10 Recent Movie Deaths EVERYONE Hated
4. Mary Anne Creed - Creed III
In complete fairness, melodrama has always been part of the Rocky franchise's DNA, though Creed III ended up overstepping with the needless, tacked-on death of Adonis Creed's (Michael Jordan) dear mother Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad).
Mary Anne, a character who's been with the Rocky franchise since the very beginning - albeit played by three different actresses across her tenure - is said to be suffering from health issues, namely a recent stroke, early on in Creed III. This effectively neon-signposts her imminent demise.
And indeed, Mary Anne passes away at the end of the second act after suffering another stroke.
Though the great Phylicia Rashad acts the hell out of her final scene, it nevertheless feels like an excessive piling-on of emotional baggage to make Donnie's final clash with Dame Anderson (Jonathan Majors) feel that much more fraught.
More than that, Mary Anne's death comes off as rushed and ultimately glossed over as the third act ramps up.
And most damningly, are we really supposed to believe that Donnie wouldn't at least get a phone call from Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) after his mother passed?