So long, Apollo

The entire new Creed series, starring Michael B. Jordan, has been inspired in some way by the loss of the character's father, Apollo Creed, before the boy was even born. 

Now, we've lost the man who played Apollo Creed, Carl Weathers.

In another one of those cases of "he looked so fine when I last saw him," Weathers has died at 76 even though he seemed in quite good shape during the run of The Mandalorian, which was the last time I'd seen him in action. He passed in his sleep on Thursday.

Things I had forgotten about Weathers, or didn't know, but just learned based on a quick look at Wikipedia:

1) He was a one-time linebacker, actually having a couple of professional seasons with the Oakland Raiders in the early 1970s.

2) The woman he was married to at the time he made Rocky was named Mary Ann, which is also the name of Apollo Creed's wife.

The interesting trick Weathers pulled off as Apollo Creed was to go from a villain in the first two Rocky films to a beloved hero in the third and fourth -- for his brief appearance in the fourth before the demise that inspired the Jordan movies. This was at a time when heroes were heroes and villains were villains, none of this "let's look at the back story and see why this person we thought was bad was actually good." 

For me, Rocky III was the first Rocky movie I ever saw, where Creed trains his former rival and is alongside him when he finally beats Clubber Lang, the boxer played by Mr. T who had already beaten Rocky once and whose rough behavior with Mickey might have contributed to Mickey's death. Creed also filled that coaching vacancy in Rocky's life when Mickey died.

I had this movie on VHS when I was a kid and have probably watched it ten times. So for me, even knowing they had a history, Apollo was always a hero. When I finally did see Rocky and Rocky II (only just last year for that last one), there was no real sense of Apollo's villainy because I knew where the story went. 

Weathers didn't necessarily have a prolific career in terms of beloved characters beyond Apollo. The attempt to launch him as a true leading man, Action Jackson in 1988, largely fell flat, and it became clear Weathers was really more of a character actor. He had capably supported Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator the year before, he would capably support Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore a few years later, in another coaching role like the one he'd played in Rocky III. Sandler used him a few more times, but Weathers only had three more movie roles after 2007.

So it was really nice to see him rediscovered in The Mandalorian, where his fundamental geniality really showed through. Greef Karga may have mixed it up with the likes of bounty hunters and other scum, but there was no one with more of a moral center in that show, and that made the one-time villain turned beloved beacon of kindness, Carl Weathers, the best suited to play him.

And off to that big boxing ring in the sky, Mr. Weathers. Happy trails.