Rocky Balboa
part of Rocky

Rocky is a 1976 film that tells the rags-to-riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but good-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in Philadelphia. Balboa is also a club fighter who gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship when the scheduled contender breaks his hand. Also starring in Rocky are Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as the champion, Apollo Creed.

After proving himself, even with a loss to Apollo Creed, Rocky expects the good life to follow. He marries Adrian and begins spending the money he earned from the match. But when Apollo humiliates Rocky on TV, Rocky realizes the only way he can survive is to begin boxing again. Creed, on the other hand, faces criticism from fans over the outcome of the fight. As a result, he offers Rocky another fight. Rocky trains once again with Mickey, this time for the biggest rematch of the century. Rocky beats Apollo, becoming the champ.

After winning the heavyweight title, Rocky takes advantage of his newfound wealth and fame, appearing in multiple advertisements & television programs, and relishing his new celebrity. After defending the title multiple times, he is prepared to retire, but the #1 contender, Clubber Lang (Mr. T), challenges Rocky publicly. Rocky, after dealing with Mickey's heart attack prior to the fight, is overpowered by the stronger, hungrier Lang and is knocked out in the second round. Mickey passes away after the fight, and old rival Apollo Creed steps in, training Rocky to fight more in Creed's old style (and in his old Los Angeles gym) and use more guile and skill. In the rematch, Rocky outboxes Lang, tiring the stronger fighter out and eventually knocking him out in the third round. After the fight, Rocky owes Apollo a "favor", which is a one-on-one match between the two of them with no cameras, no media, just man vs. man in the gym. It is not known who wins the match.

Right after winning back the title from Clubber Lang, Rocky decides to spend some time with his family. But a new superfighter from the USSR, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) has emerged, and fights Apollo Creed in an exhibition match. Rocky watches in horror as Drago brutally mauls Apollo to death. Now determined to challenge Drago himself, he starts training in the icy snow of Siberia and prepares for the ultimate challenge: to not only avenge Apollo's death, but show the real strength, courage, and faith that his country believes in. Rocky agrees to have to fight Drago in Russia, after training nonstop with the support of his wife Rocky is ready. Receiving no love from the crowd Rocky is being beaten to an inch of his life. After his will to keep fighting the crowd is showing love to Rocky. In the fifteenth and last round Rocky knocks down Drago and scores the ultimate underdog victory.

After the fight with Drago, Rocky Balboa suffers brain damage and is forced to retire from the ring. As if that isn't bad enough, the Balboa fortune is all gone due to an unscrupulous accountant. Rocky's family returns back to their old neighborhood and resumes life like before. Rocky then reopens Mickey's old gym, just to rekindle the spirit of his beloved trainer and his boxing career as a trainer. Rocky takes in and starts training Tommy Gunn, one of the boxers who was a fan to Balboa, and who Rocky believes he could make into a winner, to become the new heavyweight champion. But soon after publicity nicknames Tommy as Balboa's clone or robot, Tommy betrays Rocky and challenges him to a final fight to determine who's the real champ.

In Rocky Balboa, sixteen years have passed since his final fight with his former protege, Tommy Gunn. Long retired Rocky Balboa still staggers around an ever changing world; his son is grown and distant, Paulie is working back at the meat plant, and his wife Adrian has died. Rocky has opened a restaurant, named after his wife, which he stocks with mementos of his prime as he tells his old fight stories to the customers. But when a computer simulated fight on ESPN depicting a bout between a young Rocky Balboa and the current champion, Mason Dixon reignites interest in the faded boxer, Rocky discovers he has not lost his fighting spirit and considers an opportunity to prove himself in the ring one last time.

Creed is a 2015 American sports drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler, co-written by Aaron Covington and produced by Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler and Sylvester Stallone. The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson Creed - Apollo's son - and Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa. It also features Tessa Thompson, Tony Bellew and Graham McTavish. It is the seventh Rocky film, both a spin-off from the original series and the indirect successor to 2006's Rocky Balboa, and also reunites Jordan with Fruitvale Station writer/director Coogler and also Wood Harris, whom Jordan worked with on The Wire. * 2016 Oscar Nominee - Sylvester Stallone - Best Supporting Actor * 2016 Golden Globe Winner - Sylvester Stallone - Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture