First look at Ivan Drago Jr. as Sylvester Stallone releases Creed 2 poster

joe.co.uk

Feb 18, 2018 11:24 PM

Revenge is on his mind...

Nobody was expecting too much from the first Creed movie when it came out, but that is the great thing about hindsight.

Writer/director Ryan Coogler only had one indie film under his belt at the time - the very, very good Fruitvale Station - but he has since gone on to direct Black Panther, the best reviewed movie in the MCU to date.

Sylvester Stallone was in the middle of yet another career ditch, but came out the other side of this project with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe win.

Critically and commercially it did fantastically, too: 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the $35 million production banked over $170 million worldwide.

So, obviously, a sequel was a given.

Hot off the fantastic reviews he's been getting as the layered and intelligent villain of Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan is back as Adonis Johnson, the son of Apollo Creed, the deceased BFF of Rocky Balboa (Stallone, who is also back).

This time, there is a grudge match in the making. Years ago, Rocky had a bit of a Russian nemesis, in the form of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Drago is training his son Vitor (played by Florian “Big Nasty” Munteanu, mostly known for a being an actual big time boxer).

Oh, and Ivan killed Apollo in the ring back in the day, so there's a lot of grudges being worked out here.

Coogler won't be back in the director's chair, passing the baton on to relative newbie Steven Caple Jr., but will be staying on in an executive producer role.

Creed 2 is due out in US cinemas in November of this year, and we imagine it won't be too much longer before it makes its way to this side of the Atlantic.

Check out the poster below:

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