History YMMV / RockyIV

** The main villain of the movie being a [[TheJuggernaut nigh-unstoppable]] HuskyRusskie boxer looks oddly prescient today. At the time, Soviet boxers weren't allowed to compete, but tended to dominate at the Olympics. In the late 90s, as the Iron Curtain laid dormant and ex-Warsaw Pact countries started allowing their boxers to compete in international competition, Eastern European boxers quickly took over the scene, especially in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Ex-[=WarPac=] heavyweight champions after 1999 included Vitali Klitschko (Ukrainian), Nikolai Valuev (Russian), Siarhei Liakhovich (Belarusian), Oleg Maskayev (Russian), Ruslan Chagaev (Tatar), Sultan Ibragimov (Russo-Dagestani), Alexander Povetkin (Russian), and Oleksandr Usyk (Ukrainian).[[note]]Andrew Golota (Polish) also ''would'' have been a heavyweight champion if not for exceptionally corrupt judgement in a fight he clearly won against John Ruiz. Also him [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat deciding to throw low blows]] against Riddick Bowe after dominating him for the entire fight.[[/note]] Currently the statistically most successful heavyweight champion of all time (longest reign, most defenses, longest undefeated streak, etc.) is a Ukrainian, Wladimir Klitschko, who has a rather similar physique to Drago (he's a more personable, thankfully).

** Invoked. Stallone cut an ''hour'''s worth of footage out of the movie so it would be 90 minutes long, play more times in theaters, and make more money (and it worked). A lot of the montages are there to replace the numerous scenes that were removed entirely, such as Rocky being stripped of his title by the boxing commission, Rocky trying to train in America but repeatedly being interrupted by veteran or political groups, and a scene where the feds come to Rocky's home, tell him not to fight Drago, wind up threatening him, and Adrian subsequently throws them out of the house.

** Apollo's death hits much harder after the passing of his actor, Creator/CarlWeathers, in 2024.

*** In ''Film/{{Creed}}'', Apollo's son brings up this point and Rocky shows what he thinks of it.

** Apollo dies in the ring fighting against Ivan Drago. Years later, ''Film/{{Creed}}'' reveals that Apollo had an affair outside of marriage, resulting in a son. That puts a new light on his actions and motivations in this film. Was his infidelity and hunger to regain his former glory signs of a mid-life crisis? Or did he knowingly step into the ring with a devastatingly powerful, much larger, and ruthless fighter (who was also much younger to boot), as a way of paying for his indiscretions?

** 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 ''Film/{{Creed}}''.

* ItWasHisSled: Apollo dies. This has become one of the major plot points of the ''Film/{{Creed}}'' series.

* VindicatedByHistory: Sort of. It's still considered a very cheesy film by many, but the way ''Film/{{Creed}}'' was able to use Apollo's death to launch its own story, which is now regarded as the best the series has been since the first film, gives it a more respectable place in the franchise. ''Film/CreedII'' revisiting the Drago plotline and giving increased depth to Ivan and the events of this film also helped. In general while fans will acknowledge how much of a far cry this is from the more grounded first film, these days many fans love the film for its NarmCharm and how unapologetic this film is in its cheesiness.

** Creator/SylvesterStallone's [[JustForPun rocky]] marriage with Creator/BrigitteNielsen led to Creator/AndrewDiceClay's quip about the film: "In ''Rocky IV'', Creator/DolphLundgren told Stallone 'I must break you.' Brigitte Nielsen told him 'I '''will''' break you.'"

*** Drago manhandling a member of the Politboro (regardless of the provocation) in front of a huge crowd of Soviet fans [[FridgeHorror probably didn't go over well, either]]. [[spoiler:[[FridgeBrilliance Glasnost may be the only reason he was merely exiled, and otherwise emerged in one piece by the time of]] ''Film/CreedII''.]]

--->'''Adonis:''' Maybe he wanted to go out like a fighter.
--->'''Rocky:''' No, I think he'd rather be here, talking to you.

** 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]]. Implied by Apollo's line at the end of ''Film/RockyIII'' and reinforced in this movie:

** It's possible that the VillainHasAPoint moments mentioned on the main page were intentional, and that Rocky was trying to paint the Americans and Soviets as MirroringFactions in their fanatical patriotism and aggressiveness. Trouble is, if this were true, it's undermined by the Soviet characters being such [[StrawmanPolitical cartoonish strawmen]].
** Apollo dies in the ring fighting against Ivan Drago. Years later, ''Film/{{Creed}}'' reveals that Apollo had an affair outside of marriage, resulting in a son. That puts a new light on his actions and motivations in this film. Was his infidelity and hunger to regain his former glory signs of a mid-life crisis? Or did he knowingly step into the ring with a devastatingly powerful and ruthless fighter many times his size and younger to boot as a way of paying for his indiscretions?

** When Drago kills Apollo, it's mostly accepted that this is a gratuitously dickish act to cement how heartless Drago is. But alternatively, considering that in the press conference, Apollo made a lot of jokes at his and his country's expense that all Drago could muster up was just shoving him... This can be seen as a PatrioticFervor gone wrong: Drago loves his country and dedicates himself wholly for them. He didn't take Apollo's insults and jokes that well, so he goes all out in the match to the point of killing Apollo [[DisproportionateRetribution to make him pay for insulting him and especially the Soviets (with the country approving and drilling him to do it).]] Exhibition matches be damned, someone insults his country, that someone isn't going anywhere alive.

* FairForItsDay: As with most UsefulNotes/ColdWar-era films featuring Russians as the villains they are cartoonishly evil, talking of their superiority to anything American with a clinical coldness to it. But Drago shows [[JustFollowingOrders dissatisfaction with how his superiors treat him as a tool]] and shares mild WorthyOpponent feelings towards Rocky, the initially hostile crowd warms up to Rocky as the fight goes on, while Rocky's speech at the end has him mention his respect to the people of Russian and calling for peace between the two nations rather than simply being satisfied with victory.

** When Drago kills Apollo, it's mostly accepted that this is a gratuitously dickish act to cement how heartless Drago is. But alternatively, considering that in the press conference, Apollo made a lot of jokes at his and his country's expense that all Drago could muster up was just shoving him... This can be seen as a PatrioticFervor gone wrong: Drago loves his country and dedicates himself wholly for them. He didn't take Apollo's insults and jokes that well, so he goes all out in the match to the point of killing Apollo [[DisproportionateRetribution to make him pay for insulting him and especially the Soviets (with the country approving and drilling him to do it).]] Exhibition matches be damned, someone insults country, that someone isn't going anywhere alive.

* VindicatedByHistory: Sort of. It's still considered a very cheesy film by many, but the way ''Film/{{Creed}}'' was able to use Apollo's death to launch its own story, which is now regarded as the best the series has been since the first film, gives it a more respectable place in the franchise. ''Film/CreedII'' revisiting the Drago plotline and giving increased depth to Ivan and the events of this film also helped.

* MemeticMutation:
** "Whatever he hits... he ''destroys''!"
** [[FountainOfMemes Ivan Drago's]] signature quote, "I must break you." has been oft-repeated in case of parodies in regards of strong people or [[TheAhnold parodying]] [[Creator/DolphLundgren his actor.]] (sometimes with FakeRussian accent) The same goes with his KickTheDog / MoralEventHorizon quote, which is also oft-modified for expressions of ignorance or LackOfEmpathy: "If he dies, he dies."[[note]]The format: "If [Subject A] [Verb A], [Subject A] [Verb A]."[[/note]]

* WhatAnIdiot, Apollo being so dismissive of a Soviet athlete. They had dominated many sports at this point due to rigorous training programs and of course steroids. Being as he was so huge it was very foolish for Apollo to believe beating him would be a cakewalk. [[spoiler: Unfortunately this turns into TooDumbToLive for Apollo. This is somewhat addressed as Rocky clearly has reservations about the fight and Apollo notes that he has to take one last shot at glory at any cost.]]

*** In ''Film/{{Creed}}'' Apollo's son brings up this point and Rocky shows what he thinks of it.

** 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 MirroringFactions in their fanatical patriotism and aggressiveness. Trouble is, if this were true, it's undermined by the Soviet characters being such [[StrawmanPolitical cartoonish strawmen]].

** The DirectorsCut has a view that the conflict is much more personal between Stallone, Apollo, and Drago, with the former two dealing with the fact that their fame, as well as fighting potential, is ultimately fleeting. Drago isn't going to be the person who dethrones them because he's the best, but simply because it's inevitable in sports.

* CriticProof: It got fairly poor reviews even at the time, yet remains to this day the highest grossing Rocky/Creed film ''by far''.
* FairForItsDay: As with most Cold War-era films featuring Russians as the villains they are cartoonishly evil, talking of their superiority to anything American with a clinical coldness to it. But Drago shows [[JustFollowingOrders dissatisfaction with how his superiors treat him as a tool]] and shares mild WorthyOpponent feelings towards Rocky, the initially hostile crowd warms up to Rocky as the fight goes on, while Rocky's speech at the end has him mention his respect to the people of Russian and calling for peace between the two nations rather than simply being satisfied with victory.

** 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'', the roles are inverted this time, and "Shuren" (Drago) returns the favor towards "Raoh" (Apollo).

** Sylvester Stallone's [[JustForPun rocky]] marriage with Brigitte Nielsen led to Creator/AndrewDiceClay's quip about the film: "In ''Rocky IV'', Dolph Lundgren told Stallone 'I must break you.' Brigitte Nielsen told him 'I '''will''' break you.'"

** James Brown's "Living in America" musical number goes on for 5 minutes.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film is just seething with Cold War-era patriotism and anti-Communist sentiment of the mid-1980s. The U.S. and Soviet Union would begin to improve relations with each other within a few years.
** The music, dear god could it be more 80's? Paulie's robot is one of the greatest examples of the cute robot trope commonly used during the era. For living in the Soviet Union Drago and his wife sure had fashionable haircuts for the time (albeit the short hair variety). Notice Rocky, Paulie, and Duke wearing red white and blue BOSS sweatshirts.

* ItWasHisSled: Apollo dies.

** The DirectorsCut has a view that the conflict is much more personal between Stallone, Apollo, and Drago with tne former two dealing with the fact their fame as well as fighting potential is ultimately fleeting. Drago isn't going to be the person who dethrones them because he's the best but simply because its inevitable in sports.