After the success of Creed, the story that put Rocky on the sidelines coaching Apollo Creed’s son, Sylvester Stallone has confirmed that one of his scariest enemies will be back in Creed 2. The Russian Goliath, Ivan Drago, will come back in what we can only speculate will be a coaching role much like the Italian Stallion himself.
Creed pulled in $173 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo and was written by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. Despite the success of the first entry, Stallone will look to write this time around and might be able to develop the Rocky and Drago rivalry in a way that only someone so close to the series could.
After all, Drago was the fiend that killed Apollo Creed in the ring, a plot element that might prove difficult for Apollo’s son, Adonis Johnson Creed, as his father’s death led to the young boxer’s troubled beginning in the first film. An article by screenrant.com suggested that Drago himself might even make a return to the ring and continued to say the actor, Dolph Lundgren, has shown he’s physically capable considering his healthy appearance in recent action movies like The Expendables, a film he also shared screen time with Stallone on.
Outside of the movie theater Creed seemed to fare well as t-shirts mugs and posters were created to celebrate the spin-off title. Although in comparison to the original movies, which saw all sorts of themed items including action figures that fetch high prices on eBay and a Rocky Slot game that portrays the movies’ fights, Creed will need to do quite a lot to win the hearts of fans in the same way the first four movies did. The aforementioned slot game can be played as part of the free spins and sign-up offers available on Oddschecker.
But if bringing back Stallone as a writer will do anything, it’s definitely going to bring back the same spirit and style the originals had to offer. Creed star, Michael B. Jordan, while at last year’s Comic-Con for Black Panther, showed more than just mild interest when asked about Creed 2. Jordan said that although he didn’t have many details to give at the time the story is an “important” one to the franchise.
Stallone has shown plenty of excitement recently and garnered much attention for the film by posting Instagram pictures of Rocky IV filming with Apollo Creed actor Carl Weather standing beside Lundgren. The caption to the monochrome picture stated “Directing APOLLO AND DRAGO, the two best “cinema” boxers that ever lived!…Maybe it’s time to try to again?”
A follow-up picture had a superimposed Adonis squaring off against Drago with Rocky watching from the sidelines with a caption that wrote “HISTORY WILL ALWAYS REPEAT ITSELF.” The Digital Spy article that featured the pictures also had Jordan saying Creed was mainly an internal struggle within the main character and the only aspect lacking was a “true villain.”