Michael B. Jordan played Adonis Creed in Ryan Coogler’s Creed franchise, where Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa mentored him in the absence of his father, Apollo Creed. The elder Creed was killed in Rocky IV, a decision that Stallone has revealed he wished he could undo. However, if Apollo Creed never died, would Adonis get his time in the limelight?
Sylvester Stallone would have had a very different Rocky franchise if Carl Weathers’s Apollo Creed had survived his stilt with Ivan Drago. Creed was slain inside the ring during an exhibition match with the Russian boxer to establish and preserve the narrative drama of Rocky IV.
Sylvester Stallon apologized to Carl Weathers for killing off Apollo Creed
Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed Rocky IV, and in 2019, made a public statement about the death of Apollo Creed in Carl Weathers‘s birthday wish. Written as a caption to an Instagram post, Stallone said (as reported by Cinemablend):
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Carl Weathers! Your performances were amazing! … Besides being a great actor he is the BEST cinema boxer of ALL TIME ! Truly amazing , GRACE , POWER , and UNBELIEVABLY FAST!!!!! Never ever to be duplicated! Thank you my friend, never could have done it without you!!! ….. I have to admit I regret having Apollo passing away so soon. He was Irreplaceable…
Had Apollo Creed survived against Ivan Drago, the look of the franchise would have been quite different as compared to what audiences had received. Stallone was quick to chart out and give audiences a look into how it would have been if Apollo Creed had not been killed off in Rocky IV
Rocky V and further sequels would have explored a different side of Apollo Creed
Sylvester Stallone, as reported by Cheat Sheet, knew exactly what he would have done with the character had he kept Apollo Creed alive. He revealed:
Him in a wheelchair, he would’ve assumed the role of Mickey. Now his physicality is diminished, we would’ve seen a different side of Apollo. He could’ve opened up to all these things that we didn’t know about him because he’s now in a wheelchair. [Apollo] would’ve kind of like been a father figure, mentor, brother, been really great. He would’ve been embraced by my family. Then he has his family too. What about that whole thing?
The Rocky franchise would have seen Apollo Creed grow as a character in a very different trajectory after Ivan Dragon would have crippled him.
Apollo Creed would have had a lot to do with the Rocky franchise and could have also delivered a very different Creed franchise to audiences. Stallone also mentioned:
It would’ve changed the entire trajectory of all the Rockys. Rocky V would’ve never happened and Rocky VI maybe never would have happened that way. Creed probably never would’ve been made. Crazy, huh.
The franchise would have taken a very different direction, had Apollo Creed stayed alive. This might have saved the Rocky franchise from the embarrassment of Rocky V. Perhaps Creed would have been a franchise about Adonis’ struggle to connect with his father, rather than Adonis’ ambitions in the world of heavyweight boxing.
