Everything We Learned From Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors at the ComplexCon 2022 'Creed III' Panel

Image via Blake Rabe

Jordan has been working on the Creed films since before the first one was released in 2015. Fans have watched his character Adonis become a champion in the boxing world as well as grow into a family man. “For me with this one just being there from the beginning with Creed I and seeing the character and the world develop with Ryan [Coogler], I really wanted to take my experiences over the years and add my own perspective with 3,” Jordan said. “I wanted to make it as honest and real as possible to the experiences that we are having as young men in our lives, with our relationships, with our brothers, with our family, things that I was personally going through in my life that I wanted to reflect through this film.”  

This time around with Creed III, fans will travel back in time to see more of what made Adonis who he is today. “I really wanted to show a part of Adonis, as the character, that the world hasn’t had a chance to see. In the first movie he gets adopted by Mary Anne [Phylicia Rashad] and then we see him later on in life,” the director says. “But through those transformative years of Adonis’ life I wanted to know what made him who he was, why is he so quiet, why does he not speak so much, what childhood trauma is he carrying through life, and how I unpack that. I think that was super relevant to me today and I wanted to see that in the film so that people can relate to it as well.”

While the first two installments were inspirational and moving, Jordan wanted to delve deeper into the emotional and mental angle of this story this time around. “I wanted to be real honest and show all the unflattering sides of friendship and family. Everything isn’t wrapped up in a bow. Everything you intend to say or your feelings or how you meant things to come out or to be doesn’t always get received that way so I think we wanted an honest portrayal of brotherhood,” Jordan said. “The fear, the mistakes, the pride that we have for one another, the love, the ugly sides of friendships as well and your own insecurities and how you project them on other people and other things.” 

“I wanted to take what childhood trauma and your past and how it really has an impact on who you are today and whether you choose to talk about it or not talk about it, and how that actually really informs the person that you are,” he said. 

One look at the trailer shows that Creed III is on another level stylistically and aesthetically. “Visually I wanted to really elevate things. This is Creed III. It’s really hard the third time around, eighth within the entire franchise if we’re including Rocky. How do you do things fresh? How do you think of a new perspective? Some things are predictable,” Jordan said. “There’s only but so many punches you can throw into a ring. How do you make things different and unique? When I have this incredible cast and a script, that really helps elevate things. I had all the right pieces of the puzzle around me.” 

Majors recalled first seeing Jordan in 2013’s Fruitvale Station while in acting school. “What Mike did in Fruitvale Station, I may have been early on in drama school and I saw it and went, ‘Oh wait, hold up. That’s a real one.’ I think that was the first time I’d seen that. He had The Wire, which was wicked, but I didn’t have cable [Laughs.] What he did in that, was probably the first time that I go, ‘OK, that’s a real one. He’s really doing it. The world he’s in, he’s invisible in this.’ And in drama school, I then took that to class and then was like, ‘This is how I want to try to do it.’”  

Majors added: “And of course the Creed stuff. I have a playlist that I made for inspiration for myself in the gym after I saw Creed I. So those two pictures definitely made an impression.”  

Jordan said Majors was “truly incredible” in The Last Black Man in San Francisco. “The layers and complexities that Jonathan was able to play were truly special, and then seeing him in Lovecraft [Country], seeing him evolve and that world as a whole I really enjoyed. There are things that I saw that I knew weren’t on the page. And I was like, ‘OK, that wasn’t on the script. That’s instinct,” Jordan said about his co-star. “That’s him adapting in the moment and elevating the things that we have. From an actor’s perspective looking that’s something that I knew was all him and if I could get a piece of that guy in this movie, me as a director knowing I’m bouncing in front of the camera and behind, I knew that I had somebody that was going to hold me down.” 

Majors said all it took was one phone call for him to decide that he wanted to be a part of the film. “From the jump, there was such a clear culture between Mike and I. Literally from the phone call of like, ‘Hey, you want to maybe do this?’ It was very forward, very direct, it was very open-hearted and the truth was very clear to me,” the actor said. “And I hung up the phone, picked it back up, and said, ‘Yeah, nah. Let’s roll.’ Fastest I’ve jumped on a film ever. Literally hung up, made one phone call, and hit him back.” 

Jordan chimed in, saying: “I did not think you were going to hit me back that night.” 

“I say all that to say that the culture of the brotherhood, as you said, it’s a blockbuster, which means a lot of folks are going to see this. I know we both felt we had a huge responsibility to portray something as Mike said, honest and truthful and the truth is hard to look at,” Majors continued. “Toxic masculinity, what does that look like? Mental health within the Black culture, what does that look like? Incarceration, what does that look like? Resentment between your brother, what does that look like? These are some of the things we were trying to bust open and get curious about and we did all that in the same way that Mike started the initial brotherhood, direct, openhearted, very clear, and very vulnerable. From that comes the ass kickings, and pushups, and all that stuff.” 

Both actors are at really strong places in their careers. Jordan has a series of hit movies under his belt and is now making his directorial debut. For Majors, his career is taking off in the most unimaginable ways, and is on the brink of becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Hollywood doesn’t produce movie stars like it used to, but these two are among the few who are redefining what that means, especially for Black actors.

They continued to trade compliments back and forth throughout the panel, singing each other’s praises are every turn. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to be around,” Majors said. “I got to watch Mike kind of run from a safe place, so I saw what it was like to be a ‘blockbuster, action star, super cool,’ I saw what that was like. What Mike has done so well, and what I’m trying to do is to show that Black men are not a monolith. And that the ‘action star’ is not a monolith.” 

“He’s being modest too, this dude has been handling it with grace. You see his trajectory in the films that he has coming out this year and how he’s been moving and the things that a lot of the public doesn’t know about that you will know about in the coming months,” Jordan added. “He keeps a lot of shit close to the vest but he’s been handling it with grace and his future is so bright. I’m looking forward to working with him and continue to build a relationship. You don’t really get to see a lot of Black men in the movie industry kind of really bonding or gathering like this all the time, and showing up for each other and supporting.”

Physicality is a major aspect of any sports film. The previews, trailers, and posters for the film are proof of how much they had both been training in preparation for their roles in Creed III. “We had a facetime chat, we locked in and we’re going to do it. We didn’t meet in the flesh for a month and a half. So I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to play this guy?’ How is he going to look? This is a boxing picture, this is standard procedure, you gotta meet that,” Majors said. “This man, first day, we meet, he’s got his whole squad. We come in. Mike says to me as we start chatting, ‘I want it to feel like two gladiators in the ring.’ From another actor, you go, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever, bro.’ But from your director, you go, ‘Gladiators in the ring?’ I’m googling, I’m thinking of all types of stuff. And then we got busy. With the boxing regimen, the production was so great about setting it all up. I had the standard Creed kit.”

He added: “And then I had Damian and that’s when it got deep. As people may train once a day, I’m training three times a day. Eating like a madman but the mentality of Damian is how we began to train. Everything you see in the montage, we did that. We are running miles, you eat your meals, you threw your hands, and repeat, repeat, repeat.” 

“This guy is a machine,” Jordan added. “One of the hardest workers I’ve ever—he got a motor. It’s what we needed in that role, honestly. The boxing regimen is so crazy, the training is so intense, and he rose to the occasion and really got initiated into the world of Creed. It was a real thing. If you don’t have that type of dedication and work ethic you wouldn’t survive the first three weeks of filming.”

Creed III hits theaters on March 3, 2023.