Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors Meet in the Boxing Ring in ‘Creed III’ First Trailer

Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed may well meet his match in a long-lost friend.

On Tuesday, MGM debuted the first trailer for Creed III, which stands as the ninth movie in the Rocky franchise and 35-year-old Jordan’s directorial debut. (The film marks the first movie in the Rocky series not to feature Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa himself.)

The actor returns as Creed in the new film alongside Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad and Jonathan Majors, who plays antagonist Damian Anderson — a “fighter who has nothing to lose.”

The Creed III trailer showcases the drama that gets underway when Adonis’ childhood friend Damian re-emerges after a long prison sentence, ready to prove himself in the boxing ring. “I know I’ve been away a long time, but I’ve kept myself in shape,” Damian tells Adonis in the trailer. “I still got gas in the tank.”

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Adonis’ invitation for Damian to train at his gym goes awry when Damian fights too hard while sparring with another boxer at practice and reveals his long-held resentment over his imprisonment.

“You think you’re mad? Try spending half your life in a cell, watching somebody else live your life,” he tells Adonis in the trailer after Adonis reprimands him. “I’m coming for everything.”

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In one moment, Adonis explains to Bianca (Thompson) that Damian “was like family … now we past talking,” amid the breakdown of their friendship. “Then maybe you just have to fight him,” Bianca says.

In a virtual Q&A session with reporters Monday, Jordan said it was the “perfect time” for him to step into the director’s chair for the third Creed movie after working with directors Ryan Coogler and Steven Caple Jr. on the first two films in the trilogy.

“I finally got to this place in my career where I really wanted to tell a story, you know, and not just be in front of the camera, not just execute somebody else’s vision,” he said. “And having a character that I’ve played twice before, you know it’s been 7, 8 years living with this guy, so to be able to tell a story of where I believe Adonis is at.”

“Also, at 35 years old, I had a lot to say as a young man, as a young Black man, just my life experiences and how I could actually share that, share a piece of myself with the world through these characters and through this story.”

Creed III is in theaters March 3.