T), and he's killed by Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky IV (1985). (Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis “Donnie” Johnson, son of Apollo, in the Creed films released in 2015, 2018 and last year.)
Weathers reprised his role as Apollo Creed in “Rocky II” in 1979, which saw a rematch against Balboa. He was back again for 1982's “Rocky III,” and again for a final outing in 1985's “Rocky IV”, in which Creed was killed in the ring by a Russian heavyweight played by Dolph Lundgren.
But then Drago connects with a series of violent blows, proving Apollo is no match for the younger and stronger Russian fighter. Drago even continues to attack Creed after the bell is rung to end the round, despite this being an exhibition match, leaving Apollo bloodied and slumped against the ropes.
In 1985, he killed an African-American boxer named Apollo Creed. In boxing business, he was undefeated until Christmastime of 1985 when Rocky Balboa defeated him. Shortly after his defeat, he was arrested alongside several other members of the Koloff crime family, causing the syndicate to become heavily weakened.
With Rocky, Duke and Paulie in his corner, Apollo was overly confident that he could dispense of Drago with ease. However, Apollo was not ready for the extreme size and strength of the Russian. After taunting the Russian and landing a number of ineffectual punches, Creed was pummelled badly in the first round.
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.
The fighter returned in Creed II, with him being the trainer of his son and the main antagonist of Creed II, Viktor Drago. Ivan Drago's life had fallen to shambles since his defeat at the hands of Rocky Balboa, with his country and his wife turning their backs on him.
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."
It also showed he's far from a monster, especially when he throws in the towel to end the fight between Adonis and Viktor, as the latter is bound to lose but refuses to stop.
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!
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.
While the story of his first film was partly inspired by a 1975 fight between underdog Chuck Wepner and heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (which nearly went the 15 round distance despite the odds), the inspiration for the name, iconography and fighting style came from boxing legend Rocco Francis "Rocky Marciano" ...
Read on. (Note: ESPN Classic will be showing "Rocky" at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday.) In Reel Life: Rocky Balboa is a 30-year-old club fighter. In Real Life: Sylvester Stallone was inspired by Chuck Wepner, a 35-year-old club fighter who also happened to be the No.
While helping Donnie train, Rocky learns he has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He is unwilling to undergo chemotherapy, remembering that it was not enough to save Adrian when she had ovarian cancer.
Before the fight, Apollo begged Rocky not to throw in the towel. Should he do that, the match would be over, and if Apollo was on the mat, he'd be leaving his pride in the ring. Only Rocky could understand this, as he had asked the same thing when he fought against Apollo.
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.
He seems to be a very pitiless and cold-hearted person as shown when he comments on Apollo Creed's death: "If he dies, he dies", indicating that Ivan feels no remorse (deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed) for his actions.
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.
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.
Rocky IV (1985) - Rocky IV also fudges the timeline by making it seem like it starts right after Rocky III but the movie then jumps forward to 1985 when Ivan Drago arrives in the U.S. Apollo was killed by Drago and Rocky defeated the Russian in a fight held in Moscow on Christmas 1985 when Rocky was 38 or 39.
He lost his left arm in the attack and constantly lived in fear of another assault by the creatures. An illustration of this encounter was set to appear in the unreleased graphic novel The Fire Tides, showing a scarred and wounded Night Fury being perused by Drago's village, and in a panic, attacked the young boy.
