10 Movie Sequels That Avoided Obvious Mistakes

Back when a sixth Rocky film was first announced, even many die-hard fans questioned the believability of a 60-year-old Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) stepping back into the ring to battle a man roughly half his age, especially after Rocky V saw him get diagnosed with brain damage.

More to the point, many simply doubted Stallone's ability to put his ego aside and have Rocky lose against the heavyweight champ, Mason "The Line" Dixon (Antonio Tarver).

After all, with Sly promising that Rocky Balboa would give the series a far more fitting ending compared to Rocky V's miserable climax, would it have surprised anyone if he over-corrected and gave Rocky an unrealistically happy ending where he triumphed over Dixon?

But thankfully Stallone's better creative instincts won out and Rocky ends up losing the fight to Dixon via split decision, yet in defeat he goes the distance and proves himself regardless, circling back quite brilliantly to the original Rocky which ended the very same way.

Expectations were understandably low for Rocky Balboa given the familiar whiff of a desperate belated sequel, but Stallone thankfully nailed it.