Rocky Balboa, now 60 years old, is retired from boxing and lives a quiet life as a widower, having lost his wife Adrianna Pennino to cancer four years prior. He now runs a small, but successful, Italian restaurant named after her, where he regales patrons with tales from his past.
Though Rocky famously ends with the titular boxer losing to Apollo Creed, the result is actually far more favorable for the Italian Stallion than it may seem. Despite Apollo Creed retaining his title, his victory over Balboa still comes as something of a black mark on his record.
After returning home, Rocky and Adrianna discover they are bankrupt after Paulie was fooled into signing a "power of attorney" over to Rocky's accountant, who squandered all of his money on real estate deals gone sour and failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the previous six years.
Sticking just with boxing, Balboa's style was based chiefly on two real life boxers — namely the great Rocky Marciano & a lesser known boxer named Chuck Wepner (top right vs Ali).
With the death of Mary Anne in Creed 3, Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed has lost all three of his parents. However, Rocky Balboa is still alive and serves as another father figure to him, which would make his return far more impactful.
It takes it in a different direction. I wish them well and keep punching." The actor's decision not to return makes sense from a storytelling standpoint, as Creed clearly shifts its focus solely to its titular character. It's also understandable considering what happened to Rocky Balboa at the ending of Creed 2.
Shortly after, Paulie passes away and Rocky's relationship with his son becomes strained due to Robert distancing himself from any contact with him, leaving him alone again. A few years later, he meets Adonis Creed, the illegitimate son of his old friend, Apollo Creed, who asks him to come train him.
Lang is a professional boxer from Chicago, Illinois, and is a one-time world heavyweight champion, having taken the title from Rocky Balboa only to lose it back to Balboa in his next fight. The character is very loosely based on a combination of Sonny Liston, Larry Holmes, and George Foreman.
Ivan Drago is an Olympic gold medalist and a boxing champion from the Soviet Union, who had an amateur record of 100–0–0 wins (100 KO). He is billed at 1.97 m (6 ft 5+1⁄2 in) and 261 pounds (118 kg).
Adonis "Donnie" Creed (born Adonis Johnson) is the fictional protagonist of the Creed trilogy — Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), and Creed III (2023) — the follow-up franchise to the Rocky film series. The character is played by Michael B. Jordan in all three installments. Los Angeles County, California, U.S.
It is the sequel to Rocky V (1990) and the sixth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Burt Young and Antonio Tarver in his only acting role. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone), now an aging small restaurant owner, is challenged to an exhibition fight by hothead young boxer Mason Dixon (Tarver).
Does Sylvester Stallone still make money from Rocky?
Yes, Stallone still made significant profits the from the films. According to Variety, Stallone made about $35,000, including $25,000 for the screenplay and $2,000 for acting.
Stallone previously paid tribute to their decades-long friendship following news of his death. “Today is an incredibly sad day for me. I'm so torn up, I can't even tell you. I'm just trying to hold it in because Carl Weathers was such an integral part of my life, my success — everything about it.
In 2006, he did not reprise his Rocky role in Rocky Balboa because he was working on his own film, Vic, his directorial debut. He also wrote and produced the film, which won the "Best New Filmmaker" award at the 2006 Boston Film Festival.
Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie tried to defend Rocky by pointing out that Tommy betrayed him to satisfy both his and Duke's greed, but this only incites an angry Tommy to punch Paulie in the face, much to Rocky's distraught.
She is a Soviet gold-medal swimmer who is the ex-wife and spokeswoman to Soviet captain Ivan Drago. Compared to Ivan himself, she is more despicable as she abandoned him after he lost to Rocky Balboa, and later appeared to have gone unchanged when interacting with her own estranged son Viktor.
Following his health battle, Mr. T scaled back his acting career and transitioned into motivational speaking, product promotion campaigns, and charity events, particularly those involving children.
The series has yet to specify Lang's fate: Clubber Lang eventually retired from boxing and according to Sylvester Stallone, Clubber Lang later became a born-again Christian and a ringside announcer.
The character's fondness for alcohol, combined with his advancing age, would likely have contributed largely to his death. Paulie's death hasn't been outwardly addressed by Stallone or Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Creed, but it seems that Paulie didn't fit with the spin-off's revised tone.
In Rocky II, it is revealed that during the world title fight in Rocky, Rocky's right eye was badly damaged. The injury is enough to make him quit professional boxing, and after he decides to face Apollo again, it is enough to make Mick think that there is no way he can win.
