Sylvester Stallone not returning for Creed 3 has made headlines, but he is not the only Rocky character missing who should have appeared. The third film in the Creed franchise is much more separated from the original Rocky franchise than the previous two installments. Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed officially stepped out of Rocky Balboa's shadow with Creed 3, which earned rave reviews and had the franchise's biggest box office opening. The movie focuses primarily on Adonis and the new characters that the Creed films have introduced instead of relying on more connections to older Rocky movies.

https://screenrant.com/creed-3-rocky-franchise-character-missing-ivan-drago/