To A Kill, the blonde lunk has racked up an impressive number of screen credits (even if some of the work has been distinctly less than impressive).
It looked like he was going to see out his days in DTV fare, but The Expendables franchise has resulted in a late career revival.
= 2 - Samuel L Jackson
Exploding helicopter films: 11
- Deep Blue Sea
- Die Hard With A Vengeance
- SWAT
- The Other Guys
- Avengers Assemble
- The Incredibles (2004)
- XX2: The Next Level
- King Kong: Skull Island (2017)
- The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Incredibles 2 (2018)
Quality control does not seem particularly high on Jackson's agenda - if indeed it features at all. If he ever surfaces in a good film you can be sure it’s more by luck than design.
As for his exploding helicopter career, it has been fairly conventional (although the shark related chopper fireball incident in Deep Blue Sea is wonderfully ludicrous). However, with such a scattershot approach to work, he could yet add something truly unique to the genre. Though if he does, it’ll obviously be completely by accident.
3 - Jim Gaines
Exploding helicopter films: 10
- DNA (1996)
- Escape To Nowhere (1990)
- Dog Tags (1988)
- Robowar (1988)
- The Secret Of King Mahi’s Island (1988)
- Phantom Soldiers (1987)
- Opposing Force (1986)
- POW The Escape (1986)
- American Ninja (1985)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
Together with Mike Monty, Jim Gaines was one of the most prolific actors working in the Filipino action movie boom of the 1980s. Having grown up in the Philippines, Gaines fell into the film business as local filmmakers needed American faces to bulk out the casts of the low budget, Vietnam-themed war movies being churned out in the country.
= 4 - Gary Daniels
Exploding helicopter films: 9
- The Secret Of King Mahis Island (1988)
- Firepower (1993)
- Deadly Target (1994)
- Riot (1996)
- Epicenter (2000)
- Retrograde (2004)
- The Expendables (2010)
- A Hitman In London (2015)
- Dancin' It's On! (2015)
= 4 - Donald Pleasance
Exploding helicopter films 9
- Last Platoon (1988)
- The Commander (1988)
- Double Target (1987)
- Cobra Mission (1986)
- Warrior Of The Lost World (1983)
- Treasure Of The Yankee Zephyr (1981)
- The Pumaman (1980)
- Telefon (1977)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
= 4 - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Exploding helicopter films: 9
- Predator (1987)
- True Lies (1994)
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
- The 6th Day (2000)
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
- The Expendables (2010)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- The Expendables 3 (2014)
- Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Cannily choosing roles which required limited dialogue and emotional range (Terminator, Conan, Red Heat), Arnie only came unstuck when he deviated from this template in the '90s with a disastrous series of film choices.
Were it not for the years he wasted trying to carve out a family friendly comedy career (Kindergarden Cop, Junior, Jingle All The Way) and later as a Republican politician, The 'Neg would no doubt appear higher in our list.
Still, he has contributed some classic moments to the art of the helicopter explosion, with the climax of True Lies providing a bravura example, as he downs a chopper with a rocket propelled terrorist.
= 5 - Eric Roberts
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- Heaven's Fire (1999)
- The Alternate (2000)
- The Dark Knight (2008)
- The Expendables (2012)
- Skin Traffik (2015)
- Monster Island (2019)
- Top Gunner (2020)
- Ape vs Monster (2021)
= 5 - Charles Napier
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- Rambo: First Blood Pt II (1985)
- Raw Justice (1994)
- Future Zone (1990)
- Riot (1996)
- The Last Match (1990)
- Cop Target (1990)
- Armstrong (1998)
- Indio 2 (1991)
With his lantern jaw and booming voice, Charles Napier became a go-to character actor for filmmakers looking for someone who could play a sheriff, senator, or some other authority figure type. Having made his name in Russ Meyer’s Seventies sexploitation flicks, Napier picked up work in more prestigious fare like Silence of the Lambs or Philadelphia. But it was low budget genre films that provided his frequent employment and accounted for his frequent appearance in films with an exploding helicopter.
= 5 - Pierce Brosnan
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- Die Another Day (2002)
- Dante's Peak (1997)
- GoldenEye (1995)
- No Escape (2015)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- Death Train (1993)
- Black Adam (2022)
His double 'O' career was a curious microcosm of the Connery and Moore eras. While GoldenEye marked him out as the natural heir to Sean Connery, he had within seven short years taken Bond back to the gadgets and 'Confessions' style sex comedy of the Moore years with the wretched Die Another Day.
Regardless, Brosnan's licence to kill clearly included helicopters, as he racked up some spectacular kills, including downing one helicopter with in-car rocket launchers.
= 5 - Bruce Willis
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- Die Hard (1988)
- Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995)
- Die Hard 4.0 (2007)
- Surrogates (2009)
- The Expendables (2010)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)
- A Day To Die (2022)
Bruce Willis is arguably the finest open mouthed action star of all time. Nobody can convey adrenalin pumping fear and danger by running around with his mouth agape quite like “Bruno”. The fact that nobody else bothers is merely further evidence of his mastery of the art.
Less convincing have been Bruce’s efforts to deal with his receding hairline. The late 90s were a particularly awkward period in his career as he donned a range of ill-advised, and at times just plain eccentric, wigs and hair weaves (The Jackal provides the high watermark of this period).
Like many of the actors on this list, Willis owes his presence here largely to a franchise - in this case the Die Hard series. He rightly claims a place as a hall of fame member for one of the greatest exploding helicopter kills ever in Die Hard 4.0, where he memorably shoots a chopper with a car, before quipping: "I was out of bullets."
Less convincing have been Bruce’s efforts to deal with his receding hairline. The late 90s were a particularly awkward period in his career as he donned a range of ill-advised, and at times just plain eccentric, wigs and hair weaves (The Jackal provides the high watermark of this period).
Like many of the actors on this list, Willis owes his presence here largely to a franchise - in this case the Die Hard series. He rightly claims a place as a hall of fame member for one of the greatest exploding helicopter kills ever in Die Hard 4.0, where he memorably shoots a chopper with a car, before quipping: "I was out of bullets."
= 5 - Michael Dudikoff
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- Navy Seals vs Zombies (2015)
- Soldier Boyz (1995)
- Cyberjack (1995)
- American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1990)
- Air America (1990)
- American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987)
- American Ninja (1985)
- Uncommon Valor (1983)
With no discernible skill in martial arts, Michael Dudikoff was an unlikely man to front an era-defining, chop-socky beat’em-up. Nevertheless, after he was catapulted to fame by American Ninja, Mikey Duds went on to become one of the stars of Eighties action. Alongside Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris, he was one of the ‘faces’ of the Cannon Group - regularly headlining their films until the company spectacularly blew itself up in the early Nineties. After that he worked steadily over the next decade in films of diminishing quality before deciding the game was up and moving into a career in real estate. Still, with his blonde hair and easy-going charisma ‘the Dude’ remains a firm fan-favourite of Eighties action fans.
= 5 - Desmond Llewelyn
Exploding helicopter films: 8
- From Russia With Love (1963)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
- The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
- A View To A Kill (1985)
- Goldeneye (1995)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
The Welshman owes his appearance in our hall of fame due to his lengthy tenure in the James Bond series. Over the course of 36 years, during which he equipped five different 00s, with the gadget-giver starred in eight films with an exploding helicopter. The only blemish in his career as Bond's quartermaster-in-chief was hiring the lamentable 'R'.
= 6 - Michael Madsen
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- Executive Target (1997)
- The Sender (1998)
- Supreme Sanction (1999)
- The Alternate (2000)
- Die Another Day (2002)
- Piranhaconda (2012)
- A Hitman In London (2015)
Therein lies the problem for Big Mike. His phlegmatic languidity is both a curse and a blessing. In the right role, he exudes a magnetic charisma. In the wrong one (and there's been an awful lot of those) he can appear to be reading the lines of a character in an entirely different film.
Despite the impressive number of helicopter explosions, Madsen has yet to contribute a unique moment to our beloved micro-genre. Much like his approach to work (225 screen credits and rising) it appears he's prioritising quantity over quality.
= 6 - William Smith
- Commando Squad (1987)
- Red Dawn (1984)
- Bulletproof (1987)
- Jungle Assault (1989)
- Taken Alive (1995)
- Doublecross On Costa's Island (1997)
- Hell On The Battleground (1988)
William Smith was not so much as tough guy actor, so much as a tough guy who was an actor. An air force veteran, arm wrestling champion, amateur boxer and weightlifter, Smith never looked anything other than a man who could handle himself. Alongside his imposing physique, Big Bill was blessed with rugged looks and a voice that sounded like he was gargling gravel. These attributes were put to frequent use in films and television whenever there was needed a heavy or villain. With over 400 acting credits and frequently cast in low budget acting films it's no surprise that he found himself starring alongside so many exploding helicopters.
= 6 - Chuck Norris
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- Breaker Breaker (1977)
- Invasion USA (1985)
- Missing In Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
- The Delta Force (1986)
- Braddock: Missing In Action 3 (1988)
- Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990)
- The Expendables 2 (2010)
Certainly you have to give him respect for the being the hairiest man ever to pursue a career in martial arts, and you cannot fault his services to the denim industry over the years (witness his triple denim outfit in Delta Force).
Still, he’s rewarded us with plenty of entertaining moments of bad-ass-ery for which we very grateful. In keeping with much else in a Chuck Norris film, his helicopter explosions tend to be functional affairs. We're still looking for his defining chopper fireball moment.
= 6 - Sylvester Stallone
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- Rambo II (1985)
- Rambo III (1988)
- Cliffhanger (1993)
- The Expendables (2010)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- The Expendables 3 (2014)
- Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Much of Sly's chopper fireball tally is a result of the Rambo franchise which has proven a fertile ground for exploding helicopter fanatics.
The third installment is particularly close to our hearts as Sly destroys no less than 4 helicopters whilst employing a rich variety of methods, including ramming one with a tank and destroying another with a bow and arrow.
He also throws in a classic 'hero illuminated by an exploding helicopter' shot as sprints away from a soon-to-detonate chopper.
At the turn of the millennium and with a string of flops to his name, it looked like we'd seen the last of the slanty-mouthed one. However, Stallone has recently resumed exploding helicopters in films, most notably in the doddering pensioner action franchise The Expendables. Sly, we salute you.
= 6 - Don 'The Dragon' Wilson
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- Crooked (2006)
- Terminal Rush (1996)
- Virtual Combat (1995)
- Batman Forever (1995)
- Cyber Tracker 2 (1995)
- Cyber Tracker (1994)
- Ring Of Fire 3: Lion Strike (1994)
= 6 - Steven Seagal
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- Under Siege (1992)
- On Deadly Ground (1994)
- Exit Wounds (2001)
- Half Past Dead (2002)
- Today You Die (2005)
- Shadow Man (2006)
- General Commander (2019)
More recently, as the years and the heavy pasta lunches have taken their toll, Seagal has delegated most of the actual action work to fat suit wearing body doubles.
Nevertheless, despite spending most of time in films snapping necks and breaking bones, old Totem face has notched an impressive number of exploding helicopter kills. Disappointingly, Seagal's chopper fireballs tend to lack the flair we generally like to see, although the exploding helicopter scene in Under Siege was, according to MTV viewers, the 2nd best action scene of 1992. Fact.
= 6 - David Carradine
- POW The Escape (1986)
- Future Force (1989)
- Bird On A Wire (1990)
- Future Zone (1990)
- Field Of Fire (1991)
- Double Trouble (1992)
- Kill Zone (1993)
= 7 - Fred Williamson
Exploding helicopter films: 6
- Warriors Of The Lost World (1983)
- Delta Force Commando (1988)
- Deadly Impact (1984)
- The Kill Reflex (1989)
- Active Stealth (1999)
- Crooked (2006)
Today, we are accustomed to athletes becoming actors. But when Fred made the transition from American football to the big screen back in the Sixties, he was one of the trailblazers. The switch from the scrimmage line to the silver screen neatly coincided with the blaxsploitation boom which allowed ‘The Hammer’ to become a B movie star. Since then, the moustachioed cigar-chomper has never stopped working, earning a profitably living working in low budget genre fiction.
= 7 - Liam Neeson
Exploding helicopter films: 6
- The Delta Force (1986)
- Darkman (1990)
- The A Team (2010)
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
- Battleship (2012)
- The LEGO Movie (2014)
But, as much as we admire his performances in those prestigious projects, it's the films our Liam does to pay the mortgage we like the best - especially as Neeson so clearly hates doing them.
Exploding Helicopter can't think of another actor who makes his contempt for a shoddy script, poor director or untalented co-stars, so readily apparent. One only needs to watch him scowl his way through Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in an unrestrained fug for an example.
Still, we're grateful for those mortgage movies as they're where Neeson has racked up the chopper fireballs that make him the leading exploding helicopter actor. Not only that, he also starred in the Battleship, which features a record breaking 8 helicopter explosions. He may not enjoy making these films, but we certainly enjoy watching them.
= 7 - Michelle Rodriguez
Exploding helicopter films: 7
- SWAT (2003)
- Avatar (2009)
- Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate Of The Furious (2017)
- Fast X (2023)
While Rodriguez owes the bulk of her tally here to James Cameron's chopper-geddon-fest Avatar, where 6 futuristic helicopters met fiery ends, she’s also notched whirlybird kills in S.W.A.T and Battle Los Angeles.
The only blemish on an otherwise impressive CV is the fact that she’s not been involved in a truly definitive exploding helicopter scene.
However, with links to two well established action franchises (Resident Evil, Fast and Furious), there's every reason to believe that Michelle will not only add to her haul but participate in a film which takes the art of exploding helicopters to a new level.
= 8 - Michael Caine
Exploding helicopter films: 5
- The Swarm (1978)
- On Deadly Ground (1994)
- The Dark Knight (2008)
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
- Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)
While two Oscar statuettes sit on his mantelpiece, he has also - by his own admission - been in some terrifically bad films. Yet, even in the ropiest piece of misbegotten dreck you could never accuse Sir Michael of phoning-in a performance.
This unfailing professionalism combined with a prodigious work ethic has seen him thrown some critically lean years, so it’s hard now to begrudge him a lucrative dotage providing “exposition cameos” in Christopher Nolan films.
Caine’s key contribution to exploding helicopter cinema though has to be The Swarm, which features two, unique, bee instigated chopper fireballs.
= 8 - Milla Jovovich
Exploding helicopter films: 5
Today, the model-turned-actor's career is now largely sustained by the continuing Resident Evil franchise, which much like the zombies that populate its films, staggers on, impossible to kill, and seemingly impervious to all forms of criticism.
That said, we salute Milla as one of the few women with proper exploding helicopter credentials. Action cinema is sadly lacking in ass-kicking females and Milla, if she choose to commit herself whole heartedly to the genre, could have a lengthy and productive career in DTV actioners.
= 8 - Mark Wahlberg
Exploding helicopter films: 5
- The Other Guys
- Shooter
- Three Kings
- Lone Survivor
- Uncharted (2022)
Perhaps most impressive is the unusual methods of helicopter destruction which feature in Wahlberg's films. The Other Guys has a chopper destroyed via attack by golf ball, while Three Kings sees one blown up with an American football. Even the method of destruction in Shooter is unconventional. Wahlberg shoots a fuel storage tank which causes an explosion that fatally damages the chopper.
While he may not be the most destructive, Whalberg's chopper fireball CV makes him potentially the most creative exploding helicopter actor working in Hollywood today.
9 - Jean Claude Van Damme
Exploding helicopter films: 4
- Sudden Death (1995)
- Derailed (2002)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- Missing In Action (1984)
With a brawny chest, a lustrous neck warmer, and indecipherable English, it was no surprise that Hollywood quickly made the ‘Muscles From Brussels’ a box office star.
One of the frequently entertainingly aspects of JCVD’s early career was the challenge his thick, French-sounding, accent posed to filmmakers who’d be required to weave a dubious explanation into the plot.
Variously, passing himself off as from Quebec, New Orleans, or - ultimate indignity - France, Jean-Claude was curiously never Belgian. Presumably in the belief that no-one even knew it was a country.
Without question JCVD’s towering achievement in exploding helicopters is Sudden Death as he eyeballs the villain as he meets his fiery, slow-motion, doom.