It was only a few months ago when moviegoers saw Michael B. Jordan make a surprise appearance as Erik “Killmonger” Stevens in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but soon we’ll see the actor reprise another one of his popular characters. Adonis Creed will be back on the silver screen in early March for Creed III, which also marks Jordan’s directorial debut. Ahead of the threequel’s arrival among the 2023 new movie releases though, Jordan has confirmed that not only is Creed IV happening, there’s other good news to share about the franchise.
Michael B. Jordan shared with IGN that in addition to Creed IV “for sure” happening, he’s kicking around ideas for this corner of the Rocky universe to spawn a spinoff or two. In his words:
I just want to expand the Creed-verse within reason, but definitely expect other things around Creed for sure.
So if you’ve been enjoying Adonis Creed’s boxing journey since he was introduced in 2015’s Creed, you can take comfort knowing that Creed III won’t be the last we see of him. When we can expect is hard to say, as there was a three-year gap between the first two Creed movies, followed by roughly four and a half years between Creed II and Creed III. It’s entirely possible Creed IV could arrive as late as 2028, but whether that happens or it’s dropped at an earlier time, Jordan intends to deliver a fourth chapter to this saga that’s been following the son of Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed, who died in Rocky IV.
As for the Creed spinoffs, although there’s nothing officially on the books yet, last summer it was revealed that Robert Lawton is writing a Drago spinoff, so it’s a good bet Michale B. Jordan has been looped in on that. With Sylvester Stallone sitting out Creed III and there being no updates lately on the status of his seventh Rocky movie, Adonis Creed has become the new leading figure in this cinematic world, so it’s only fitting that future stories in this franchise spin off of what’s happening in his life. That said, judging by Jordan’s comment, it doesn’t sound like we should expect the Creed-verse to grow to a scale comparable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Narrowing our focus back to Creed III, the threequel takes place seven years after the events of Creed II and starts with Adonis’ boxing and family lives thriving. However, a proverbial wrench is thrown into the works when Jonathan Majors’ ripped character Damian “Dame” Anderson, Adonis’ childhood friend, comes back into his life after having spent years in prison. It doesn’t take long for their renewed relationship to deteriorate, and eventually they’ll come to blows in the ring, as you’ll see in the Creed III trailer.
Creed III opens in theaters on March 3, and once any concrete information about Creed IV and/or these spinoffs comes to light, we’ll pass those details along. Until then, tune into TNT or TBS if you’d like to rewatch the first two Creed movies ahead of the next installment.