Summary

• Dame Anderson succeeds as a Rocky opponent where Tommy Gunn failed, with a personal connection to Adonis that adds drama.
• The well-written and dangerous Damian Anderson in Creed III is willing to break the rules to hurt Adonis, adding a personal level of intensity.
• Viktor Drago proves to be a formidable and well-written opponent, with a thoughtful arc that adds depth to Creed II fights.

With Creed III continuing on the franchise, the Rocky opponents throughout the movies have been essential for keeping these stories interesting. With nine entries to date along with the latest Creed III, the Rocky franchise is known for its varying levels of quality. A big factor in what makes these movies great or forgettable is that the heroic boxer the audience is cheering for has a worthwhile foe to step into the ring with. Some Rocky opponents have proved a worthier match than others.

Fans fell in love with Sylvester Stallone's underdog Rocky Balboa in the first movie as he got his shot at the title. However, they also ired and were entertained by Carl Weathers' Apollo Creed who took him on as a challenger. From there, the franchise continued attempting to find new, interesting, and dangerous opponents for Rocky or Adonis to face off with. Some were silly, others were frightening, and a few were even sympathetic among all the Rocky opponents.

10 Tommy Gun

Rocky V

Many consider Rocky V the worst of the franchise so it's not surprising it also has the worst of the Rocky opponents in the series. Unfortunately, he is a character better in concept than execution. He’s someone of a similar background to Rocky who’s been corrupted by fame in a way Rocky hasn’t. There’s a good story in there somewhere, but the movie never finds it.

There’s also the layer of Rocky personally training Tommy only for the latter to more or less betray him, but even that isn’t handled particularly well since most of Rocky V is spent following Rocky through some rather uncomfortable and tonally out-of-place drama. When Tommy does get to appear, he’s downright insufferable and audiences found him more annoying than threatening.

9 Thunderlips

Rocky III

Thunderlips isn’t so much a bad Rocky opponent as he is a fairly lackluster one who ends up transitioning the Rocky franchise out of the drama of the first two films and into the wackiness of Rocky III through V. It’s a change that was received with mixed reviews by audiences.

There’s some novelty to Rocky’s fight against Thunderlips considering the latter is a wrestler and not a boxer, but it’s not nearly as well done as the series’ traditional boxing matches. Interestingly, Thunderlips offers a unique fight in a franchise that’s solely boxing, so it stands out for that reason but the series is at its best when it keeps things to boxing.

8 Spider Rico

Rocky

Spider Rico is Rocky’s very first opponent in the franchise. In the series’ most traditional, most vanilla boxing match, the two men go at it not for the sport, but for the money. There’s nothing glamorous about what they do — they don’t have that luxury. Spider Rico is Rocky. Their struggle is the same.

Spider Rico doesn’t leave much of an impact narratively, but he’s a dense character when appreciating Rocky’s themes as a movie. His reappearance in Rocky Balboa is also quite nice, further developing Spider Rico’s presence in the franchise. Of note, a deleted scene from Creed II featured Rocky attending Spider Rico’s funeral.

7 Clubber Lang

Rocky III

Clubber Lang is a better opponent than Thunderlips in Rocky III, but he’s somewhat disappointing as a follow-up to Apollo Creed. While Creed wasn’t as compelling a villain in Rocky II, his character was expended upon meaningfully. Clubber Lang didn’t really have the same impact despite a decent performance from Mr. T. Clubber Lang is simply too underwritten for his own good, yet he distracts and takes away from the movie in a way that other villains don’t.

But if nothing else, he does offer some truly intense action. While Apollo was indeed more layers and nuanced as a character, Lang offered up a true villain who seemingly had no redeemable or likable qualities about him so you wanted to see Rocky defeat him.

6 Ricky Conlan

Creed

Ricky Conlan is probably the most competent antagonist in the Rocky movies. He gets the job done, he does it well enough not to be distracting, and he doesn’t actively hinder the movie he’s in, even if he doesn’t exactly make it better either. He’s a perfectly fine opponent who serves a good role in Creed’s arc.

It also helps that Adonis’ fight against Ricky at the end of Creed is considered by many to be the single best fight in the entire Rocky franchise from a visual perspective. It is outstanding filmmaking showcasing the power of both fighters and their match elevates Creed into a better film. Ricky’s half of that fight, though the true star of that clash is Ryan Coogler's work as a director.

5 Ivan Drago

Rocky IV

Ivan Drago is quite the imposing figure and he's basically Clubber Lang done better. Drago is a force of nature that Rocky Balboa should not be able to beat. He also quickly cements himself as the most dangerous of Rocky's opponents as Apollo Creed dies fighting Drago the first time the audience sees him step into the ring.

Rocky has to spend pretty much the entire movie in training montages to even stand a chance against Drago. Creed II develops his character even further to the point where he might be part of a spinoff but Ivan Drago as he appears in Rocky IV is undeniably one of the most intimidating opponents in the series.

4 Mason “The Line” Dixon

Rocky Balboa

Mason “The Line” Dixon is an interesting opponent for Rocky. The two don’t have much of a personal connection, but, like Apollo and Rocky before them, Mason and Rocky are thematic parallels to one another. Rocky represents an older generation trying to keep up, while Mason represents a new one blazing forward.

Mason’s a lot like Ricky Conlan in that he doesn’t add too much to this film, but he’s also a breath of fresh air after opponents like Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, and Tommy Gun. Mason’s not a bad guy, he’s just the person Rocky’s going to fight. It also helps that Mason is both well-acted and well-written on the whole.

3 Damian "Dame" Anderson

Creed III

The latest of the Rocky opponents is immediately one of the best. In fact, Damian “Dame” Anderson succeeds as a Rocky opponent where Tommy Gunn failed. He is an underdog who wants to prove himself but pursues that desire through rage. He also has a personal connection to Adonis that adds so much to the drama of the movie and their ultimate face-off in the ring. The mere arrival of Dame fills Adonis with dark memories of his past as well as guilt.

The fact that the movie spends more time with Dame than just about any other Rocky opponent is a big benefit for him. The audience sees his backstory and can even sympathize with him. Yet Dame is still dangerous as he is not afraid to break the rules in a fight and do some real damage. He is also willing to have Viktor Drago attacked to help ensure Dame gets a shot at the title. He specifically wants to hurt Adonis on a personal level and attacks with brutality and viciousness that is legitimately frightening.

2 Viktor Drago

Creed II

Regardless of which Creed movie is considered the best, it's hard to deny just how good of an opponent Viktor Drago ultimately is. He has an arc that runs alongside Apollo’s and is even pulled off better. The cultural divides present in Rocky IV are no longer comically inappropriate, but thoughtful and respectful.

Viktor Drago is a smarter-written opponent than the typical Rocky antagonist. His connection with Ivan Drago is handled surprisingly well and the eventual fights are very good. The first shows a ruthless Drago who injures Adonis rather than beating him and the rematch sees them go toe to toe until Creed overcomes the immense odds against him.

1 Apollo Creed

Rocky & Rocky II

The definitive Rocky opponent is easily Apollo Creed. That Rocky ultimately loses to Apollo in their match at the end of the first movie solidified Rocky as an all-time great. Apollo returned to lose in the sequel, but the movie built up his character well enough that losing befit his arc. His desire to try and definitively best his rivalry was irable.

Apollo would go on to train Rocky in Rocky III, die in Rocky IV, and be revealed to have canonically won his and Rocky’s fight at the end of the third movie. Apollo’s presence still lingers over the franchise through Creed and Creed II, making him by far the most influential, important, and interesting opponent in the franchise.