During Sylvester Stallone’s re-editing of Rocky 4, now titled Rocky vs. Drago, Stallone said:

“If I had to do it over again, I never would have killed Apollo. Never. I thought I needed that kind of springboard to further the drama powerfully forward. But Apollo in a wheelchair would have assumed the role of Mickey.

“With his physicality diminished, we would have seen a different side of Apollo. He could have opened up all these other things that we didn’t even know about him. He would have been a father-figure-mentor to Rocky. It would have been great.

"He would have been embraced by Rocky’s family. And he’d also have his family, too. What about that whole thing? It would have changed the entire trajectory of all the Rockys.

"When Carl Weathers hears about this, he’s gonna be very pissed off.”

I watched the movie. It has 40 minutes of unseen footage while still keeping the 93 minute running time. Many of the scenes that remain have been re-edited including the fight scenes.

For me, it's a much more dramatic and exciting movie. It seems like it's 50/50 for those who like the new version and those that prefer the original. But all agree, it's good that the robot is gone.

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