On Sept. 26, the new trailer for “Creed II” was released, and after 33 years, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren, “The Expendables 3”) is back. The roided-up Russian who killed Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers, “Chicago Justice”) in “Rocky IV” is back, and this time, he is bringing his son with him to settle some old scores with the “Italian Stallion” himself, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, “Creed”).

Director Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film “Creed” starred Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther”) as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo, and brought back Stallone as Rocky for the seventh time. The film followed a similar story to the original “Rocky,” and some even jokingly referred to it as “Rocky VII.” Upon release, however, the film stood on its own while also paying homage, with a fresh new tone and characters yet similar trials and tribulations that connect it as a blood-relative to the series. It was a smash with both critics and fans, who all embraced the spinoff, so much that it earned Stallone his first Oscar nomination since 1976, playing the same character. In other words, a sequel was bound to happen.

The first trailer was released back in June, and it teased the return of an unlikely force from the “Rocky” series’ past: Drago. For fans of the series, Drago was the fiercest and most dangerous opponent Rocky ever faced, having killed Apollo in the ring and finally being K.O.’d by Rocky after 15 rounds of action-packed, thrill-inducing battle. Now it seems Ivan is back, and he is pissed. He uses his absolute tank of a son, Viktor Drago, portrayed by Romanian boxer Florian Munteanu, to challenge Adonis to a match, even if the two boxers are not in the same weight class, in yet another effort to break Balboa.

In this second trailer, fans finally get to see footage of Lundgren as Drago, looking like he still wants to strangle Rocky to death after shaming him in front of his home country. As for Adonis, this film looks to tackle the many hats he is wearing, as both a boxing champion, a lover, a new father and, most importantly to Adonis, the son of Apollo. There has been a recurring theme in the first “Creed” film and this trailer: that of fathers, sons and consequences. Everybody in this new movie looks haunted, angry and ripe to throw some punches.

The level of testosterone in this trailer is enough to fill an entire workout session, and yet, it still has the heart that makes the “Rocky” series special. The films deal with the effects that hard work, dedication and wanting to forge a name for oneself can have both physically and mentally. It is epic in every sense of the word, seeing two characters settle their personal disputes with fists, earning each others’ respect in the process, and this film looks like another notch in the belt for the “Rocky” series.

Now, maybe this film is looking at the hilariously corny “Rocky IV” with rose-tinted glasses, using the overtly 80s action-fest that had Rocky single-handedly end the Cold War using his limited vocabulary as the emotional backdrop for this ground-level drama about Adonis and his inner struggles with identity. However, if the filmmakers play their cards right and actually make Drago and his son complex characters instead of Hulk-like orcs, keeping everything close to the ground, then audiences can get invested and forget about that. With that being said, seeing Rocky and Drago face off in the trailer will likely make viewers want to watch “Rocky IV” again, so maybe using it as a springboard is not such a bad idea after all.

Image from Movieclips Trailers via YouTube.com