Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) was perhaps one of the characters with the most depth in the films beside Rocky and Adrian. During the first film Creed was portrayed as an anti-Rocky, he was wealthy and well-respected among those in the boxing world. He was also a showman and enjoyed entertaining the fans. After barely defeating Rocky by decision during their first bout, Apollo gave Rocky respect realizing that he had almost been overcome by someone that he had the drive and desire to beat him. In the second film, Apollo became angered by the fact that people thought he had thrown the fight to make Balboa look better and to make it more entertaining. This led Creed to become more determined to defeat Rocky, thus losing some of his showman attitude. Eventually Rocky defeated Apollo to become the new world champion, and forcing Creed to retire. After Balboa's loss to Clubber Lang in Rocky III, he had not only lost the belt but his beloved manager Mick. Apollo took it upon himself to help Rocky regain the belt and the "eye of the tiger" that Rocky had lost amongst the fame and fortune he had risen to. At first, Rocky could not keep up with Apollo's new way of training but with grit and determination he regained the "eye" and defeated Clubber Lang in a rematch for the title. He could not have done this without Apollo's help. The fourth movie introduced Ivan Drago as the villain. Apollo, back to his flashy ways, challenged Drago to an "exhibition" bout. Creed took this fight less seriously than his first match with Rocky and it proved to be fatal. In of the most dramatic and sad parts of the series Apollo Creed was killed in the ring by Drago with his wife, Rocky, and everyone else looking on in horror. Unfortuanately Apollo was never mentioned in the fifth edition of the Rocky series.