Sylvester Stallone has been distracting moviegoers lately with his Rambo 5 cowboy attire, so a few people may have forgotten that he’ll soon star in Creed 2 alongside Michael B. Jordan as light heavyweight champion Adonis Johnson Creed. The film’s two trailers set up a new-ish rivalry and delivered pummeling action, and this featurette digs further into the revenge aspect of this story while also bringing Rocky Balboa face-to-face with his old foe, Ivan Drago of Rocky IV, still embodied by Dolph Lundgren. Balboa encounters Drago while he’s sitting in Adrian’s Restaurant, and there’s a moment of palpable realization that, obviously, those decades-old feelings haven’t disappeared.
Given that Stallone penned the script for this sequel, there shouldn’t be any worries about the spirit of the Rocky franchise being slighted. As Balboa, he’s prepping the younger Creed for another iconic fight, this time against Drago’s son, Viktor. This new pair must not only confront their shared legacies, but Creed’s looking to settle the score against the son of the man who killed his father in the ring. As an added wrinkle, Ivan Drago’s also looking to get revenge for his loss against Balboa during their 1985 showdown, which sent Ivan into a downward spiral, professionally. He’s also wanting some form of redemption (Lundgren recently told Empire that his character’s now a “damaged” man), and although his motives regarding his son are clearly mixed, one thing is clear — we’ve got some high stakes to witness when Creed 2 comes to town.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler produced Creed 2, which lands in theaters on November 21. The movie’s currently tracking for a $48 million Thanksgiving opening weekend (a punch that will likely land in second place after Ralph Breaks The Internet). Here’s a new poster with two generations of game faces.
