Creed IV is currently in development, and the story will need to take a major turn if the franchise is to avoid one of the major problems that plagued the Rocky Franchise. After six movies starring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, the franchise is turning in a new direction with the Creed Movies starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky’s longtime friend and rival Apollo Creed. with Creed IV Now confirmed, the discussion now turns to how to progress the story of Adonis Creed.
Critics and fans alike praised these Creed series for its engaging stories and incredible performances, and although it shares some familiar notes with the Rocky franchise, it has largely followed its own path. Two movies after Adonis’ rise to the top of boxing, Michael B. Jordan made his directorial debut with the celebrated sequel. Creed IIIAdvancing Adonis Creed’s career by several years. While the general timeline is similar to the Rocky franchise, Creed IV Had to take a new direction to avoid making the same mistakes later Rocky Movies.
Adonis Creed is already past his prime by the end of Creed III
He is a well-respected, but aging former champion
One of the best elements of the US Creed trilogy is that it provides perspective on Adonis Creed’s life at completely different parts of his career; Creed covers his first professional fight, Creed II See him rise to the top of the boxing world, and Creed III Shows him near the end of his career. His fight and victory over his childhood friend Damian Anderson required a special Rocky-style training montage because Adonis was essentially at the end of his career, focusing on training other fighters. The movie makes a special effort to emphasize how storied Adonis’ career was.
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Creed franchise key details |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Movie |
Release date |
Budget |
Box Office gross |
RT tomatometer score |
RT popcornmeter score |
|
Creed |
2015 |
$40 million |
$173.6 million |
95% |
89% |
|
Creed II |
2018 |
$50 million |
$214.1 million |
83% |
80% |
|
Creed III |
2023 |
$75 million |
$276.1 million |
88% |
95% |
Like Rocky In Rocky III Before him, Adonis had a lot of successful title defenses and more wealth than anyone can imagine through the events of Creed III. However, it is made very clear that he is past his prime at this point as a fighter. As a former champion, he was able to retrain his body and still be able to beat a strong but relatively undertrained fighter in Damian to regain his championship once again, reminiscent of the way Rocky was at the end of Rocky III.
Rocky was either past his prime or retired for most of the Rocky franchise
Rocky was no longer at his peak for Rocky III and Beyond
Rocky wins his first championship at the end of Rocky WAnd his boxing prime is between the first title match and his fight against Kluber Lang. From there on out, Rocky was well past his prime in each of the matches he had in the franchise. Rocky is still champion at the beginning of Rocky IVBut in order to fight his match against Drago to avenge Apollo’s death at the hands of the massive Russian, he is forced to relinquish his championship.
Rocky is suffering from mental disabilities and retires by the time the events of Rocky V happen, and takes on a trainer role due to his financial troubles. His primary action in Rocky V Isn’t even a sanctioned boxing match for a title, it’s a street fight against his former protégé, Tommy Gunn. The franchise turns almost cartoonish Rocky BalboaWhen a 60-year-old Rocky gets back in the ring against the much younger undefeated heavyweight world champion, and fights him to a split decision.
Rocky is past his prime for literally half of the whole thing Rocky franchise, making his later fights (and victories, literal and metaphorical) seem repetitive and unbelievable. That is the main problem that the Creed Franchise now needs to solve: how to keep the focus on Adonis and not repeating the same mistakes of the later Rocky Movies about an aging boxer overcoming the odds.
How Creed IV can make Adonis’ story believable better than Rocky
Adonis should take on the trainer role earlier than Rocky did
Creed IV Has a huge opportunity to advance the franchise by making someone other than Adonis the main focus. Creed III has already explored this ground a bit, with Adonis training his protégé Felix Chavez for a match against Adonis’ one-time nemesis, Victor Drago. It’s an opportunity to dig into Adonis as a fighter coming to the end of his fighting career to a degree that the Rocky Franchise is never able to do. Given the timeline covered by the first three movies, this is indeed the next logical step in Adonis’ career progression.
Another time jump in Creed IV Ken frames Adonis as the trainer for his daughter who is a rising star in the boxing world, providing a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on women’s boxing.
As a trainer, Adonis can take over the role that Rocky played in the critically acclaimed CreedEspecially since the franchise has already established Adonis’ potential replacement in his daughter Amara. Another time jump in Creed IV Ken frames Adonis as the trainer for his daughter who is a rising star in the boxing world, providing a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on women’s boxing as well. No matter which direction Creed IV Take, the writers need to ensure that the plot line of an aging boxer unexpectedly winning is not recycled, as it was in the Rocky Franchise.