Merchandising
Hasbro intended to license Rocky and make him a member of the G.I. Joe toyline, as they had with wrestler Sgt. Slaughter. A toy prototype was produced. Marvel Comics' G.I. Joe: Order of Battle profile book came out during the negotiations and included Rocky as a current Joe member, specializing in hand-to-hand combat training and an example of what it means to persevere under seemingly impossible odds. As the negotiations then collapsed, due to Stallone licensing Rambo to another company, Marvel had to run a retraction in the third issue of the limited-run series indicating that the character was never a part of G.I. Joe.
Read more about this topic: Rocky Balboa