Of the various “legacy sequels” that we have seen come out in recent years, perhaps none has been quite as successful as the Creed movies. While ostensibly a continuation of the Rocky franchise, the movies have also felt very much like their own thing. And now they truly are as Michael B. Jordan is getting back in the ring to make Creed III without Sylvester Stallone.
The images come from Tessa Thompson’s Instagram, where she posted a pair of shots of Michael B. Jordan, the star and the director, in the ring. And he definitely looks ready to get to work on this new installment. In one shot he’s smiling, in the other he looks more serious, but either way Tressa Thompson certainly thinks he’s ready to go.
Creed III will likely be a very different movie than the first two movies in the series. Each film has had a different director, but Creed III is unique among all of Michael B. Jordan’s upcoming projects. It will not only mark the first time in the franchise that Michael B. Jordan has been at the helm, but the movie marks his directorial debut. We have really no idea what to expect because we have no previous directorial efforts to look at when trying to figure out what a “Michael B. Jordan movie” even is.
Having said that, Michael B. Jordan has certainly been paying attention. He’s made some movies with some great directors and one assumes he’s been learning a lot. Even though Sylvester Stallone didn’t direct any of the Creed films, one has to believe that working with Rocky Balboa himself taught Jordan a couple of things. Jordan has also said that he got some great directing lessons from Denzel Washington, who apparently made a point of making sure Jordan saw what he was doing while recently directing the actor in A Journal for Jordan.
This will also mark the first entry in the franchise without Sylvester Stallone. Following Creed II Stallone said he was officially done with the character and there’s been no indication that anybody has tried to convince him otherwise. Both the first two Creed films were strongly tied to the previous Rocky franchise. It’s still possible Creed III will make its connections to the earlier movies, but it seems likely that with this being the first movie with Stallone in the cast, the new film may want to chart its own path, especially if there are any plans to continue these movies after Creed III.
At this point we don’t know much about what Creed III has in store for Adonis Creed beyond the fact that Jonathan Majors has been tapped to play the film’s antagonist. Creed III is set to hit theaters this November, so the good news is it won’t be long before we’ll get our own first look at the film and the next chapter in this saga.
