The Rocky franchise has worked hard to redeem Ivan Drago, and here’s how a planned spinoff can complete that arc. While the fourth film is tonally out of sync with the rest of the Rocky movie franchise, Rocky IV is still a beloved entry. The story saw Rocky’s opponent turned best friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) killed in the ring by hulking Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). To avenge this, Rocky agrees to a boxing match with Drago in Russia.
Rocky IV’s use of montage and glossy tone may lack the grit of most of the series, but it makes for a very entertaining blockbuster. Stallone had a different concept for Drago originally and wanted the Russian to be a very verbal but “primitive” fighter. This changed when he met the young Lundgren, and he knew the visual of Drago alone would be intimidating to viewers. Stallone had issues with the theatrical version of Rocky IV in recent years, and in 2021, he released a re-edited version that removed the sillier moments and fleshed out the character drama further.
This includes giving a little more humanity and inner life to Ivan Drago himself. Lundgren’s Drago later reappeared in Creed 2, as the trainer of his son Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). Viktor is able to build a career out of challenging Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) to a fight, which of course attracts media attention as Ivan previously killed Adonis’ father Apollo in the ring. In contrast to the more robotic figure seen in Rocky IV, Creed 2 made Drago a human being, who was bitter after his country abandoned him following his loss to Rocky. He wanted to use Viktor to reclaim his glory, but in the end, realized he loved his son too much to risk him injury. Now in a 2021 interview with THR, Lundgren has suggested a Drago spinoff could happen, which would complete the character’s redemption.
Lundgren gave no plot details for this mooted Ivan Drago movie, which could help flesh out Drago as a man. In Rocky IV, he had little dialogue or personality as Stallone felt – quite rightly – it made him more mysterious and threatening. Creed II tore that down and revealed the person beneath it, but an Ivan Drago movie could take that even further. It could explore the consequences of his Rocky loss more fully, his drive to recapture some sense of personal pride, and even examine his feelings towards the death of fighter Apollo Creed.
In keeping with his stoic persona, Drago has expressed little emotion about Creed’s death, but a solo outing could dig into this side of the character. An Ivan Drago movie could even give him his own, personal version of 2006’s Rocky Balboa, where he comes out of retirement for one last bout to prove his worth. There’s so much potential in an Ivan Drago spinoff, and one that could complete his Rocky redemption arc.
