All 'Rocky' Movies Except One Coming to Netflix on June 1

"Yo, Adrian! I did it!"

In this case, "it" means finally landing on Netflix. On June 1, five of the six iconic Rocky movies will be available on the popular streaming platform.

You have to be living under a rock if you've never heard of Rocky. Over the last 50 years, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa, also known as the Italian Stallion, has become one of the most famous fictional characters ever created. People travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art just to run up the steps and triumphantly raise their fists in the air, just like Balboa does in one of the original movie's most celebrated scenes.

After Rocky came out in 1976, Rocky II quickly followed in 1979. Unfortunately, Rocky II will be the only film from the franchise that won't be available on Netflix, presumably for licensing reasons.

Rocky III came three years later in 1982, along with its No. 1 hit theme song, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.

Funnily enough, "Eye of the Tiger" came about due to a dispute between Stallone and Queen. Stallone wanted to license Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" for the third film, but was unable to secure the rights. So he enlisted Survivor, who at the time was not all that successful, to create the theme song for Rocky III.

Sly said: 'It doesn't have balls. I don't care what the hell you do, I want it to kick ass,'" Survivor's guitarist Frankie Sullivan recalled to The Guardian. "All I did was push the faders up a single decibel and, boom, you could feel the difference. It was kicking and he loved it."

Rocky IV continued the three-year release pattern, coming in 1985. Rocky V, however, took a few years longer, coming in 1990. In 2006, the final film of the franchise, Rocky Balboa, came out, in which the Italian Stallion comes out of retirement for one final hoorah.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 4:15 PM.