The iconic Apollo Creed fights adversary Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in Rocky II (1979).

THE CHARISMA

Rocky I-IV (1976-’85)

CARL WEATHERS BECAME Apollo Creed the moment he walked through the door to audition for Rocky. After reading for the part with Sylvester Stallone, he announced, “I could do a lot better if you got me a real actor to work with.” But unknowingly insulting the film’s lead didn’t count against him; instead, it proved he was the only man for the job.

Though Apollo Creed began as Rocky Balboa’s opponent, we couldn’t help but love such a charismatic heavyweight champion of the world. He set the bar for Rocky because he defined greatness. And so too did Weathers: with his braggadocio, his physicality, his sensitivity, his humour, he created a character as formidable as he was likeable. In just a handful of scenes, Weathers leaves his mark in the first Rocky, making Apollo feel real, both human and mythic.

He could have been a one-dimensional villain, a crude caricature of Muhammad Ali, but Weathers added layers to him with every entry in the franchise, convincingly growing him from a perfect foil and adversary into Rocky’s mentor, friend, and fiercest supporter. He was so believable as the Master Of Disaster that Ali himself challenged him to fight whenever the pair crossed paths.

From the get-go, Apollo’s a consummate showman with a twinkle in his eye, but by Rocky III and Rocky IV, he revealed vulnerability, too. He tells Rocky: “You know, Stallion? It’s too bad we gotta get old, huh?” It’s a line Weathers delivers playfully, not with pathos or self-pity. That fear of growing old, of no longer being on top, leads to his demise in the ring at the hands of Dolph Lundgren’s indestructible Ivan Drago —their star-spangled match feels as high-stakes as the Cold War itself, a Shakespearean tragedy that plays out in the ring. The look on his face when he touches gloves with Drago expresses everything: he knows what’s coming, but Apollo never backs down. Weathers wanted to make us feel the weight of losing Apollo, that the fighter is still in him even in his final moments —his performance is so realistic that doctors on set thought he’d really been hurt.

The Rocky saga still orbits Apollo’s bright star, its new phase centring on his son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed. Apollo’s —and Weathers’ —presence, inextricably linked, is felt even now: when Adonis shadow-boxes an old video of his father projected on the wall behind him, the actor remains spellbinding even as a flickering image.