MGM just dropped the full trailer to Creed II. As expected, this full-length trailer plays up the explicit connection to Rocky IV, namely the return of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago (the Russian boxer who killed Apollo Creed during an exhibition match 33-years-ago) and the appearance of Ivan’s son (Florian Munteanu). It looks like this sequel to Creed, which itself was both Rocky VII and a serious drama mined from the most ridiculous of the Rocky sequels, will be a cross between Creed II and Rocky IV part 3.

The big question is whether or not Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa will succumb to his cancer diagnosis ($5 says that first sequence in the trailer features “Ghost Rocky”), and whether that death will essentially play out like the death of Burgess Meredith’s Mickey in Rocky III. It would be… unfortunate if that were the case since such strict source fidelity can mute the emotional impact of such moments. For example, the death of Han Solo in The Force Awakens would have meant more had the film not so explicitly following the New Hope blueprint thus making Han’s death merely a carbon copy of Ben Kenobi’s fate.

The other question is whether the film can overcome it’s central qualm, which is that it really is stupid for Creed (now with an infant son) to fight this guy considering the risks and the odds. And since every character we trust tells him not to do it, well, that’s one of the reasons why Rocky IV (which at least was a slightly campy melodrama) stumbles in its second act. I’m hoping this isn’t a film whereby I spend the entire running hoping that Adonis will choose not to fight the son of the guy who killed his dad in an equally foolish and unneccesary boxing match.

Read more via: ‘Creed II’ Trailer Sells Sequel To Michael B. Jordan’s ‘Creed’ And Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky IV’

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Michael B.Jordan gets “cancelled” after he’s caught partying w/white women+ he speaks out AGAIN!?