Stallone's Explanation For Rocky Missing Creed 3 & How It Impacted The Movie

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Creed 3, even with the news that Sylvester Stallone is not in Creed 3 , the biggest question before the release is "Rocky in Creed 3 ?" it is inevitable that it will remain. After all, a stealth film would make sense and offer an opportunity to honor an iconic character. Creed 3 is the ninth installment in the Rocky franchise, and is also the first film not to feature Rocky Balboa alongside his girlfriend, Sylvester Stallone. Instead, the film focuses solely on Apollo Creed's son Adonis and his haunting past.

Rocky's absence will be a difficult change for some fans of the franchise, especially in the final battle of Creed 3 , but there is a lot of potential in the new direction the series is taking. It is also possible that Rocky will appear in a future film as Creed 3 did not resolve his fate. However, Rocky is the big missing piece in Creed 3 and cannot be missed, even though Michael B Jordan's masterful direction and compelling story add freshness to the sequel and partially justify the new direction. So why isn't it in Rocky Creed 3 and what are the implications?

Related: Sylvester Stallone explains his decision not to return as Rocky in Creed 3

Why isn't Rocky in Creed 3?

Creed 3 is about killing the past: a story in which Michael B Jordan encounters the ghosts of Adonis Creed's past. The first victim of this is Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, but it was Stallone who caused the absence of Rocky in Creed 3 . Rocky does not appear in Creed 3 because the story was too dark for Stallone:

"It's an unfortunate situation because I know what could have happened. It was taken in a very different direction than I would have taken it. It's a different philosophy: Irwin Winkler and Michael B. Jordan. I congratulate them, but it's much more sentimental. I like my heroes to fight , but I don't want them to go to this dark place. I feel that there is enough darkness in people.

Despite the importance of Stallone's Rocky to Adonis Creed in the first two Creed films, in Creed 3 he is mentioned only once as the inspiration for Creed's childhood friend and lover Damian Anderson to give the film as a gift. Even then, Adonis draws inspiration from his father, Apollo Creed, who gave Rocky a chance. Unfortunately, there are notable moments in Creed 3 where Rocky's absence isn't just felt, it feels absurd. Rocky would be at Creed's last fight, he would be at his comeback fight, and he would absolutely be at Creed's adoptive mother Mary Anne Creed's funeral. The latter example feels like a bad insult to Stallone's main character.

How Rocky Balboa's presence is felt in Creed 3

He may only be mentioned once, but Rocky's spirit is still a major part of the events of Creed 3 . This is the message of resilience Adonis Creed used to motivate himself to overcome the challenges he faced before and during his fight with Damian Anderson from Jonathan Majors. At one point, Adonis even indicts Rocky's mantra of " no matter how hard you hit it... "

Related: Jonathan Majors Tutorial and Training Explained for Creed 3

Rocky's origin story is also the inspiration for Adonis, giving Anderson his first title fight against Jose Benavides Jr. . But Anderson is no hero, ignoring Rocky's code of honor of cheating and dirty fighting, so perhaps it's only fitting that Rocky be left out of Creed 3 . It would be very difficult to embody heroic virtue so close to action.

In the end, it seems that Rocky is almost cut from Creed's own story. Their relationship feels fake, with no photos from inside the Creed museum in the Rocky Mountains. It's hard to deal with Rocky not showing up for major life events, but Creed is inspired to stand up and never listen to his mentor's voice or think about his role in developing morals in any way. Creed proved he needed Rocky after his lesson, but he had no idea about his source.

Creed 3 being darker and less sentimental is actually a good thing

Despite Stallone's complaints, changing the tone of Creed 3 and going down a darker path was certainly a big change, but perhaps just what the series needed. Prior to its release, the previous eight Rocky films followed the original formula and relied heavily on sentimentality. Although the effectiveness of this formula and shade is proven, in most cases there can be no progress without evolution.

Now that Michael B. Jordan's Adonis has Rocky, it makes sense for his story to take a darker turn. Adonis was first introduced as a troubled child in the franchise, and Creed 3 's dark story completely embraced Adonis. Not only that, but it brought the archetypal Rocky Underdog story full circle with Diamond Dame presenting Balboa himself with a Dark Mirror. Darkness allows Creed to continue to play with some of Rocky's best pillars (uplifting corrections, uplifting triumphs over adversity) and actually fits Rocky's whole spirit of perseverance better.

More: Creed 3's most shocking scene makes Rocky's absence worse