Rocky (film)/Characters

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Rocky Balboa

Played by: Sylvester Stallone

• Badass
  • By the time of Rocky Balboa, he's become a Badass Grandpa.
• Berserk Button: Clubber Lang's hitting on Adrian.
  • And later Tommy Gunn's punching Paulie.

Rocky:"You knocked him down, why don't you try knockin' me down now?"

• Book Dumb: Although by the end of II he's writing poetry for a comatose Adrian and by III he's clearly come far in his acting ability, as is evidenced by the many successful commercials he appears in.
• Captain Ersatz: Half Rocky Marciano, half Joe Frazier, and inspired by a Chuck Wepner fight.
• Determinator: As seen in the numerous examples below, this is practically the core of his entire style - he might not be the strongest offensively, but he can take infinitely more punishment that seems humanly possible which lets him ride out fights up to the double digit rounds that most of his opponents have never needed to go into.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Adrian.
• Fighting Dirty: Against Tommy, and when Spider Rico pushes him into Unstoppable Rage at the start of the first movie. Most seem to forget that Rocky isn't just a trained champion boxer... he was a former enforcer and knows how to throw down in a street fight.
  • Should be noted that when he fought Spider Rico he was still an enforcer who broke thumbs for a living.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Nice Guy: In spite of spending most of his adult life beating people up for a living Rocky is incredibly sweet and kind to everyone. It's especially evident in Rocky Balboa where he puts up with having his picture taken with Robert's boss despite overhearing him berate him earlier, gives former rival Spider Rico free meals at his resturant, and responds kindly to every single person who says "Hey, Rock!" or "Hi Champ!" on the street.
• Rags to Riches: Takes this trope on a roller coaster ride. In I, it's rags. He does better for a while in part II, but quickly goes through the money from fighting Apollo and doesn't catch on doing other things. After winning the rematch with Apollo, he's solidly rich through III and IV. V sees him going back to rags, and by the 6th movie he seems to have found a happy medium, making a decent living as a successful restaurateur.
• Gradual Grinder: He'll be in the fight for the long haul. You better be able to handle it.
• Genius Bruiser: During the fight with Clubber Lang, Rocky uncovers his weakness (i.e. he burns out quick) and gets him to throw everything at him in the first round by taunting him excessively. It works rather well to his advantage and is the shortest fight in all the films, closing out in about three rounds.
• Made of Iron: How else do you describe a guy who goes for 15 rounds with a World Champion and still comes out strong?
  • Drago said it best:

"He's not human. He's like a piece of iron."

• Red Baron: The "Italian Stallion."
• Real Men Love Jesus
• Tranquil Fury: When Apollo dies and his subsequent fight with him.

Adrian

Played by: Talia Shire (1976-1990)

• Beautiful All Along
• Killed Off for Real
• Meganekko
• Power of Love: Adrian!
• Shrinking Violet

Paulie

Played by: Burt Young

• Catch Phrase: "I don't sweat you!"
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Attempting to take on Thunderlips.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Jerkass --> Jerk With a Heart of Gold
• Made of Iron: Takes a shot to the head from Tommy Gunn (the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion) and just shakes it off.
• My Sister Is Off Limits: In first movie.
  • YMMV. Depending on how bad his mood is, he swings between this and Shipper On Deck.

Mickie Goldmill

Played by: Burgess Meredith (1976-82, 1990)

• Brooklyn Rage
• Cool Old Guy
• Cynical Mentor
• Deadpan Snarker
• Informed Judaism
• Killed Off for Real
• Mentor Occupational Hazard
• The Obi-Wan
• Sour Supporter

Apollo Creed

Played by: Carl Weathers (1976-85)

• Badass Mustache
• Captain Ersatz: Of Muhammad Ali.
• Friendly Enemy
• Heel Face Turn
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Rocky.
• Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Cocky and arrogant, but underneath it all he's not really a bad guy.
• Hot Blooded
• Killed Off for Real
• Large Ham
• Lightning Bruiser
• Money, Dear Boy: His main reason for promoting the fight with Balboa.
• Red Baron: "The King of Sting, the Doctor of Destruction, the Count of Monte Fisto, the Master of Disaster, the One, the Only... Apollo Creed!"
  • That last one (The Master of Disaster) deserves extra credit... the man who inspired the character's creation, Ali himself, noted that that was something he should've used in his heyday.
• Sacrificial Lion
• Worthy Opponent

Clubber Lang

Played by: Mr. T (1982)

• Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
• Ax Crazy
• Beard of Evil
• The Brute
• Captain Ersatz: Of a young George Foreman.
• Glass Cannon: Kinda. Stamina is more his weakness than an inability to take a punch, but still, he's the only one of Rocky's challengers to suffer an early KO.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: A Mohawk.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Consistently angry and violent.
• Jerkass
• Large Ham: "I'm gonna crucify him! Real bad."
• Scary Black Man
• Trash Talker: Par excellence.

Ivan Drago

Played by: Dolph Lundgren (1985)

• Beyond the Impossible: His punching strength is over two times the average psi for a boxer, and close to three at tops. Rocky seemingly takes his blows way easier than Apollo's or Lang's, despite the fact that Drago's blows should theoretically make his head explode. And Rocky does this for a whole fifteen rounds.
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Evil Foreigner
• Hero Killer
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With his wife.
  • Until you remember that Bridgitte Nielsen is about 6 feet tall, to give you an idea about how huge he really is.
• Husky Russkie
• Jerkass
• Lack of Empathy: "If he dies, he dies."
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong
• Playing With Syringes: With lots of steroids.
• The Quiet One
• The Stoic
• Super Fighter

Tommy "The Machine" Gunn

Played by: Tommy Morrison (1990)

• The Danza
• Deceptive Disciple: Starts the film pleading with Rocky to have Rocky train and teach him, eventually sells out and throws Rocky aside.
• Only in It For The Money: How Don King ersatz George Washington Duke convinces him to dump Rocky as his manager.
• Punny Name
• Ungrateful Bastard

Mason "The Line" Dixon

Played by: Antonio Tarver (2006)

• Boring Invincible Hero: At the start, he's unpopular with fans due to a string of easy, quick wins.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite being the current Heavyweight champion and undefeated, he didn't got any respect from the crowd. He did get it after his fight with Balboa.
  • There's a bit of Truth in Television here. There have been many fighters who didn't get the respect they deserve because the guys around are nowhere near their level. Therefore, it creates the illusion that a dominant champion is fighting nothing but bums. In contrast, Muhammad Ali receives platitudes not just because of his tremendous skills, but because of the high level of the other heavyweights around, nearly all of whom Ali fought and beat.
• Jerkass With A Heart Of Gold
• Punny Name
• Villains Out Shopping: We first see him playing basketball with some friends.
• Worthy Opponent