The Creed star Michael B. Jordan is all excited about releasing Creed IV and just like Creed III there will be no Sylvester Stallone in the upcoming Creed movie as well. Michael B. Jordan has been signed for I Am Legend 2 alongside Will Smith, but he has priorities set high for Creed IV.
Michael B. Jordan is a popular Hollywood actor, who gained fame post his role as a teenage drug dealer named Wallace in the HBO series The Wire. Post that he has never had to look back and has always been praised for his acting and action skills, which even landed him the role of protagonist in the film Creed. The Marvel star is currently focusing on increasing the Creedverse but without the presence of Rocky Balboa A.K.A Sylvester Stallone in it.
Why Is Sylvester Stallone No More A Part Of Michael B. Jordan’s Creed
The 77-year-old Hollywood actor wasn’t retained for his part in Creed III and for the first time in 47 years, the fans of Rocky and Creed had to witness a film of Rocky without Rocky Balboa in it. Sylvester Stallone starred opposite Adonis Creed A.K.A Michael B. Jordan in Creed I and II. The first part of the Creed (2015) sequel even nominated him for the award of supporting star in Oscars but even that wasn’t enough for him to get retained for the role. Stallone remained absent in Creed III, though his name popped up a few times in the script but the whereabouts remained unknown. To this, the 76-year-old Veteran Hollywood actor said to The Hollywood Reporter that.
“That’s a regretful situation because I know what it could have been,” Stallone added in a squeaky tone. “It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would’ve taken it. It’s a different philosophy — Irwin Winkler’s and Michael B. Jordan’s. I wish them well, but I’m much more of a sentimentalist. I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don’t want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness.”
The second fold of the story is The 76-year-old actor even launched a verbal attack on the Veteran Hollywood producer Irin Winkler for not leaving a single penny of rights to him. The Rocky star even called the producer of Rocky and Creed “untalented and parasitical”. The actor even moved ahead and said through his social media site that.
“I really would like have at least a little WHAT’s LEFT of my RIGHTS back – I believe That would be a FAIR gesture from this 93-year-old gentleman.” he further added, according to Guardian. “This is a painful subject That eats at my soul, because I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children.”
The situation went worse when The Expendables star was interviewed back in 2019 with The Variety and said that he complained about not having any equity and in return he was said. “‘Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?’ I was furious.”
What Michael B. Jordan had to say about the Absence of Sylvester Stallone
Michael B. Jordan wanted to have a movie only about Adonis Creed, the protagonist of the movie Creed, and not about Rocky Balboa. The first part of the movie was about the relationship between Adonis and Rocky and the second one followed how Adonis went on the right path due to Rocky Balboa. So, the 36-year-old Hollywood actor felt Creed III didn’t need Sylvester Stallone in it.
Though Creed III earned around $275.2 million against a budget of $75 million, but still was asked about the absence of Rocky Balboa in the movie. In an interview with HOT97, the Marvel star replied.
“First of all, Sly and Rocky’s DNA is through this entire franchise. You can’t have these movies [without that]. That underdog spirit, I think, connects the underdog in all of us…I want Adonis to stand on his own two feet. In order to do that, we had to go into the past. What were those transformative years, those childhood traumas that shaped [Adonis] today? I think the room for this story was really about Adonis Creed moving forward with his family, and having him move forward. That’s kind of how we rolled out the story for this one.”
While the relationship between the Marvel star and Sylvester Stallone remains fine, and no hard feelings have been talked about. However, Irwin Winkler and his sons David Winkler and Charles Winkler the producers of the Rocky and the Creed Series did play the bigger role in cutting ties permanently with Sylvester Stallone. The Veteran Hollywood actor even went on to say that if the producers hadn’t exploited the Rocky movies, three more sequels would have been possible.
Creed III is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Variety
