Some people think that Rocky and Rambo are basically interchangeable; just a couple of tough guys with limited intellect and a penchant for solving problems with violence, one of the few differences being the weapons they choose to employ. But truth be told, Rambo and other Sly Stallone characters way less memorable (Judge Dredd, Cobra, Lincoln Hawk) borrow little pieces of Rocky here and there, but fade into the ether like the pale, one-dimensional imitations they are. Few stories are more riveting, more transformational, more quintessentially human than that of Rocky Balboa, the ultimate overcomer who never accepted more than two important options: Win, or at least go the distance. He succeeds on both counts in his ascent to the mantle of Perplexed's #1 Essential Guy.
  True, the Italian Stallion had a few things to learn on his way, like all guys do who are getting their sea legs on the cruise into manhood. The tall, confident walk had to mature out of the cocky swagger that, while endearing him to people in its own way, also made him a source of ridicule to some of them behind his back. He repeatedly fought off his destiny with the same determination as he fought an opponent in the ring, content to be what his trainer, Mickey, referred to as "a leg-breaker for some cheap, second-rate loan shark". Mediocrity is easy because all it takes is nothing at all. Thankfully, the one thing he never left behind was not backing down from a challenge...whether it be his imposing nemesis, Apollo Creed, or the more daunting task of breaking through the defenses of his favorite pet shop girl.
  She was called plain, a loser. There was even some tongue-in-cheek speculation that she had mental disabilities. One man told Rocky, "Take her to the zoo...I hear retards like the zoo." But Adrian Pennino was just shy and quiet. Rocky saw more; and his innocent, honest love drew that out of her like nothing and no one else could. On their first date, he removes the hat and glasses she hid herself under. "I always knew you was pretty," Rocky grunts. Adrian doesn't know what to do with this...she had never been affirmed like that before: "Don't tease me," she whispers. Rocky assures her he isn't. God works to draw us out of ourselves in like fashion. All we see is the guilt, the ugliness of our sin, and well we should. But God isn't content to leave us there in self-loathing. This important picture is expertly drawn in the budding of a classic romance.
  Soon, she had stopped wearing the hat and glasses altogether. Reminiscent of the parable of the seven cows, Adrian soon changed from a wallflower to a rose under the cocoon of her fighter's steadfast esteem. It gave her the strength to finally stand up to her self-absorbed, abusive, chauvinist brother Paulie. "You make me feel like a loser...", Adrian screams, after one of Paulie's latest tirades against her. "I'M NOT A LOSER!". Finding one's voice doesn't come easy, but Adrian had a true Essential in her corner.
  The image below charts Adrian's transformation through the first four movies, increasing in beauty and radiance over time:

This is a gripping illustration of what happens to a person who fully lives in the love that God has for them. Through the cross, they've been lifted above their shame and have submitted themselves to the work of being conformed to the image of Christ. Rocky himself reflects some of this in his development as a fighter.
  One notices, at least through the course of the first four movies, how much more taut and strong his body looks with each successive film. The more he acquires the feel of how to fight and win like a champion, the more he begins to train like one. I see this as a parallel to what happens to a believer graduating from milk to meat; they learn the tools that God offers them for training in righteousness through grace alone, growing into an imposing force in the fight for souls as well as in their own holy standing before the Father. But growth like this comes at a price.
  Mickey could only take his young protege' so far. His tutelage was enough to help Rocky, then an unknown local club fighter, go all 15 rounds in the first fight against then-world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed, resulting in a split decision that went to Creed. It was enough to gain Rocky the victory by 15th-round knockout in the Rocky II rematch later, when both fighters were knocked down and he managed to get up one second ahead of Creed. It would never have been enough to beat Clubber Lang, a terrifying opponent(perfectly portrayed by Mr. T) who defeated Rocky quickly and soundly in the third movie. Mickey dies of a heart attack in the movie right after that bout, Rocky allowing him to believe incorrectly that he was victorious by way of a second round knockout. In a twist of irony, it is Creed who then steps forward with the offer to promote a rematch and train Rocky to win it.
  Scared, insecure, and wanting to give up boxing, Rocky intially refuses. Even after changing his mind, it takes all his courage to submit to Creed's instruction. In winning that later battle, Rocky reaches a whole different stratosphere as a fighter than he ever would have achieved with Mickey, and develops a lasting bond of friendship with Creed as well. When God allows a door to close, it's because a better one is opening to stretch us to new and unknown limits. But the transition in between is quite often unsettling.
  Unlike the other contenders on this list(with the possible exception of Billy Graham), Rocky not only expresses a full range of emotions, but moves between them and masters them with the kind of grace that challenges anyone who bears witnesses to doubt his status as a well-rounded, complete man. From his heartsick grief while holding a dying Mickey in his arms, to the "eye of the tiger" he flashes in the ring, to quietly apologizing to and holding Adrian when he realizes he's spoken to her a little more curtly than intended, to the playfulness on display in a game of stickball with the neighborhood children, to his endless patience in confronting the self-centered negativity of Paulie(who, ironically, is his best friend and the one that helped him win Adrian's heart). The latter relationship features some important truth of its own.
  After going on a drunken bender and being bailed out of the clink by Rocky, Paulie rails about how much he has done for Rocky and how much he consequently owes him. Rocky tells him, "Nobody owes you, you owe yourself!" Paulie counters that friends owe. "Friends don't owe...they do 'cause they wanna do," Rocky responds. If I were to make a list of non-essential guys, Paulie would certainly make a case for the top spot on that list! Many times he was worthy of Rocky opening a giant can o' whup-ass on him, but Rocky always held his peace. The love for his friend outweighed the frequent irritation with his cynicism and entitlement mentality.
  As the movie series went on, this patience eventually softened Paulie to a certain extent. In the 2006 final movie, Adrian has lost a fight with cancer four years prior, and the two men are carrying on without her. They make an annual pilgrimage to the places where Rocky and Adrian went on their first date years before. During the latest outing, Paulie tearfully regrets how badly he treated her during her life. Rocky reminds him that Adrian always loved him. I don't believe this moment ever happens without the steady counterbalance that Rocky's positive, loving outlook provides to Paulie's bitter worldview through many years.
  Rocky carries the resilient spirit of Napoleon Dynamite and Worf's iron-clad honor code; he shares Spider-Man's sense of responsibility to the people most dear to him. He carries himself with the same consistent integrity as Billy Graham, albeit in his own clumsy, understated fashion. But Rocky's star shines far brighter in all of these things because for him, these are not attributes...they are essence.
  This is true even when the closest people in his life tell him he can't win. For most others, that would be a crushingly realistic statement. But this is the iron man from Philadelphia; he knows something they don't, at least not fully, in spite of all their years with him: his determined, indomitable heart. Being doubted and underestimated is something I've been confronted with often, so it's one more reason Balboa resonates with me the way that he does. In the fourth movie, he offered a response to this challenge:

"No, maybe I can't win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he's got. But to beat me...he's gonna have to kill me. And to kill me, he's gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he's gotta be willing to die himself."

 In the body of Christ, we have all but lost a willingness to die for what's really important. When the lion comes seeking to devour, we throw the fight nine of ten times. This includes myself all too much. The story of Rocky says, "Get up! Even when they have to cut the one eye that's swollen shut so you can see out of it, even when the count's at seven and you just want to rest, even when everyone in your corner wouldn't blame you for throwing in the towel...get up!"
  In the final film, Rocky is confronting his adult son after the latter blames living in his father's shadow for his difficulties in life. Rocky offers him, and us, one last right hook of the pugilistic wisdom that makes him #1:

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!"

  As my remaining years decrease, and my hatred for the sin in me increases, I become more throroughly convinced that if I do not look like this (spiritually speaking) when crossing into eternity...I have not done my job:

 Rocky's impassioned tale exemplifies one of the most noble ways the born again child of God can enter into the joy of their Lord: bruised but triumphant, beaten but alive, crawling joyously across the finish line through a trail of our own blood and sweat. This is a title that neither the hardest punches nor the ravages of time can take away. It is the very embodiment of I Tim. 4:7: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have won the race". His metamorphosis from "half a bum" to a whole champion wins me over on a very personal, very primal level. And it makes Rocky Balboa, in the eyes of Perplexed, the alpha of all males Essential.