We are living in the golden age of franchise resurrection, which means if you’re a fan of blockbusters from the seventies and eighties, there’s a strong chance you have already been given a shiny reboot or sequel to your favorite movie.

In the last decade we have been graced with first-rate prequels to The Planet of the Apes, a superior follow-up to Top Gun, and countless mini-series relaunching the likes of The Karate Kid and Star Trek, among a sea of others. In hindsight, the big bang for this era in our culture is 2015; If 2010 was the year that the legacy-sequel-snowball began to roll (Tron: Legacy), then 2015 saw the snowball explode into a snowstorm. Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Mad Max and a handful of other franchise titans dominated the box office with their long-awaited sequels, and in a year like this it was easy for Creed, the Rocky revival of all things, to squeeze by with less fanfare.

When it comes to legacy sequels, Creed is the best of the best, which leads to the obvious question: where would it fall on a ranking of all the Rocky movies? Here’s how we see it.

9. Rocky V (1990)Pack 

The blessing of this list is a unanimous bottom-slot pick. Before any arguing, we can unite in harmony over this very bad movie that doesn’t seem to have many champions (or redeeming factors, for that matter). Beginning with Rocky Balboa returning to the States after the events of IV, even though he was only in Russia for enough time to train and fight Drago, his son has somehow aged five+ years and the Balboa family lives in a different house. The tone setter for the film is utter abandon for the previous installments in both the look and the story elements. Even though John G. Alvidsen returns to the director’s chair after Stallone took the mantle for titles II-V, the charm is totally missing and this is easily the weakest in the catalog. From here on out, we may disagree, so it was nice being on the same page with you while it lasted.

8. Rocky IV (1985)

I admit, I was born 30 years too late to experience what it was like to reenact the events of this movie on the playground or hear the fanfare myself. I can only judge this movie based on my own experience watching it in the living room in 2024, and it seems plain and simple that this is barely a movie and more a 100-minute montage of running uphill in the snow. The bookending fight scenes are admittedly spectacular, but the middle completely loses me and makes me wish I was watching almost any other Rocky movie. It’s great if you’re in the mood for workout inspiration and some killer 80’s soundtrack moments, but on the whole, it doesn’t compare to the heights Rocky has achieved elsewhere. Sorry.

7. Creed II (2018)

Now with IV and V out of the way, every entry from here on out are films I can recommend without stipulation.
What Ryan Coogler achieved in the first Creed is essentially impossible, and with hindsight, I think it’s safe to say that he spoiled us. The direction of that movie is so faithful to Rocky’s roots and simultaneously so modern and it’s own thing, so it’s completely understandable that we would get a sequel within just a few years. Creed II is lesser than its predecessor, but in a style that is pretty similar to the original Rocky sequels of yore; the drama has a little less punch, the fight scenes are more over the top, and the villains are brought back from previous entries! The innovation is what takes the biggest hit in this sequel, but honestly it is still a fun and satisfying follow up.

6. Rocky III (1982)

It’s true, this movie rocks. III almost completely ditches the drama that makes the first two so compelling and replaces it with a cookie-cutter sports movie with sparse moments that remind the audience how much we care about Rocky and Adrian. Hulk Hogan’s appearance as “Thunderlips”, Burgess Meredith giving us a proper goodbye to Mickey, and the very first time Mr. T says “I pity the fool!” all contribute to making Rocky III a stellar movie that temporarily caps off what I like to call the “believable” era for Rocky.

5. Creed III (2023)

In another successor moment for the franchise, Michael B. Jordan takes the director’s chair for Creed III, confirming him once again as the perfect candidate to receive the Rocky-blessing. CR33D isn’t perfect, but the direction it took following the second film was unexpected and fresh, especially considering how experimental the filmmaking gets in the ending fight scene. If you watch all these movies in a row, the formula can start to feel palpable and the filmmaking can be a little too grounded to stay interesting, which is why I hail the most recent installment in this nine film saga that went 47 years without implementing anime influence. About time I say.

4. Rocky Balboa (2006)

If only one of these movies can hold the title of “most underrated”, I would without a doubt give it to 2006’s Rocky Balboa even over my darling Creed III. A whole nine years before Coogler and B. Jordan reinvigorated the series with a fresh face to compliment Sylvester Stallone’s aging presence, Rocky fans were given a mercifully touching “final” film. Even though most of the runtime is dedicated to building up a fight between Stallone (who at this point resembles Mickey more than Rocky) and a very forgettable opponent, the slow pace and touching moments leading up are all worth the price of admission.

3. Rocky II (1979)

Writer, director, star– Stallion.
Sly returns in the first series follow-up with a genuine classic that stands all on its own even though it’s number two of nine. Almost as dingy and damp as the original, II does one of my favorite sequel tricks and gets you a little friendlier with the villain of the first movie and retreads a bit of the same ground while expanding the Rocky-verse. It’s on a similar level to Back To The Future Part II in that whenever I imagine the first movie, I end up conflating the lines between it and the second. And that is intended as a compliment.

2. Creed (2015)

Well, here’s your answer: by my estimation, there is only one movie in the Rocky-cannon that can beat out Coogler’s opus for the top spot. At the center of a decade that saw hundreds of series’ being brought back from the dead and needlessly milked, Creed perfected the “passing of the torch” approach and tastefully reinvigorated Rocky for a new generation. The task would’ve been impossible without Michael B. Jordan, and also couldn’t have worked without Stallone returning and essentially playing Mickey, so looking back, I can only call Creed the perfect outcome for a bold idea.

1. Rocky (1976)

I don’t want to sound like the series went downhill with every movie since the original, because that isn’t really how I feel. Most of these films hold up relatively well and are all fun to watch for their own reasons, but only one of them belongs in the National Library of Congress. The original Rocky is not only a defining underdog tale, a top-notch sports movie, or a benchmark independent film- it’s all of these AND a Best Picture winner for a reason. Director Alvidsen and Stallone understood these characters and saw the world of 1970’s Philadelphia in a way no other pairing would have and brought them to life. If you feel suffocated by the standard batch of Christmas films that get put on around this time of year, I recommend revisiting Rocky (1976). . . and then Rocky II (1979). . . and then the rest of them in order (but you can skip V).