Among the upper echelons of great, ridiculous deaths in film, there is the passing of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), and then there's anything else. When last we saw Apollo breathing, he was getting bashed into oblivion by Dolph Lundgren's merciless Ivan Drago, following one of the most gratuitous pageants of Americana ever to be put to celluloid. For crying out loud, the man came into the ring being announced by James Brown and wore a bejeweled Uncle Sam hat to mark the occasion. One can expect far less glitz and glamour in Creed, the film which unspools the story of Creed's grandson, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), getting trained by the one and only Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), and Sly took to Instagram today to debut the first photo from the film, showing him and Jordan getting ready to spar in the ring.
Stallone has a long, risible history of taking over projects from his directors, but considering that Creed is helmed by Ryan Coogler, the breakout talent behind 2013's devastating Fruitvale Station, let's hope that's not the case in this situation. The false humility that Stallone has been peddling since his last Rambo installment would make for a crude mixture with Coogler's fluid, immediate, and genuinely unfettered sense of action unfolding in real time. This also marks the second collaboration between Coogler and Fruitvale Station star Jordan, who will next be seen as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. The Human Torch) in Fantastic Four this summer. Meanwhile, Stallone is prepping the fourth (yes, you read that right) installment of the Expendables series, which, like Rocky, Stallone won't be giving up any time soon.
Creed is set to be released November 25th. Check out the photo from Stallone's Instagram account below:
Get ready to go for it! A photo posted by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone) on