10 Biggest Missed Opportunities In Recent Movies

Rocky Balboa is nothing short of an icon in cinema, and is arguably the greatest character in Sylvester Stallone's extensive filmography. After six movies with Rocky at the centre, the focus of the franchise moved to Apollo's son Adonis in 2015 with the release of Creed - but Rock still had a role to play.

After battling health issues in Creed, and ghosts of his past in Creed II, Rocky was finally able to reconcile with his son and spend some time with his grandson at the end of the sequel. With Donnie (Michael B. Jordan) moving across the country for Creed III, there was at least a believable reason for Rocky not to appear.

Behind the scenes, Stallone walked away from the production due to creative differences and a feud with longtime Rocky producer Irwin Winkler, meaning there was no sign of Rocky in what could very well have been the final Rocky film.

The Italian Stallion's name was only mentioned once as a comparison to Donnie giving Damian (Jonathan Majors) a shot like his dad did in the original Rocky. With this in mind, it feels like the film should have at least been able to give Rocky Balboa a proper goodbye, even if it wasn't a big role. There are even ways this could have been done without Stallone being involved at all, which would have been better than absolutely nothing.

With a fourth Creed movie reportedly in development, here's hoping Stallone will get another shot to part ways with the Rocky franchise on better terms.