Sylvester Stallone had a very different characterization in mind for Rocky IV's Ivan Drago - here's his original concept explained and why it wouldn't have worked. Rocky IV found Stallone at the peak of his stardom as both a movie star and director. The sequel was released the same year as Rambo: First Blood Part II, with both movies grossing over $300 million worldwide. While Rocky IV received somewhat mixed reviews for its focus on MTV-style montages and moving away from the gritty character drama of past entries, it's still a favorite among fans of the Rocky saga.
Stallone has since gone back to the movie and re-edited it, resulting in the 2021 director's cut Rocky IV: Rocky Vs Drago. This new version put back in deleted scenes and character beats while removing divisive elements like Paulie's infamous Rocky IV robot. This new cut also allowed Stallone to fix some mistakes he felt he made with the original theatrical edit, like giving more glimpses into the humanity of Dolph Lundgren's Russian boxer Ivan Drago.
Outside of a small appearance in James Bond adventure A View To A Kill, Rocky IV marked Lundgren's real acting debut. The imposing, muscle-bond actor towered over Stallone's Rocky, and visually summarised the sequel's David vs Goliath themes. Drago is borderline mute throughout Rocky IV and is basically engineered to be the "perfect" machine by the Soviets. It's only through fighting Rocky does Drago realizes he's all too human and can be hurt. In the documentary The Making of Rocky Vs Drago, Stallone explains that Lundgren's casting made him throw out his original Ivan Drago plan.
In early drafts of Rocky IV, Ivan Drago was conceived of as "bullish" and "primitive" in his fighting style, but also very intelligent and verbal. Drago was also supposed to have lots of dialogue, but while tailoring the character to Lundgren, Stallone realized that so much dialogue just diminished the character's mystique. In the final movie, Drago has only a handful of lines and is supposed to be the personification of a human being engineered to be undefeatable.
Stallone was ultimately correct to discard his first concept for Drago. While an intellectual and more primitive version of the Russian boxer also would have made for a tough opponent, the more mysterious approach was much better. Lundgren's imposing physicality is all that's needed to convey the threat he poses, and his silence has the added effect of making him more intriguing. Creed 2 later turned Drago into a human being by revealing what happened to him post-Rocky IV and finally gave him a voice to speak for himself.