New 'Creed III' poster offers a look at Adonis and his family

Michael B. Jordan, the actor behind Adonis Creed and director of "Creed III," gave fans a Christmas card of sorts when he revealed the latest imagery for the upcoming film.

The latest entry in the "Rocky" spin-off saga, Jordan's directorial debut, will be released on March 3, 2023. The newest poster for the flick reveals a tight bond between Creed and his family.

Jordan took to social media to reveal the poster, which features his character posing in the boxing ring with his wife, Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter, Amara (Mila Davis-Kent).

"Happy holidays from the Creed family, to yours!," Jordan wrote in a Tweet.

While the new poster shows a sweet side to Creed, the movie's previously released posters and trailer foreshadow a violent battle between Creed and his former childhood friend Damian "Dame" Anderson (Jonathan Majors).

"Creed III," which comes five years after the last installation, starts with Creed living a charmed life with his beautiful family, fame and riches. That is, until he runs into his old friend Anderson, recently out of prison and looking to gain his own boxing glory.

As Anderson begins training, his relationship with Creed frays to the point that they meet up in the ring to settle their differences.

Majors has teased that his character has dealt with some past trauma that influenced him to become stronger.

"There are certain reasons you build your body,” Majors told Men's Health. “Dame’s body was built from loss. He had lost something, and that hole is what made him work the way he worked. When you see Dame’s body, you go, 'Oh, that makes sense.' You don’t look like that and be happy with life.”

Majors skyrocketed to fame through roles in "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," Netflix's "Da 5 Bloods" and the HBO series "Lovecraft Country." He is also entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe as supervillain Kang the Conqueror, with a cameo in "Loki" and an upcoming role in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." 

Jordan has some experience being a Marvel villain as well – he plays Erik Killmonger in Marvel's "Black Panther" franchise.

Forging a relationship with Majors was important to Jordan, both as an actor and a director. The on-screen adversaries created a bond during the filmmaking process. 

"It's my first time directing that relationship between director and actor," Jordan told The Hollywood Reporter. "I really understand that now, and it's a bond that will last forever. So just really lucky to have that gentleman by my side."

Along with Jordan and Thompson, other familiar faces will reappear in the movie, including Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) and Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), Creed's nemesis from the previous movie. 

One important member of the franchise will be missing, though, as Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is not involved with "Creed III." Despite his on-screen absence, his iconic character is sure to be represented in other ways.

"We really want fans to be interested in Adonis and what that story has to say," Jordan told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2021. "There's going to be so many Rocky-isms that are forever going to stay with Adonis as he moves forward. So as far as page space, or whether or not Rocky comes back for this one, this is the 'Creed' franchise moving forward."

"Creed" was released in 2015 and saw Jordan's character, son of Apollo Creed, as an up-and-coming boxer who travels to Philadelphia to seek mentorship from his father's old friend and rival, Rocky Balboa. "Creed II" came out in 2018, and saw Creed battling Drago, the son of the Russian boxer who killed his father. The third installment was originally slated for a November 2022 release, before being moved to March 2023.