History YMMV / RockyIV

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Ivan Drago rebels against his Russian handlers and yells that he isn't boxing for Russia, but for ''himself''. Somehow, this makes him a selfish jerk instead of a wordless tool suddenly desiring freedom of choice.

* LawfulEvil: Ivan Drago seems like this for most of the film. After Rocky defeats him, though, he says he wants to box for himself instead of Russia.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Ivan Drago rebels against his Russian handlers and yells that he isn't boxing for Russia, but for ''himself''. Somehow, this makes him a selfish jerk instead of a wordless tool suddenly desiring freedom of choice. Of course, he earlier killed a certain former champ, so he can't really gain any sympathy.

** Apollo Creed's entrance in his fight against Drago. It starts with an over the top performance that belongs more to a Broadway musical than a boxing ring, has James Brown singing, and has Apollo dressed up as Uncle Sam and dancing. Drago, who is usually TheStoic, [[OutOfCharacterMoment is utterly bewildered by this spectacle]], and probably qualifies as the OnlySaneMan for this scene. Even Rocky seems somewhat embarrassed.
*** Which leads to a funny moment when Adrian looks at Rocky at one point like, "How long is this gonna go?" Rocky's return gesture is like, "Beats me, this ain't my idea!"

* HilariousInHindsight: The depiction of the new (at the time) Soviet premiere Mikhail Gorbachev. While Gorbachev wasn't exactly "nice," his public persona made him look like a peaceful wise leader. And this worked extremely well in America and elsewhere in the West (the infamous "Gorbymania"), making his depiction in this movie hilariously stand out.

* NightmareFuel: Drago's horrific beatdown of Apollo.
** Which is also a tragic reminder of the risk boxers take whenever they step foot in the ring.

* StrawmanPolitical: One of the most cartoonishly negative depictions of the USSR in American media, which is saying something. The Russian characters are a near-silent, hulking muscleman with [[NoEmpathy little empathy]] towards his opponents, his wife who smiles gleefully when Apollo dies, and their {{Jerkass}} promoter, a Communist functionary who spends the whole film baiting Apollo, Rocky and insulting America. Even Ken Begg of Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension, an avowed conservative, [[http://jabootu.net/?p=2136 found the movie's Red baiting over the top]]:

* StrawmanPolitical: One of the most cartoonishly negative depictions of the USSR in American media, which is saying something. Even Ken Begg of Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension, an avowed conservative, [[http://jabootu.net/?p=2136 found the movie's Red baiting over the top]]:

** An interpretation of Apollo Creed is that he's fed up with retirement and growing old gracefully, and [[DeathSeeker wants to go out fighting like a warrior]].

** An interpretation of Apollo Creed is that he's fed up with retirement and [[spoiler: growing old gracefully, and [[DeathSeeker wants to go out fighting like a warrior]].]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In the Magazine/{{MAD}} spoof of ''Rocky IV'', [[spoiler: after Apollo Creed dies, Adrian mentions being nervous because Mickey died in ''III'', and now Apollo, meaning she's next if there's a ''V''. While she doesn't die in ''V'', she does die between then and ''Balboa''.]]

** In the Japanese dub of the film, or at least in the regular dubbed version of it, both Apollo and Drago were voiced by Creator/KenjiUtsumi and Creator/NorioWakamoto respectively. Both actors previously worked before together as Raoh and Shuren respectively in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. The hilarity came with the fact in FOTNS [[spoiler:Raoh kills Shuren when the latter tries to kill Raoh in a suicide attack towards him]]. In ''Rocky IV'', [[spoiler:the roles are inverted this time, and "Shuren" (Drago) returns the favor towards "Raoh" (Apollo)]].

* HilariousInHindsight: The depiction of the new (at the time) Soviet premiere Mikhail Gorbachev. Probably one of the nicest leaders in Russian history! It's hard to call Gorbachev "nice" : he was a pure product of the Soviet Communist Party elite, most of his mentors and people who made him Secretary General were leaders of the KGB and the Soviet Army, he was a Magnificent Bastard who efficiently and ruthlessly eliminated (politically, not physically) many of his opponents in the Politburo and his real primary goal was pure Soviet national interest : preserve the USSR's status as a superpower through intense reforms ([[FelonyMisdemeanor not that any other leader doesn't do the same]]). However, it is true that he quickly tried to appear as a nice and wise leader, looking only for peace and such. And this worked extremely well in America and elsewhere in the West (the infamous "Gorbymania"), making his depiction in this movie hilariously stand out.

* HarsherInHindsight: As if Apollo's death wasn't bad enough, thirty years later we learn about the effect it had on his unborn son in the spin-off film ''Creed''.

** Apollo Creed's entrance in his fight against Drago. It starts with an over the top performance that belongs more to a Broadway musical than a boxing ring, has James Brown singing, and has Apollo dressed up as Uncle Sam and dancing. Drago, who is usually TheStoic, [[OutOfCharacterMoment is utterly bewildered by this spectacle]], and probably qualifies as the OnlySaneMan for this scene.

** It's possible that the VillainHasAPoint moments mentioned on the main page were intentional, and that Stallone was trying to paint the Americans and Soviets as NotSoDifferent in their fanatical patriotism and aggressiveness. Trouble is, if this were true, the Soviets are such cartoonish strawmen that the intended balance doesn't come off well.

* StrawmanPolitical: One of the most cartoonishly negative depictions of the USSR in American media, which is saying something. Even Kevin Begg of Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension, an avowed conservative, [[http://jabootu.net/?p=2136 found the movie's Red baiting over the top]]:

** Apollo Creed's entrance in his fight against Drago. It starts with an over the top performance that belongs more to a Broadway musical than a boxing ring, has James Brown singing, and has Apollo dressed up as Uncle Sam and dancing. Drago, who is usually TheStoic, is utterly bewildered by this spectacle, and probably qualifies as the OnlySaneMan for this scene.

* {{Woobie}}: Who ''is'' Ivan Drago, anyway? It's implied that he's been bred to box, has had steroids and blood-doping up the wazoo, and is supposed to support the State 24/7. He's treated like an object by his government and we're never told what he wants. When he says "I must break you", he means it - he ''must'' because he has no options. When he says, "If he dies, he dies", is he talking about Apollo or himself?

* SoBadItsGood: ''Rocky IV'' is often considered as this (in contrast with ''V'', which is just considered bad), what with the over-the-topness, good ol' ColdWar patriotism, as well as the antagonist's one-dimensional character and Rocky's [[{{Narm}} narmy]] speech at the end.