Since 1976, the Rocky franchise has been quintessential American mythmaking. The tale of a washed-up, down-on-his-luck boxer, who had a one-in-a-million shot to become champion of the world, won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. And although the subsequent five sequels were nowhere near as critically acclaimed, they cemented the Rocky Balboa character in pop culture, as an All-American hero that would beat up the bullies and take on the Soviet Union single-handedly. It was cheesy, jingoistic, and ridiculous, but in a way that audiences loved, especially in the 1980s.

After six Rocky movies (the last of which was a prolonged, redemptive apology for the fifth movie), most moviegoers thought the Rocky franchise was finished. But in 2015, we got Creed, which star…