Michael B. Jordan explains why there’s a time jump in ‘Creed III’

As eagle-eyed fans have probably already put together, thanks to the latest trailer, there’s a significant time jump that occurs between Creed II and Creed III. Star and first-time director Michael B. Jordan is now addressing why the third installment has fast-forwarded Adonis Creed’s story a bit.

During a recent Creed III press conference attended by We Got This Covered, the moderator for the discussion pointed out how the trailer makes it clear that the daughter shared between Adonis and Tessa Thompson’s Bianca has aged up quite a bit since the previous film. When asked why it was important for him to move Adonis’ story forward for the threequel, Jordan replied:

“I think it was important to get to a pivotal point in Donnie’s career, in Bianca’s career. I think we’ve seen them fall in love. We’ve seen them, come together and create life in a family together. I wanted to get to the next stage, the next crossroads for them, you know? The next level of life and experience as young adults dealing with professional career and family, and the choices that come along with that.”

Elsewhere during that same interview, Jordan heaped praise on Thompson for continuing to be an “incredible” person to work with even as he has transitioned from star to director.

“She’s a rock, you know. Trust is a huge thing, you know, and having earned each other’s trust, you know, being in scenes together. And now having her trust me with a story was the biggest compliment that she’s given me thus far.”

The first Creed film back in 2015 arguably helped to launch Thompson’s career into the mainstream. Shortly after the unlikely success of the Rocky spinoff, Thompson was cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Valkyrie in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, a role that she reprised for the Taika Waititi-directed follow-up that released this summer, Thor: Love and Thunder. Thompson also once again returned for the role of Bianca in 2018’s Creed II, which featured her character and Adonis having a baby together.

The issue of the time jump occurring with Creed III does raise the question of whether Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa will have passed away within the universe of the film. When we last left him in Creed II, Rocky was struggling with significant health issues. Although Stallone has already indicated he won’t appear in Creed III whatsoever but will remain as an executive producer for the movie, that doesn’t necessarily mean the character has died in the universe of the movie. It could be that Rocky passed away, for sure, but maybe he’s just enjoying retirement running Adrian’s, the restaurant named after his late wife. So we’ll just have to wait to see how they handle the fate of Adonis’ surrogate uncle and former trainer in the threequel.

Creed III comes to theaters on March 3, 2023.