Jonathan Majors reveals new details about his Creed 3 villain. Majors is on a hot-streak right now with Loki having established his Kang the Conqueror, who is set to play a huge role in the MCU’s upcoming phases. In the meantime, the actor will tackle a very different kind of challenge, starring alongside Michael B. Jordan in Creed III.
The Creed series of course began as an offshoot of the Rocky franchise, with Jordan taking on the role of Adonis Creed, the son of Rocky’s late friend Apollo. Now Jordan’s Creed will strike out on his own in a very real way, as Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky is not expected to return for Creed III. Jordan is indeed doubling down on his franchise responsibilities this time around, tackling directorial duties as well as starring. And Jordan’s Adonis will have a solid opponent to butt heads with in Creed III, as Majors joins the cast in the role of Damian.
It’s not too surprising that Majors’ Creed III role is largely being kept under wraps for the time being. But Majors did offer up a small tease in a recent interview with Men’s Health, speaking about Damian’s backstory and how he developed the eye of the tiger. Check out Majors’ remarks in the space below:
“There are certain reasons you build your body. 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.”
Where Does Majors' Damian Fit In the History Of Rocky Franchise Villains?
The Rocky/Creed franchise has of course had a very interesting history when it comes to villains. Apollo Creed was obviously the original bad guy, serving as the main antagonist in both the original Rocky and Rocky II. But by Rocky III, Creed had become the best friend of Stallone’s Balboa, setting the stage for Apollo's tragic death in Rocky IV.
Apollo Creed indeed serves as the perfect example of the enemy-turned-friend, but Rocky certainly faced some other bad guys who were much less three-dimensional. The most infamous of these was of course Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T in Rocky III as a pure villain with no nuance or complexity whatsoever. Complaints about the Rocky franchise being racist in fact largely stem from the stereotypical way Lang was depicted in that movie.
But when it comes to villains built on stereotypes, no one compares to Ivan Drago, the hulking Russian who killed Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. Thankfully, Drago was later redeemed to an extent by Creed II, which introduced his son Viktor as played by Florian Munteanu. Creed II indeed focused on the Dragos enough to make them actual fleshed-out characters, rather than cardboard cut-out bad guys for Adonis and Rocky to face. Going by Majors’ new remarks about Damian, it seems the bad guy of Creed 3 will be cut more from the modern-day complex antagonist cloth, and will not simply be a collection of wrestling-heel stereotypes for the audience to hate. This gives Majors a strong chance to emerge as one of the most memorable of all Rocky/Creed villains.
Source: Men’s Health
