Tear Jerker / Creed II

• Rocky trying to talk Adonis out of fighting Drago. You can tell that even after all these years the pain and guilt of losing Apollo is still there.
  Rocky: You got everything to lose. This guy's got nothing to lose.
  Adonis: I ain't got a choice.
  Rocky: That's the same thing your father said, and he died, right here in my hands.
• Rocky refers to the brain damage he suffered after the Ivan Drago fight, acknowledging that Drago kept his promise of "breaking" him before the fight.
  "And when I did get in that ring? That guy broke things in me that ain't never been fixed. It's not worth it. Not at all."
• Even worse according to Bianca this determination to defeat Drago has apparently caused him to forsake his duties as a father and husband.

  Bianca: It’s like nothing really matters to him right now. Including me.

• Rocky watching Adonis fighting Viktor on television. At a certain point when Adonis is getting beaten badly, Rocky turns off the broadcast, because it is too painful for him to watch.
• Adonis's proposal to Bianca is a mixture of this, funny, and heartwarming. The sad part is when he gives a heartfelt proposal to Bianca, but she just got out of the shower and her hearing aids weren't on. Adonis sadly observes that she didn't hear any of it. She tearfully asks what she didn't hear. Just goes to show that even if they are preparing for when she finally goes completely deaf, there will be times when her disability causes her to miss out.
• It’s hard not to feel a little pity for Ivan Drago when seeing how badly his life fell apart following his loss to Rocky. His wife divorced him, he lost everything he earned, and eventually fled the Soviet Union in disgrace; ending up in Ukraine to raise his son alone and in poverty. Sure, he killed Apollo and didn't show any remorse for it, but even then, he was just being a fighter and in the end, had a sense of honor and respect.
  Ivan: People in this country love you. But in Russia... no one touch Drago name. Everything changed that night.
  Rocky: But that was, like, a million years ago.
  Drago: Like yesterday to me. (...) Because of you, I lose everything. Country, respect... wife.
  • Ivan notices there aren't any photos of himself amongst Rocky's collection, despite them otherwise encompassing the whole of Balboa's career. Even if he did win it, it's evident that Rocky himself doesn't want to remember that fight; nor what lead into it or what happened as a result.
  Ivan: (quietly impressed) Nice pictures.
  Rocky: Yeah, they're okay.
  Ivan: No pictures of me?
  Rocky: (sadly) No... there's no pictures of that.
• Ivan looking heartbroken when he finds out Ludmilla remarried.
  • Viktor adds to it when he loses his cool, storms out of the dinner, and begins Calling the Old Man Out, not just expressing anger at Ludmilla for abandoning the family, but being angry and hurt for what happened to his father, who he clearly holds in higher respect than the people Ivan's trying to get them back into the graces of.
  • When Viktor calls out these same people for abandoning and shaming his father, Ivan shouts back, "I lost!". The implication is that he thinks he deserved that treatment... for losing a boxing match. It's a gut-wrenching example of what living in a totalitarian society like the old USSR could do to you... you internalize that mindset of "your whole life is secondary to the good of the State".
  • At the end of the fight, even hard-lined critics of Ivan will feel for him when he witnesses Ludmilla leaving and finally sees her for whom she is: A fair-weathered, cold-hearted woman who might fawn over you when you're on top of the world, but abandons you when the chips are down. Viktor mentions during the dinner that "I don't even know that woman. She might as well be a stranger", implying that in all those thirty-plus years, she never even tried to maintain contact with her own son, much less Ivan.
  • Ludmilla abandoning the Dragos again at the end of the film also makes for a tragic Call-Back to the very first Rocky, where Adrian's arrival at the ring during the final round of Rocky's fight with Apollo Creed marks the exact moment when it becomes clear that Rocky is going to prevail (even if Apollo won, Rocky still "went the distance"). Ludmilla serves the exact opposite role for Viktor and Ivan, abandoning them in their hour of need and making it perfectly clear that Viktor will not go the distance - the only question is how badly he's going to lose. Indeed, Viktor sees her empty seat and appears to just give up the will to fight. It ends with Ivan throwing in the towel because he can't bear to see his son being so brutally beaten.
    • Look at Rocky's face as he sees Ivan preparing to get his son out of the ring by using the towel. It's one of shock, because back in Rocky IV, Rocky didn't throw in the towel for Apollo, and that got the latter killed. He is witnessing what could have happened if he had done the right thing earlier, which would be saving Apollo's life.
  • Drago comforting Viktor afterward. Yes, it's about the first selfless, heartwarming thing we ever see Ivan do, but it's still a tearjerker because it took Viktor almost being killed to bring it out.
    Ivan: It's okay. It's okay.
• Adonis learning that his and Bianca’s daughter Amara was born deaf due to inheriting her mother’s hearing disability. In a later scene, after trying and failing to calm a crying Amara down, Adonis takes her to the Delphi Gym where he begins punching a heavy bag in frustration before breaking down in tears.
  • When Adonis breaks down, Amara stops crying. He looks over at her to find her looking back at him with what honestly seems like a sad and even apologetic look. Even as a newborn baby it's like she can sense her father's pain and sadness. Adonis hugs and reassures her that it's not her fault and that "Daddy's being a bitch."
• Let us not forget Mary Anne Creed. Drago's reemergence is a living reminder of the circumstances of her husband's death, and all of the emotional impulses that drove him to it are present in Adonis. Then Donnie loses the first fight against Viktor and gets his ribs, face and kidney busted. After his reconciling with Rocky, the birth of Amara and his rehab/training for the return match, Donnie faces Viktor again in Russia with Mary Anne ringside with Bianca. God only knows the trauma she must have been battling. Not only is she in the same arena as her husband's killer for the first time in 33 years, her son is facing HIS son, the man who nearly killed him in their last fight. And then the body shot lands...
• In the Deleted Scene, we find out that Spider Rico has passed away, meaning that everyone from Rocky's past is now gone, and he mentions this too, getting choked up from it. Before he gives his eulogy, Rocky takes a look at the funeral house and realize only a handful people showed up, most likely the only people Rico knew. Rocky says his goodbye by saying that where ever Rico goes, it'll be better from where he's been, giving a clear image of what Rico's life was, even during his moments in Rocky Balboa.
  • Not to mention, Rico says he has a daughter, but he can't remember where she lives due to the amount of head shots he's taken in his career. Somewhere, his daughter doesn't know he's dead.
• Though the scene where Rocky is reunited with Robert and meets his grandson is definitely heartwarming, the part where Rocky tells his grandson that he looks just like his grandmother is sad when you realize that Adrian never got to meet her grandson. It's also sad that Paulie never got to meet his great nephew, either.
• Rocky passes the torch. The old champ walks up to the new champ, extends his fist towards Donnie, and quietly says "It's your time." He then goes and sits down in a chair, watching Donnie be pronounced the victor...but not in the ring beside him. As a quiet, melancholy reprise of "Gonna Fly Now" plays in the background, Rocky Balboa is alone. He's lost everyone from his old life: Spider Rico, Gazzo, Paulie, Mickey, Duke, Apollo, and his beloved Adrian. He's helped train the next generation of fighter, and finally made peace with himself over the death of Apollo. His story...is over.
  • With the news that Rocky won't appear in Creed III, the scene is also a poignant passing of the torch from Sylvester Stallone, who took the franchise to incredible pop cultural heights, to Michael B. Jordan, who breathed new life into it and made it his own.