Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Creed 3Even with the news that Sylvester Stallone is missing from Creed 3, it’s inevitable that the biggest pre-release question was still “is Rocky in Creed 3?”. After all, a secret cameo would have made sense and offered a chance to pay respect to the iconic character. Creed 3 is the ninth installment in the Rocky franchise, but is also the first to not star the beloved Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. Instead, the film focuses solely on Adonis, Apollo Creed’s son, and his past that has returned to haunt him.

The lack of Rocky’s presence will be a difficult change for some fans of the franchise particularly during Creed 3’s ending fight, but there is a lot of potential in the new direction the series is taking. There’s also still potential for Rocky to appear in a future movie, given his fate remains unresolved by Creed 3. That said, Rocky is a huge missing part of Creed 3, and it’s impossible not to miss him, even with Michael B Jordan’s masterful directing and a compelling story adding a freshness to the sequel that partly justifies a new direction. But why isn’t Rocky in Creed 3, and what impact does it have?

Related: Sylvester Stallone Explains Decision Not To Return As Rocky In Creed 3

Why Rocky Is Not In Creed 3

Creed 3 is about killing the past – a story that sees Michael B Jordan’s Adonis Creed confronting the ghosts of his past. Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky is the first casualty of that, but it was Stallone who is behind why Rocky is missing from Creed 3. Rocky doesn’t appear in Creed 3 because the story was too dark for Stallone:

“That’s a regretful situation because I know what it could have been. It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would’ve taken it. It’s a different philosophy — Irwin Winkler’s and Michael B. Jordan’s. I wish them well, but I’m much more of a sentimentalist. I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don’t want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness.”
Despite how important Stallone’s Rocky is to Adonis Creed in the first two Creed movies, he is only mentioned once in Creed 3 as the inspiration for Creed giving childhood friend and amateur Damian Anderson a title shot. Even then, Adonis takes inspiration from his father, Apollo Creed giving Rocky the opportunity. Unfortunately, there are notable moments in Creed 3 where Rocky’s absence is not just felt, but feels nonsensical. Rocky would be at Creed’s final fight, he would be at his return fight, and he would absolutely be at the funeral of Creed’s adoptive mother, Mary Anne Creed. The final example feels like a particularly bad slight against Stallone’s character, who is defined by his heart.

How Rocky Balboa’s Presence Is Felt In Creed 3

He may only be mentioned once, but Rocky’s spirit remains an important part of Creed 3’s events. It is his message of resilience that Adonis Creed uses to inspire himself to overcome the adversity facing him before and during his fight with Jonathan Majors’ Damian Anderson. Adonis even makes a loaded allusion to Rocky’s “it ain’t how hard you can hit…” mantra at one point.

Related: Jonathan Majors’ Workout & Training For Creed 3 Explained

Rocky’s origin story is also the inspiration for Adonis giving Anderson his first title fight against José Benavidez Jr.’s Felix Chavez. Anderson is actually painted as a dark mirror to Rocky: a dreamer who was simply never given a shot (in his case because he was in prison for 18 years), who overcomes the odds to win. But Anderson is no hero, ignoring Rocky’s code of honor to cheat and fight dirty, which is perhaps why it’s appropriate that Rocky sits Creed 3 out. To have a personification of heroic virtue so close to the action would have been too discomforting.

Ultimately, it feels like Rocky has almost been edited out of Creed’s own history. Their relationship feels like it’s been retconned into a sham, with no pictures of Rocky in Creed’s in-house museum even. Rocky failing to turn up for major life events is hard to take, but Creed being inspired to stand up, and never once hearing his mentor’s voice or thinking of his part in the development of that philosophy is a little insulting. Creed proved he needed Rocky, by following his lesson, but there was no allusion to its source at all.

Creed 3 Being Darker & Less Sentimental Is Actually A Good Thing

Despite Stallone’s complaints, changing the tone for Creed 3 and taking a darker path was certainly a big departure, but perhaps exactly what the series needed. Before its release, the previous eight Rocky movies followed the original formula and leaned heavily into sentimentality. While this formula and tone have proved to work, for the most part, there can be no progress without evolution.

With Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis now without Rocky in his corner, it makes sense that his story would swerve into a darker place. Adonis was first introduced into the franchise as a troubled kid and the darker storyline in Creed 3 brought Adonis’s arc full circle. Not only that, but it brought Rocky’s archetypcal underdog story full-circle with Diamond Dame offering the dark mirror to Balboa himself. The darkness allows Creed to still play with some of the best Rocky pillars – inspiring montages, uplifting triumph in the face of adversity – and actually fits Rocky’s whole philosophy of perseverance better.

More: Creed 3’s Most Heartbreaking Scene Makes Rocky’s Absence Even Worse