How The Creed Movies Can Beat The Rocky Franchise

The Creed movies have already achieved success on their own merit, but there are certain things future sequels will need to do in order to surpass the Rocky franchise. After 1976’s Rocky became a sports drama sensation, one of the most beloved franchises of all time was born. With five direct sequels spanning three decades, Rocky‘s titular protagonist soon became one of the most iconic movie characters of all time, thanks to his larger-than-life showdowns and his role as a perpetual underdog.

The success of the Rocky franchise and its lasting popularity led to a 2015 spin-off, Creed. Following the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed, Adonis “Donnie” Creed, the Creed movies brought Rocky‘s action into the modern era of boxing. Where Rocky‘s main inspiration was the great heavyweights of the ’70s and ’80s, Creed acts as a more grounded insight into the world of professional boxing. However, Creed has kept the key elements of the Rocky franchise: it still makes regular use of Rocky‘s underdog trope, and still uses the sport to frame its characters’ internal struggles and personal growth.

Though the Creed franchise is equal parts spin-off and reboot of Rocky, there are a few key elements it needs to focus on in order to beat its predecessor. Though the Rocky movies are iconic, Creed as a franchise actually has a chance at improving upon them, offering stories that are more universal as well as a more realistic look at the world of professional boxing. Rocky may be one of the most beloved franchises of all time, but that doesn’t mean that Creed can’t improve upon it.

Creed Needs To Continue Its Realism (Because Rocky Didn’t)

It’s well known that the Rocky movies are unrealistic at times, and though that may have contributed to their success, it’s something that Creed sequels need to avoid. The Rocky movies got gradually more unrealistic over the course of the franchise, starting with grounded drama inspired by real events and fighters, and eventually making its way to Rocky overcoming a massive size and weight disadvantage to effectively end the Cold War with nothing more than his fists and his heart. Though that level of cheesiness may have passed in the ’80s, it’s not something that modern boxing movies can rely on as a formula for success, and therefore, Creed needs to walk a different path.

By filling the Creed movies with more authentic boxing action and more grounded drama, they can achieve a different type of success from the Rocky franchise. By leaning into the more dramatic human side of its characters – as opposed to making them practically superhuman like the later Rocky movies – Creed can both honor Rocky‘s roots while still developing into something new and fresh. This would allow for Creed to continue to carry elements of Rocky while still improving upon the overall arc of Rocky Balboa, making it the perfect way to continue with the legacy franchise.

Creed Should Make Donnie More Like Apollo And Less Like Rocky

As Adonis Creed has taken Rocky‘s place at the head of the franchise, it makes sense that his movies so far have established parallels between the two characters. However, by having Adonis Creed’s boxing career following a similar trajectory to Rocky Balboa’s – with plenty of ups and downs, painting him as another underdog character – the Creed franchise is setting itself up to simply rehash Balboa’s story. However, the Creed movies have already begun to subtly lay the foundation for their titular protagonist to follow a different path.

Instead of retreading familiar ground by making Adonis more like Rocky, the Creed movies would do better to have him become more like his late father, Apollo Creed. Apollo is one of the Rocky franchise’s greatest fighters, and Adonis is already shaping up to be technically gifted as well as tough and strong, and that’s key to the franchise’s continued success. After all, Rocky Balboa is not a particularly good boxer, and though that added to his personal underdog charm, Adonis needs to be different. If the Creed franchise was to follow Adonis as he rises to the pinnacle of the boxing world, it would prove to be subtly different from the Rocky movies – which were always primarily underdog stories. Instead of making Adonis a fighter struggling against bigger opponents, injuries, and time, having him establish a successful boxing career while contending with more personal issues would not just be more realistic, but something fresh and original that would paint him more like his father than Rocky Balboa.

Creed Must Balance Its Drama And Action

The Rocky franchise may be beloved, but overall, it struggled a little to maintain a consistent tone. The first film was primarily a drama, but subsequent installments moved further into action territory (with Stallone killing off Rocky characters as the main source of drama). Though this shift to a more action-packed focus didn’t hurt the Rocky franchise’s long-term success, it did highlight just how unrealistic its boxing was.

By better balancing drama and action consistently across future installments, the Creed franchise can subtly outdo Rocky. Though the boxing scenes are always the biggest draw of any Rocky or Creed movie, it’s important that there’s a solid story occurring outside of the ring, too. That’s something that some Rocky movies seemed to forget, and though it’s a relatively small issue, it’s another small way that Creed can be better than Rocky.

Creed Needs To Leave Rocky Balboa Behind

The Creed franchise already appears to be stepping in the right direction here, as Rocky will not return for Creed III, but leaving Rocky Balboa behind actually needs to be bigger than Stallone’s absence. Moving forward, the Creed movies need to establish that Adonis Creed can stand alone as an iconic character in his own right, and presently, he exists mostly in Rocky’s shadow. Obviously, dealing with Rocky’s absence is something that will need to be handled sensitively, but him not appearing in Creed III is actually an important step for the Creed franchise.

Though the Creed movies should never forget their roots, they have yet to fully move away from Rocky-based stories. Creed III‘s lack of Balboa seems to be an encouraging sign for the franchise’s future, as it will allow Adonis to shine as a character in his own right. As long as Creed continues to reference the Rocky movies, it will have no problems with delivering subtle fan service while still moving on with the wider narrative. If the Creed franchise can establish independence from the Rocky movies, it can continue the story in a way that improves upon its predecessors.