While Wonder Woman has been part of pop culture for almost a hundred years, it took a long time before the public was ready for a movie based on the character. Israeli actress Gal Gadot has set the standard for this powerful female warrior and did all of her own stunts to bring the character to life.
To anyone who knew her, this came as no surprise. Gadot used to be a combat fitness instructor in the Israeli military. Her ability to fight for real (service in the Israeli military is mandatory) lent tons of authenticity to the character, and acting in a movie is nothing compared to being in an army.
Burt Lancaster
From gymnastics to the circus to the movies, Lancaster had a life full of doing his own stunts. After serving in World War II, Lancaster found his way to the movies and waved the stuntmen away.
His breakthrough role was the film noir movie The Killers alongside Ava Gardner, and then he starred in the smash hit From Here to Eternity. He started his own production company with a few friends, and in the first film, Trapeze, Lancaster channeled his old skills to play a circus performer, doing his own stunts. The film was a big box-office success.
Chloe Bennet
While not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chloe Bennet still plays a Marvel character. Anyone in a piece of Marvel work is going to have her work cut out for her, and Bennet's role of Quake in the Marvel TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has her performing plenty of difficult stunts and getting into dangerous fights.
What Bennet does is even more impressive than a normal MCU actor. With multiple seasons of the show to fight through, Bennet has no lack of stunts on her plate, meaning she has to keep learning, preparing, and training. Her ability to roll with the punches (literally) has formed her into a powerful actress who has the skills to pay the bills.
Douglas Fairbanks
No stuntman required for this classic actor. Douglas Fairbanks's legacy is still alive today thanks to films such as The Artist, which includes a main character loosely based on Fairbanks. There are hundreds of films and still images of Fairbanks engaged in dangerous activities, from simple handstands on mountain cliffs to carrying both Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.
He exulted in his athletic abilities and never missed a chance to put them to good use. His most famous roles are swashbuckling – in one famous moment in a Robin Hood film, a rare stuntman runs up the chain of a rising drawbridge, only to reveal the stuntman was, in fact, Fairbanks himself.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
From Mr. Universe Champ to the movie star that defined the nineties, Schwarzenegger has run the gamut. His distinctive voice and huge physique turned him into an overnight star thanks to The Terminator, and as the biggest, toughest guy in Hollywood, it comes as no surprise that this behemoth did his own stunts.
Being a bodybuilder and doing movie stunts are two different things, so it's pretty impressive that he's able to show off both skills. Through the years the amount of stunts he's done has dipped, just like any other aging actor, but he still proved his worth by being the mountain of muscle we all know and love.