There are few sports drama franchises greatest than Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky, although admittedly, some of the movies in the series are better than others. For instance, the third Rocky film, starring Mr. T as Clubber Lang, pales in insignificance against the majesty of the first two entries.
However, when Rocky IV arrived in 1985, it served as a return to form and deserves its position as a contender for the greatest film in the franchise. Dolph Lundgren plays the Soviet boxer Ivan Drago, with Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Tony Burton, and Brigitte Nielsen all also making appearances.
When the director’s cut of Rocky IV was released, it came with an accompanying documentary about how it was made. At one point in the film, Stallone admitted that he harboured some regrets about how the story panned out, particularly the demise and end of Apollo Creed.
When Ivan Drago first emerges as a title contender, he challenges Rocky to a fight, but Apollo, who has already retired, asks if he may take the fight instead, and Rocky reluctantly agrees. The match is meant to be just an exhibition, but Apollo underestimates Drago’s strength.
Even though he’s getting battered all over the ring, Apollo’s stubbornness stops Rocky from throwing in the towel. However, it’s too late, and Apollo dies right there in the middle of the ring, with Rocky cradling his one-time rival, now best friend, in his arms.
It’s truly one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the entire franchise and leads Rocky to seek his revenge on Drago in a fight of their own. However, in hindsight, Stallone regrets killing off Apollo at all, rather wishing that the character had been merely injured instead.
In the Rocky IV documentary, Stallone admitted, “It was foolish. I thought I needed that kind of springboard to project the drama on this really great powerful velocity forward… [If Apollo had survived], we would have seen a different side of him.”
The actor and director added, “He could have opened up to all these other things that we didn’t even know about because he’s now in a wheelchair. And he would have kind of been a father figure, mentor, brother. It would have been really great.”
Not only would Apollo have been able to mentor Rocky, but he would have also been able to star in the more recent Creed films, in which his son Adonis becomes a world champion. Rocky makes an appearance as Adonis’ father figure and mentor, but it might have been better had his actual father been present to see him follow in his footsteps.