Mr T’s Clubber Lang Was Originally Meant To Return In Creed II
Creed II director Steven Caple Jr has now revealed that he once considered Rocky III star Clubber Lang (Mr T) in his follow-up to Creed.
“I’m not going to lie. There was a moment where I got pretty stingy and was thinking about Clubber Lang. I was like, ‘Dang, wouldn’t it be cool if we brought in Clubber Lang?’ And I think there was a version of this where [Michael B. Jordan] was also talking about it too. Like him having a daughter or something like that out in the West or New Mexico,” Caple told UPROXX.
“We were playing with a lot of different ideas. But no, I don’t know if Clubber Lang will come back.”
The sequel sees Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis ‘Donny’ Johnson Creed under the guidance of Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, who squared off against Lang in Rocky III. In the movie, an overconfident Rocky got rattled by Lang before turning to the champion Apollo Creed for help.
Creed II sees Donny pit against Viktor Drago, son of Rocky’s old opponent, Ivan Drago who killed Apollo in the ring during a match in 1985. It was here Rocky would’ve taken Donny to a boxing camp where an evolved Clubber Lang would’ve met both of them.
“He’s an interesting character. And just to see where he’d be at now, where they try make him grounded and seeing where Mr. T is at. Again, nostalgia and just finding a way to bring back characters, but in 2018 and 2019 they have a more modern day level and will always be interesting,” he said.
“I love challenges like that. Trying to make Drago human. How to make Clubber Lang human. Like, where is he at today? Those are the interesting routes to go in developing characters. That’s my favourite part of character development.”
Stallone, who is also the co-writer of Creed II originally had a Lang cameo in 2006’s Rocky Balboa, which was the the-then end of the franchise which would have seen Lang’s former heavyweight champion’s return as a commentator for an aged Balboa match against Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon.
