While our parent’s generation looked forward to the Rocky movies, our generation has a spin-off version of them that they can enjoy. The Creed trilogy is a sports drama written almost in continuation of the Rocky series. The filmmakers recently released a seventh installment to the franchise, and fans could not be more excited.
Just when we thought that Stallone was done and over with the Rocky series when he released the last movie, Rocky Balboa, in 2006, the Creed films, first released in 2015, brought his character, Rocky, back along with Michael B. Jordan in the lead role, the two have since hard-carried the spin-off series and have been praised for their performances by viewers and critics.
The Creed movies star Michael B. Jordan in the main role as Adonis Creed or Donnie, a rookie but talented boxer and the son of the champion, Apollo Creed. Sylvester Stallone is also back with his iconic and most loved persona, Rocky Balboa, who, after retiring from fighting, is running a restaurant in town.
Tessa Thompson is cast in the movie as Donnie’s love interest, Bianca, alongside Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne, Donnie’s adoptive mother who offered to take him in when the latter was in jail. The set of three movies has a lot of new and recurring roles that contribute heavily to the movies.
The Creed series is about Adonis Creed, also popularly known as Donnie, a rising star in the fighting world. He has the talent but lacks the skills needed to brush it up. We follow his struggles and how he eventually meets his father’s arch-nemesis turned friend, Rocky, who agrees to help and train him for future fights.
The Rocky series is one of the most beloved classics from our parent’s generation, and when attempts to recreate something of that level could have gone wrong in a million different ways. But the makers of the Creed movies have been applauded for being able to follow the footsteps of its predecessor so beautifully.
The film stays true to its roots and can be rightfully called a proud successor to the Rocky franchise.
Who is Adonis Creed?
The fictional character of Adonis Johnson ‘Donnie’ Creed is the main lead of the three Creed movies and the son of the heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, who died only sometime after his birth in the ring. The first Creed movie establishes his love for fighting and portrays his natural urge to be in the ring, much like his father.
We are told that he was born to a lady named Miss Johnson, who passed away shortly after his birth. He is his father’s youngest child, born from an extramarital affair. We see him in a juvenile center where he constantly gets into trouble until one day, Apollo’s saint-like wife, Mary Anne, comes to get him out of place.
He finally found himself a home and something close to a family and two half-siblings that, rightfully, have trouble accepting his existence. Despite this, years later, the guy is all grown and supporting himself. He works in a security firm and continues to box whenever he can.
The knowledge that his biological father was a renowned fighter is exciting to him and is just the validation he needs to pursue his boxing dreams. Though not professionally, he finds himself in a ring whenever he is off work.
Why was Donnie in the Foster Care?
The first movie tells us that Adonis was born because of Apollo’s extramarital affair with another woman named Miss Johnson. While Apollo died in the ring because of a fight with Ivan Drago, Johnson continued raising Donnie on her own until she also passed just four years after his birth.
Too young to live alone, baby Donnie was taken to a foster home where he lived until he got into one big trouble, which landed him directly in a juvenile home. Here, he spent some more of his prime teen years fighting with most kids, being friends with only a few, and rebelling against the authorities.
Until 1998, he lived in the juvenile center, where he did not know who his father was. Donnie had an extremely tough childhood, losing both his parents like that, not even knowing who his father was, but there was still hope for him that came thirteen years after his birth in the form of a kind-hearted woman, Mary Anne.
She adopted him and introduced him to his father and legacy, which sparked his interest in boxing. So, yes, because his father’s affair, supposedly in the timeline of the third and the fourth Rocky movie, caused him to live in foster homes and juvenile centers alone.
Mary Anne’s generosity and love, and warmth towards Adonis were much needed for him to grow up as a healthy, mature adult. Her presence was also necessary as it led to Donnie finding out about his father and eventually taking a significant interest in boxing and becoming a fighter just like his father, thus setting the film’s story in motion.
Also Read: What Happened To Clubber Lang? End of The Iconic Villain From The Rocky Movies Explained
