Tommy Gunn



Tommy Gunn (also known as The Machine and the Clone Ranger) is the secondary antagonist of the 1990 film Rocky V. He was a young boxer who started off as a protege to Rocky Balboa, but left him in favor for boxing promoter George Washington Duke.

He was portrayed by the late Tommy Morrison.

Role
According to Tommy, he grew up in Oklahoma and had a bad childhood due to his father abusing him and his mother. He attributed much of his anger in the ring towards his father, even taking the opportunity to take out his father in the ring in revenge for the abuse he endured. Gunn turned pro at age 18 and earned a record of 8 knockout before he heard about Rocky's success of his fights against Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago. Gunn packed up all his belongings and left for Philadelphia, hoping that Balboa would manage and train him.

At first, Rocky is reluctant as he hardly got any experience as a boxing trainer, but took an interest in Tommy's talent, even allowing him to stay in the Balboa residence. As days past by,  Rocky helps Tommy win a series of boxing fights, climbing himself into the ranks of boxing history; even Duke takes the opportunity to shower Gunn with luxuries as a reward before promoting him a shot against Union Cane for the title.

Despite the success, Tommy felt extremely resentful of the fact that the public and press are labeling him as "Rocky's Gunn" and "Rocky's Robot", believing that he's living off through Rocky's shadow and that he's not earning any fame on his own. As such, Tommy decides to leave Rocky in favor for Duke, despite a distraught Rocky trying to warn Tommy that Duke is leeching off great boxers for his own profit.

During an exhibition match, Tommy was able to defeat Union Cane using Rocky's moves, but rather than giving credit to Rocky, he instead gives credit to Duke for making the event possible. Unfortunately, this doesn't suit well with the audience and the press, who then jeered Tommy for abandoning Rocky for his own greed, much to Tommy's anger. On Duke's advice, Tommy then decided that he should just challenge Rocky to a fight in order to get the respect he wants.

Tommy then calls out to Rocky for a fight, but Rocky refuses, resulting Tommy to insult him. Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie tried to defend Rocky by pointing out that Tommy betrayed him to satisfy both his and Duke's greed, but this only incites an angry Tommy to punch Paulie in the face, much to Rocky's distraught. Declaring this as the last straw, Rocky angrily accepts the challenge by saying that his ring's outside on the streets.

During the fight, Tommy was able to gain the upper hand against Rocky while beating up several citizens. However, despite the brain damage, Rocky turns the tables by fighting back, defeating Tommy in a knockout, much to the witnessing citizens' delight. Tommy is last seen being arrested by the police for assaulting Rocky and the citizens while Duke ends up being punched by Rocky for manipulating Tommy in the first place.