Get ready to meet Ivan Drago the person in ‘Creed II’

For 33 years, fans of the “Rocky” film franchise have loved to hate — or just loved — Ivan Drago the boxer.

In “Creed II” — set for release Nov. 21 — get ready to meet Ivan Drago the person.

Wait, what? It’s true. Get ready for an Ivan Drago we’ve never seen on the big screen. This is fairly significant in the world of Rocky Balboa, which has spun into the world of Adonis JohnsonCreed with a new franchise created with the release of the successful “Creed” in 2015.

Adonis is the son of Apollo Creed, who died in the ring in “Rocky IV” at the superhuman, super-enhanced fists of the stone-cold, robotlike Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren.

His iconic lines from “Rocky IV” — “If he dies, he dies” and “I must break you” — have fueled more than 30 years of fandom building up Drago as one of the alltime great movie villains.

In “Creed II,” Drago still plays it stone-cold, but there’s an actual story arc between the big, bad Russian and his son Viktor, who’s a tool for pops to right the wrong (in his mind) that was the bitter knockout loss to Balboa 33 years ago on his home turf of Moscow. We’re led to believe that loss and eventful fallout have been the reasons for Drago’s rough predicament in “Creed II.”

Got all that? If not, just go into “Creed II” knowing that on the surface Drago is not a good or likable person. He’s definitely not up for the father of the year award in Ukraine, where he and Viktor seemingly have been banished.

For those who like their movie villains extra-villainous, don’t worry. There’s plenty of that in “Creed II,” but there’s a father-son story that pays off in an unexpected way.

For that, Drago fans should be excited because without that story, Lundgren

likely would not have returned to play the role.

Said the actor at flickeringmyth.com: “At first I didn’t want to do it because I thought it would be kind of sad. I didn’t want to hurt that image because it’s like an iconic character that people, especially people who work out, really look up to this guy.

“But the script was really good, and I get a chance to show another side of the same man 35 years later, and more of a damaged, struggling side … A real dramatic challenge but also a great experience to look back at my own career the way he looks back at his career as a fighter.”

Rejoice, Rocky fans. Ivan Drago is back, and he’s back in a way few could have ever expected. So much so that I walked away from a recent screening of “Creed II” wanting more Ivan Drago in my life.

But if “Creed II” is all the Drago we get, fans should leave the theater satisfied.

Reach Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @mpodo