After his loss to Rocky, Drago was disgraced by the USSR and Ludmilla left him to raise their son, Viktor, on his own. Following the end of the Cold War, Drago was forced to move to Ukraine, where he lived a modest life while relentlessly training Viktor to be an even more formidable boxer than he was.
In 1985, undefeated amateur Russian world boxing champion, 24-year-old Ivan arrived in the United States along with Ludmilla Drago (Ivan's wife), Nicolai Koloff (Ivan's political adviser) and Sergei Igor Rimsky and Manuel Vega (Ivan's trainers).
But when he can't stop his hands from shaking after the fight with Drago, doctors confirm that all the fights and blows to the head have taken their toll on Rocky; he has suffered brain damage and is told to stop fighting if he wants to continue living.
Dolph Lundgren's Ivan Drago is another Rocky franchise character missing from Creed 3, despite there being a good reason for him to appear. Audiences saw the Rocky IV villain again for the first time since 1985 in Creed II, which was released 33 years later.
Afterwards. In the following years that passed, Drago continued his career as boxer, establishing himself as a high ranked contender for the heavyweight championship. He and Adonis also managed to set aside the past with their fathers, and even become good friends.
Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) returns to Creed III after serving as the primary challenger to Adonis in the preceding film. Notably, this isn't just a one-off cameo, either. Viktor and Adonis are quickly established to have buried the bad blood between their families, even becoming friends and sparring partners.
Immediately preceding the final round, Rocky and Drago meet in the middle of the ring where the two men touch gloves as Drago says to Rocky, "To the end". Rocky finally defeats Drago by KO in the dying seconds of the 15th and final round.
After Creed defeats Drago in Moscow, Drago embraces his former rival, and the two become friends, later helping Creed train against his next opponent, Damian Anderson.
Rocky declines. After returning home, Rocky and Adrian discover they are broke 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.
Stallone wanted to capture a realistic scene and Lundgren agreed that they would engage in legitimate sparring. One particularly forceful punch to Stallone's chest slammed his heart against his breastbone, causing the heart to swell.
Tom Reimann writes that Apollo in Rocky IV is so "desperate to cling to his former glory that he makes it his personal mission to publicly embarrass Drago, a man who has done absolutely nothing to offend Apollo beyond merely existing."
However, following his loss to Rocky in a highly publicized match in Moscow, Drago is seen being disavowed by the Soviet government and abandoned by his wife. It is implied that he returns to a life of obscurity in Russia, left to deal with the aftermath of his defeat and the loss of his status as a top athlete.
As such, Drago trains himself for the event, even getting himself injected with steroids by his trainers Manuel Vega and Sergei Rimsky to intensify his strength. During the match, Drago seemed to have the upper hand, but Rocky manages to fight back, earning the respect of the Soviet audience.
In autumn of 2001, Adrian discovered that she was dying from ovarian cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, but it was not enough to save her life. Adrian died peacefully in her sleep on January 11, 2002, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, aged 51, with her family by her side.
It's no secret that Rocky IV presents Ivan Drago as its villain. He's a colossal, chiseled fighting machine capable of beating seasoned fighters to death in the ring - something he seemingly does without any real consideration for his opponents.
If a punch thrown by Rocky IV villain Ivan Drago is supposed to measure 2,150 psi and his glove's impact area is something like four square inches, he'd be exerting a force of 8,600 pounds, or more than four tons. Based on the professional literature, no boxer in real life comes anywhere close to that.
Are there any cameos? Despite Lundgren's absence, Florian Munteanu does come back for a small cameo as Viktor Drago. The antagonist of Creed II is now on much better terms with Adonis — and seems like easy mode compared to the threat posed by new antagonist Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors).
Finding the right actor to match the physical prowess and athletic ability of Drago was no easy task but, eventually, Sylvester Stallone found his man in Swedish-born actor Dolph Lundgren.
I'm a fighter from the Soviet Union. I fight all my life and I never lose. soon I fight Rocky Balboa, and the world will see his defeat. Soon, the whole world will know my name.
Commentator #2 in Las Vegas: Hey guys, Ivan Drago is definitely for real! Apollo: [His last words] I want you to promise me you're not gonna stop this fight, no matter what. No matter what!
One letter contains a picture showing Dame with a fellow inmate that Donnie recognizes as Drago's assailant. Realizing that Dame planned the attack, Donnie confronts him, and Dame admits that he manipulated him into getting the title shot.
The 76-year-old actor said in an interview that he did not participate in the filming of the movie because the story had been given a direction with which he did not agree. "That's a regretful situation because I know what it could have been," Stallone told THR about disagreeing with the new film's tone.
