Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Creed III.2015’sCreedwas one of the rare “legacy sequels” that managed to honor its original predecessor and launch a new protagonist inMichael B. Jordan’s Adonis. While the first film managed to tie inSylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in a compelling way, it also brought him to a satisfying conclusion in which he was able to honor his friendship with Apollo (Carl Weathers) by setting up his son as someone worthy of the family name. While the second film didn’t give Rocky as much to do as a character outside of trying to reconnect with his son, it still tied back heavily to theRockymythology by bringing back the character of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) fromRocky IV. There was inherent speculation on how largely Rocky’s story would be featured in the future.
Creed IIItakes place a few years after its predecessor, and establishes Adonis as the new heavyweight champion who is training another generation of fighters in a private gym. Stallone does not appear in the film, but there are brief momentsin a trailerthat signifies a deeper connection, even though those scenes didn’t make the final cut. Although this might strike some fans as odd considering how significantly Stallone’s shadow lingers on the franchise, letting Creed stand on his own as the singular focus of the story was the best creative decision that Jordan could have made in his directorial debut.
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A Resolved Story
In the originalCreed, Stallone was given the opportunity to return to the character and add a completely new dimension to an icon that audiences had been rooting for since 1976. While theRockyfranchise had its ups and downs, Stallone was able to show him getting his last shot in the ring in the underrated 2006 sequelRocky Balboa. It gave Rocky the last run he’d ever need fighting for himself, and leads nicely into the mentor storyline thatRyan Cooglerdeveloped for theCreedfranchise.
At the beginning ofCreed, Rocky is in a state of distress. He’s still healing from both the physical and emotional wounds of the past, as his close friends and colleagues from theRockyfranchise have all departed. With no one to care for him, Rocky struggles to find purpose; he’s been fighting for his entire life, and now it’s beyond the realm of possibility. His friendship with Adonis gives him a newfound purpose and goal. There’s a sense that in mentoring Adonis to victory, Rocky has finally settled into his old age and resolved his commitment to boxing altogether.Creed IIshows that he doesn’t need the sport anymore, and he’s found a new goal in reconnecting with his family.
An Undetermined Role
While there’s no suggestion that Rocky and Adonis aren’t still friendly with each other, they are simply at different stages of their lives, and both live on opposite coasts now, and wouldn’t need to be interacting regularly like they used to. It wouldn’t make logical sense for Rocky to train Adonis once more; the student has now become the master, and there’s no more useful knowledge that Rocky can pass on now that Adonis has started his own gym and is mentoring new, younger fighters who need the same guidance that he needed as a young aspiring boxer.
“Legacy sequels” often struggle when they attempt to bring back familiar characters from a franchise to satisfy fans’ desires to see them again. While it’s nice to see old heroes take mentorship roles, there’s no purpose in bringing them back without a compelling reason to do so, especially if the story has already reached a conclusion. In the most recentStar Warssequel trilogy, Han (Harrison Ford) and Luke (Mark Hamill) were given interesting story angles that shed more insight into their characterization inThe Force AwakensandThe Last Jedi, respectively. However, trying to once again tie them in simply because fans wanted to see them inThe Rise of Skywalkerwas simply distracting and unneeded. It would be similarly disappointing to see Stallone show up for an obligatory appearance.
Unfortunately, Stallone himself knows the challenges of bringing back a legacy character from an iconic franchise. While 2008’sRambowas the perfect way to bring the character he made iconic inFirst Bloodback into the modern day for one last mission, the disastrousRambo: Last Bloodturned the beloved action hero into a caricature of himself. Not only was it disrespectful of the original franchise, but it ends Rambo’s journey on a sour note that leaves fans with a disappointing last taste of the character. Wouldn’t it be a shame for the same thing to happen to Rocky?
Adonis’ Legacy
Over the course of theRockyseries, supporting characters like Adrian (Talia Shire), Paulie (Burt Young), Mickey (Burgess Meredith), and Apollo were developed and given more critical roles in the sequels. TheCreedfranchise has begun to do the same thing; after their romance in the first film, Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and Adonis are married, andCreed IIIintroduces their young daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). Additionally, characters like Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) return to tie the entireCreeduniverse together.
The only legacy character from theRockyfranchise that appears inCreed IIIis Adonis’ mother, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad, but was originally played byLavelle RobyinRockyandSyliva MealsinRocky IIandIV), who sadly passes away due to illness. It was important to include her in the film as Adonis continues to wrestle with the anger he had as a child and his experience growing up without his father, and their mutual forgiveness of each other closes this element of the story on a touching note. Rocky would simply feel out of place in this world; the Creed legacy has now become more integral to the story, and it would be more fitting to see the return of characters like Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) or Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew) return in additional installments because they have more personal ties to Adonis’ world.
Stallone had a very admirable run within theRockyseries, and no one will ever forget the importance he had in launching the main series. Anyone disappointed to not see Stallone inCreed IIIshould instead look to the exciting, innovative things he’s been doing recently creating new characters inThe Suicide SquadandTulsa King. Stallone’s filmography is certainly not over, but it’s best if he leftRockyin the past.
