Creed

SPOILERS for Creed ahead. You have been warned.

One of the biggest movies from last year was Creed, a movie that continued the famous Rocky franchise. It followed Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky's friend Apollo, as he tried to become a boxer. At the beginning of the movie his mother won't allow him to, and as a result no trainer in his hometown of  Los Angeles will train him. He decides to move across the country to Philadelphia, where his aim is to enlist his father's friend Rocky to train him. He is very brash and undisciplined, and as a result is not a very good boxer. Adonis can't any fights without a trainer, and Rocky refuses to train him. But after weeks of Adonis training alone, Rocky changes his mind and agrees to help. Though Adonis isn't receptive of Rocky's methods, he learns to trust Rocky and begins to improve.

All this time Adonis has been going by his mother's last name, Johnson. He is feels that using his father's name will prevent him from making his own legacy. However when heavyweight champion "Pretty Ricky" Conlan offers to fight him with the caveat that Adonis takes his father's last name, Adonis hesitantly agrees. In the fight for the title, Adonis does better than anyone expects, but loses to Conlan by decision. However the impressive showing teaches everyone that Adonis Creed is for real, and it appears he has a bright future ahead of him.

Creed clearly fits Aristotle's definition of a comedy. It doesn't use crude humor, or even much humor at all. But Adonis fits the role of the comic hero. He begins unhappy, not a talented boxer, and resenting his father. However by the end he clearly has a great future in boxing and has come to accept his father's legacy as a part of who he is. He is the most ordinary of ordinary people, found by his mother in the foster system, and the audience cheers his rise to stardom. It is these qualities that make Creed a comedy, with Adonis as the hero.