While not many people can say that they know more about the Rocky/Creed universe than Sylvester Stallone, the actor's idea for Creed III to involve Clubber Lang's son should be ignored. As the waiting for the third chapter of the Adonis Creed saga is already longer than the one between the first and second film, all that is left for audiences is to imagine where the story of Michael B Jordan's character is heading next. There are, however, two certainties about the next installment: Sylvester Stallone will not return as Rocky and Jonathan Majors will have an antagonist role.
Creed III will mark Michael B Jordan's directorial debut and will pick up the story of now champion Adonis Creed and his family. After facing the biggest challenge of his career in the two fights against Viktor Drago, Adonis has risen above his own demons and seems to finally be at peace with who he is. On top of continuing his boxing journey, Adonis now has a daughter, Amora, to raise. With the story increasingly focusing on the personal battles of Adonis and his family, the idea proposed by Stallone might not be the best route for the series to take.
Back in 2018, Stallone suggested that Creed III should feature the son of Clubber Lang, the famous antagonist of Rocky III, as Adonis Creed's opponent. While the idea of legacy characters makes sense in the context of a franchise as long-running as Rocky/Creed, limiting Adonis' story to be simply about facing ghosts from Balboa's past would be a mistake. The main reason for the Creed series' success so far has been how both movies manage to stand on their own without relying too heavily on Rocky Balboa's story. Even with Stallone's essential role in the first two films, the spotlight has always been on Michael B Jordan’s character and should be kept that way.
In addition, bringing back the son of a major character from the previous franchise would be an uninspired repeat and wouldn't make much sense in terms of the story since Creed doesn't have any connection with Lang. The return of Ivan Drago and the introduction of his son belonged in the second film given how intertwined Drago's and Creed's stories are. Even still, Creed II never focused on elements such as revenge or the need for a rematch, but rather on what defending the title meant for Adonis' life and career.
Stallone's very absence from the third film is an indicator that the Creed series wants to move further away from Rocky Balboa's shadow. No matter how good the writers are, Stallone's mere presence on a scene always risks shifting the attention away from Adonis to Rocky and will rightly be avoided. Touching on yet another element of Rocky's past without Stallone's character being involved would be a disservice to both Balboa's and Adonis' stories.
While it might seem interesting at first, Stallone's idea for Creed III to feature Clubber Lang's son would not do the franchise any good. The third entry in the Adonis Creed series has the potential to solidify the Creed films as their own thing that can be perceived outside of Rocky. Even though it is a continuation of the story that began in 1976 on the streets of Philadelphia, Creed is at his best when it is about Adonis.