Oftentimes, a sequel to a much-beloved film fails to meet the expectations set by its predecessors, which eventually ends up tainting the original’s legacy. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case with Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky, arguably his most iconic franchise, which is still going strong with Michael B. Jordan taking its reign with the Creed features.
However, getting the first sequel off the ground wasn’t easy, and if it wasn’t for one plot twist, Rocky might not have gone on to become one of the most celebrated franchises in the sports genre.
One Illogical Plot Twist Was Made in Rocky 2 to Combat Sylvester Stallone’s Injury
Coming off the success of the Rocky, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, the sequel had a lot to live up to. But just a month and a half before the shooting was about to kickstart, Sylvester Stallone ripped his pec muscle right off the bone while training with bodybuilder Franco Columbu.
Although under normal circumstances, this would’ve led to the shooting date being delayed back, Stallone was adamant about moving forward with its filming despite the seriousness of this injury. In order to combat his ripped Pectoral muscle, he made a change to the sequel’s story, which saw Rocky learning to box right-handed in the film, which Stallone later deemed “completely illogical.”
He said (via The Daily Mail):
“I said, ‘I’m not stopping this movie just for this.’ And this was a bad injury … I switched arms. That was one of the key things. But it’s interesting the way these incredible journeys happen. But we don’t stop, we don’t quit.”
But against all odds, the sequel did turn out to be a huge success, and even though it slightly fell short of the original, Rocky 2 is still regarded as one of the best the franchise has to offer.
Sylvester Stallone Didn’t Like the Notion of Rocky 2 Being His Big Comeback
After Rocky put Sylvester Stallone on the map, its sequel three years later was seen as his big comeback. However, the Rambo star didn’t quite agree with this notion, as between Rocky 1 and 2, he did deliver decent successes.
He told Roger Ebert:
“You know what I think happened? After Rocky, I was almost set up in the eyes of the media to make a flop. The last two years have been pretty tough, public image wise. I said some things that did not exactly endear me. My ego got blown out of proportion. They all ask me, Will Rocky II save your career? Is this my comeback, they wanna know? Will it pull my career out of the toilet? I didn’t think I was doin’ so bad. I’ve never made a film that lost money.
But after hitting it big with Rocky 2, the actor would go on to step his footing in the action landscape with First Blood, thus breaking his image of being a one-trick pony in the media.
Rocky 2 is available to stream on Max.
