Characters / Creed (2015)

For the characters introduced in the original Rocky films, see here.

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Adonis Creed's Family

Adonis "Donnie" Johnson-Creed

Adonis "Donnie" Johnson-Creed

"I gotta prove it."

Adonis as he appears in III

Played By: Michael B. Jordan

Voiced in French By: Jean-Baptiste Anoumon

Appearances: Creed | Creed II | Creed III

"I did it because it was my fight. And when I stepped into that ring, it wasn't just about me."

The son of Apollo, who Rocky takes under his wing in his golden years.

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• The Ace: Slowly shaping himself to becoming one, despite his youth and lack of experience. He has his father's speed and Rocky's tenacity, which makes for a potent combination. Donnie finally achieves this by the time of Creed III when he retires as the undisputed champion.
• Achilles' Heel: His chest and midsection is revealed to be one in Creed II, and continues to be a hindrance in Creed III. His left ribs are broken during both fights with Viktor Drago, and he's nearly counted out after taking a gut punch from Damian in the last round of their fight.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Has developed an ability to set his opponent for a knockout by scoping out their openings and viciously exploiting them by the third movie.
• Berserk Button: Using his father's name against him is a surefire way to introduce his fist to your face.
• Black Boxer Stereotype: Zig-zagged, he is not an antagonist like most examples, and he was born into poverty, but had a priveleged upbringing after being adopted by Mary Anne Creed.
• Blood Knight: Adonis likes fighting any opponent in the ring and is willing to challenge anyone no matter how strong they are, considering he attempts to solve mainly any issue he has with other people.
• Character Tic: Beats his chest with one hand and roars whenever he knocks down an opponent.
• Composite Character: Has shades of both Rocky and Apollo, not just in character, but also in fighting styles. Adonis can tank blows and go to the body like his mentor, but he also has the agility of his father, and can just as easily go for the head.
  • He can also has shades of Rocky's own son, Robert. Both of them struggle to make a name for themselves because of their fathers' legacies, and Adonis eventually comes to see Rocky as a father figure, and when they're not training in a fight, Adonis and Rocky's relationship are practically family-like.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Played With. When first introduced, Donnie is pretty much the anti-thesis of Rocky Balboa in many aspects, though as the series goes on his Character Development gradually brings him more in line with his mentor.
  • Rocky was a poor, uneducated neighborhood bum in Philly making ends meet by prizefighting and working as a loan shark. Donnie, after being legally adopted by Apollo's wife, grew up comfortable in Los Angeles, was able to obtain a college degree, and worked a nine-to-five desk job in finance before quitting it to pursue boxing full-time. Both, however, wanted nothing more than to prove themselves to the world: Rocky proving that he's more than a poor ne'er do-well, Donnie proving that there is more to him than just his father's name and legacy.
  • Rocky is introduced from the start as a Gentle Giant and an All-Loving Hero, who isn't afraid to share his feelings. In contrast, Donnie is much more closed off and combative, gets into multiple altercations outside the ring, and for the first two films is not shown to have any friends aside from Rocky, Bianca, and his adopted mother. Donnie's arc across the series mainly revolves around him overcoming these toxic traits and opening up more, and he's formed much better relationships by the third film's events, even befriending his former opponents like Rocky did.
  • Mickey treated Rocky like a bum because the old coach felt Rock was wasting his talent. Lil' Duke refuses to train Donnie at his father's old gym partly to protect him, but mostly because of the perception that Donnie comes from wealth and doesn't deserve to be in the ring.
• Dented Iron: When Donnie decides to fight Damian in Creed III, it becomes clear that the injuries he suffered during his career, coupled with his three years in retirement, have taken their toll on him. Multiple concussions, the damage to his hands and his previously broken ribs and ruptured spleen all give him issues during his training, though he eventually manages to emerge victorious nonetheless.
• Determinator: Just like Rocky and Apollo, nothing will put this kid down. Turn his face into hamburger, break his ribs, send him crashing to the ground, he will take your biggest hits and rise back up like a man possessed.
• Disappeared Dad: Apollo's death in the fourth film left him to grow up without a father, and he denies that his name has anything to do with why he wants to box himself.
• Expy: Despite being Apollo's son, his backstory is more like that of Clubber Lang's from the novelisation of Rocky III in that both were orphaned at a young age and spent time in juvie, not to mention he had a fiery and violent temper as a child, which he mostly carried over to adulthood.
• Genius Bruiser: Adonis, having been adopted by Apollo's wife and raised well by her, has apparently been promoted to a fairly prestigious position in his white collar job before he quits to pursue boxing, trains himself to box well enough to take on Olympic-level boxers, and has a "stat vision," showing he's memorized the records and stats for all his opponents.
• Happily Adopted:
  • Even though he was the result of Apollo having an affair, Mary Anne treats him like her own child and Donnie clearly loves her.
  • He also calls Rocky 'family'.
• Heroic Bastard: Adonis is the illegitimate son of Apollo, born shortly after the latter was killed by Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, and was later adopted by Apollo's legitimate widow Mary Anne, who is kind enough to treat him as her own son.
• Hot-Blooded: Much like his father Apollo, Adonis is eager to express his emotion as he has some impulsive issues that have often gotten him into many brawls as he easily loses his temper over slightest provocations. Especially with how passionate he is when it comes to getting into the ring.
• I Shall Taunt You: Once he starts catching his rhythm in a match, he has a tendency to start talking trash to his opponents.
• Jack of All Stats: He lacks his father's size and reach, which made Apollo (what Rocky called) 'a perfect fighter', and while he can take punishment, he doesn't have Rocky's Megaton Punch, which Rocky could use when his cast-iron jaw allowed him to close the distance with his opponent.
  • In terms of technical skill, he's fast and accurate like his father, but due to being self-trained, he has a tendency to take wild swings that more often than not miss and get him punished, much like Rocky.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed, as Adonis is actually a really cordial individual and has a good heart, but he only unleashes his jerk side whenever he gets angry or is going through a turmoil as he would often be cold and distant, but still care for his loved ones very much. Especially shown when it comes to his arguments with Rocky as he'll say something very hurtful to him intentionally, but at the end of the day will apologize for his actions.
• Kick the Dog: See Parting-Words Regret. Saying those harsh things to his mother is one thing, saying them to his mother while she's recovering from a stroke is just taking things way too far. It's most likely one of the reasons why she ends up getting another one.
• Like Father, Like Son: Adonis is much like his father than he lets on. They are both hot tempered boxers who really like to fight and have a prideful, cocky attitude which often gets them into trouble. They both are also very stubborn in that they never really like to listen to others and will often make their own rash decisions in order to fulfill their own wishes. Both also have a need to prove themselves against others for no reason as they have short fuses when it comes to their egos being insulted. Lastly they both have been beaten down severely against two members of the Drago family (Ivan and Viktor) who had much superior power than them. Whereas Apollo sadly passes away from Ivan's Megaton Punch, Adonis lives but is gravely injured by Viktor who breaks his ribs and his kidneys and ends up coming back to fight him again.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Despite many similarities between the two they still have their major differences as when it comes to their attitude toward a fight Adonis is often more calm and collected as well as treating his opponents with humility until someone angers him whereas Apollo is more aggressive as he tends to trash talk most of his opponents claiming they are much weaker than him.
• Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed but Adonis becomes this to a degree by the end of the second movie due to his Training from Hell in the desert. He gains way more stamina and toughness along with great close quarter combat skills making him a Master of All from a style standpoint. While he doesn't get much stronger or faster the skill increase at close range fighting and the big increase in his stamina and toughness means he can beat a big mass of muscle like Viktor Drago to a pulp in about 8 rounds.
• Made of Iron: Getting knocked down and his face turned into hamburger give him momentary pause, but he picks his pace right back where he left it. After his Training from Hell to strengthen his core and neck muscles, it's become even harder to knock him down.
• Meaningful Name: Adonis is a Greek dying-and-rising god. This fits how many people in-universe start to see Adonis Creed as Apollo reincarnate. Made to be a bit more on the nose during his match with Conlan, where he rises up from his knockout "like a man possessed".
• Mirror Character: Adonis and Conlan are both fighters who come from poverty (although Adonis was later adopted by his wealthy step-mother), and end up in trouble with the law because of impulse control problems.
• Momma's Boy: He picked fights in juvie when the other kids insulted his mother, and he can't bear to tell his adopted mother that he quit his job to become a fighter.
• Nom de Mom: Is initially reluctant to use his father's surname, going by Johnson rather than Creed, because he's afraid of besmirching his father's name with a humiliating loss. He's initially dismayed by HBO and Conlin's promoter wanting him to change his name to Creed for promotional reasons and even spends a night in prison after one of Bianca's fellow musicians friendlily calls him "Baby Creed", which he escalated into a brawl. In the end, however, he learns to accept both names, with his new shorts having the name "CREED" on the front of the waistband and "JOHNSON" on the back.
• N-Word Privileges: Winds up doubling as a Precision F-Strike as during his first fight with Viktor in Creed II after getting brutally injured, while in the corner his trainer tries to call the fight, only for Adonis to snap a very frustrated "Nigga, don't you call this shit!"
• Parting-Words Regret: In Creed III, his last words to Mary Anne while she is still lucid are very harsh ones. About how her kids didn't accept him, that she was wrong to keep Damian's letters from him and that he in many ways was better off without her. She then has a stroke and the next time Adonis talks to her she is so far gone that she doesn't even realize that she is talking to Adonis any more. She dies almost immediately afterwards.
• Pride: Has a tendency to be overconfident when reflected with his cocky behavior, he'll taunt his opponents to the point where it'll backfire on him. Best shown when he comes into the Delphi Gym and bets the keys to his sports car to a boxer who can land a clean headshot on him, just because Duke refused to train him and mentioned his father, making Adonis feel he must prove himself. This comes back to bite him when Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler, a boxer with 18 knock-out wins, lands a perfect headshot on him and wins Donnie's car, keeping it until he and Adonis have their rematch in Creed II.
• Rags to Riches: He eventually climbs his way back to wealth in Creed III as he is living on an opulent residence in Los Angeles with his family.
• Retired Badass: By the time of his third movie he has officially retired from boxing after winning a rematch against Ricky Conlan in 2017. He is forced back in the ring by Damian after he brutalizes his protegé Felix and publicly slanders and defames him at every opportunity.
• Riches to Rags: Practically invokes this on himself when he moves to Philadelphia to pursue his boxing dream. Before moving, he lived in a mansion thanks to Apollo's wealth, and had a comfortable white-collar job. After moving, he settles in a dingy apartment complex, where Bianca's music leads him to file more than one noise complaint. While he eventually moves in with Rocky, Rocky's middle-class house is still a far cry from Apollo's mansion.
• Sherlock Scan: A minor example. Adonis can take a look at his opponent and recall all of their statistics including matches won, knockouts, and ranking.
• Superior Successor: Played for Laughs when Adonis begins his training under Rocky. Rocky prepares to have fun watching Adonis go through his old training method of chasing a chicken, but Adonis catches it after only a bit of trouble, and Rocky says the chickens must be slowing down.
• Theme Naming: Both Adonis and Apollo are Greek deities. His daughter is named Amara, which is Nigerian for 'kindness' or 'mercy', but retains the 'starting-with-A' naming convention.
• Turn Out Like His Father: A majority of people attempt to warn him about this as he wants to become a fighter just like his father, as most of Adonis's personality does reflect that of Apollo's as they are both very stubborn, hot-tempered, and prideful. The fact that he's is so much like him causes him to drive a rift in between his relationships with his family, including Rocky, whenever he's going through a stressful time of internal conflict.
  • However this ends up being a subversion, regarding the qualities between the two, Adonis actually ends up listening to other's concerns and taking in the wisdom from Rocky's past experiences, and ends up becoming his own man whereas Apollo who rarely ever gave anyone the time of day or listened to them because of his ego which ended up actually getting him killed. They also differ in many ways in terms of appearance and boxing, as Adonis is much shorter and has a smaller physique despite being very muscular in his own right and being more of a close quarters fighter whereas Apollo actively used his long reach and agility to wear his opponents down.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Eventually, he wears the classic American flag shorts made iconic by his father.
• World's Best Warrior: He lives up to both his father and Rocky's legacies by becoming the greatest boxer of his generation. Building a promising career after starting his tutelage under Rocky, Adonis goes on to defeat Viktor Drago, his physical superior via forfeit after he nearly beat him to death. His final bout before retirement was a rematch against 'Pretty' Ricky Conlan who beat him soundly before. This time Adonis was able to lay him out and win clean, retiring as world champion.

Bianca Taylor-Creed

Bianca Taylor-Creed

Played By: Tessa Thompson

Voiced in French By: Fily Keita

Appearances: Creed | Creed II | Creed III

A singer-songwriter who lives below Adonis' new apartment, and later becomes his girlfriend (wife in the third film)

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• Brutal Honesty: Sees right through Donnie's insistence that he wants to make it on his own as a fighter, and gently tells him that he sought out Rocky as a trainer for a reason.
• Deaf Composer: Suffers from progressive hearing loss, and so she tries to make as much music as possible before she loses her hearing completely.
• Good Parents: When the fight between Damian and Felix gets too bloody, she decides to take Amara out of the arena so she doesn't have to see a man be beaten into a bloody pulp.
• Morality Chain: Convinces Donnie to take up his father's name.
• The Power of Love: Adonis feels like he's known her his whole life, and she is one of the few rocks in his life.
• The Resenter: Heavily downplayed. She's deeply upset that she has to retire from performing due to her hearing declining more and more. But despite Damian's insistence she doesn't hold it against any singers who perform in her place.
• Satellite Love Interest: Defied. She has her own life and dreams outside of Donnie, and she works hard to achieve those dreams. When Donnie screws it up, she hits back hard.
• Second-Act Breakup: Does this twice in the first movie. First when she learns that Donnie didn't tell her he was the son of Apollo Creed (although that doesn't last long), the second when Donnie punches out a rapper who insulted him at Bianca's show. This time the breakup sticks longer.

Amara Creed

Amara Creed

Played By: Mila Davis-Kent

Appearances: Creed II | Creed III

Adonis and Bianca's daughter. She was born deaf due to inheriting her mother's progressive hearing loss.

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• Cheerful Child: Most of the time she's a bundle of joy to her parents and everyone around her. Even Damian gets along quite well with her when he meets her for the first time.
• Cute Mute: She's an adorable child who speaks in sign language due to her deafness.
• Hot-Blooded: She also takes no crap from anybody. When someone bullies her at school, she doesn't hesitate to punch the jerk in the face.
• In the Blood: Like her father and grandfather, Amara absolutely loves boxing. She secretly watches all of her father's fight match records and also inherits his headstrong personality. Adonis eventually decides to teach her boxing properly so she knows how to protect herself and has an outlet to vent her pent-up anger in a healthy way.

Mary Anne Creed

Mary Anne Creed

Played By: Lavelle Roby (Rocky), Sylvia Meals (Rocky II, IV), Phylicia Rashad (Creed, II, III)

Appearances: Rocky | Rocky II | Rocky IV | Creed | Creed II | Creed III

The widow of Apollo Creed and stepmother of Adonis.

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• Ascended Extra: In the Rocky movies, she's just a Satellite Love Interest to Apollo with barely any speaking lines. In the Creed series, she takes a more prominent role as Adonis' mother figure.
• Parental Substitute: Is not Adonis' biological mother, but opted to take the boy in as one of her own.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Dies of a stroke in the third Creed movie.

Opponents

"Pretty" Ricky Conlan

"Pretty" Ricky Conlan

Played By: Tony Bellew

Voiced in French By: Pascal Nowak

Appearances: Creed | Creed III

Adonis' main rival in Creed. Conlan is the undefeated light heavyweight champion from Liverpool, whose run-ins with the law will see him in jail soon, giving him a need for one more fight to support his family.

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• The Ace: Despite his career ending early due to his imprisonment he still has one of the most impressive resumes of anyone in the series- after defeating Adonis he retires completely undefeated (and not implied to be competing during a weak period of the sport like Mason Dixon had been in Rocky Balboa), with Adonis' knockdown in the final round being the first (and subsequently only) time he's ever been knocked off his feet. Despite his flaws, he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. According to Adonis's "stat vision", Conlan is 37-0 with 28 knockouts, holds the lineal light heavyweight title on top of the WBC and WBA, and is rated the #1 boxer in the world pound-for-pound.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Insults and mocks Adonis out and inside the ring, and when Adonis lands his first punch, all Conlan does is smile.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent in the second film, he returns at the beginning of the third film as Adonis’ opponent to unify the championship titles.
• Call-Back: Several of his crucial characterization elements are this to previous opponents in the series:
  • Like Drago, Pretty Ricky is a taller, stronger, and just all-around more powerful champion from outside the US who ends up fighting the protagonist on his home court.
  • Like Clubber Lang, Pretty Ricky had a rough youth that becomes apparent in his fighting style and personality, as well as a tendency to trash talk.
  • And most ironically, Pretty Ricky is a family man moved to fight the protagonist at least in part for the sake of his kids, wins the protagonist's major fight by split decision, and comes to see Adonis as a Worthy Opponent, just like Apollo Creed.
• Graceful Loser: In Creed III, he accepts his loss with dignity.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: So infamous for his outbursts that they're nicknamed, in-universe, as "fireworks".
• Jerkass: Not only has Conlan broken a previous opponent's jaw during their weigh-in, he viciously provokes Adonis during the press conference for their fight.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Conlan mainly accepted the fight with Adonis to ensure welfare for his family, holds Rocky's accomplishments as a boxer in high regard, and ultimately gives Adonis his respect by the end of it.
• The Last Dance:
  • An impending prison term for illegal firearm possession has forced Conlan into an early retirement, making Adonis his final opponent.
  • After serving his sentance, Conlan returns at the start of Creed III to fight Adonis and get his title back. He makes Adonis work for it, but still loses the fight, making Adonis the undisputed champion. This fight is intended to be a send-off for both fighters, as Adonis himself also retires afterwards.
• Leitmotif: Conlan enters the ring to the theme of Dont Waste My Time by Krept and Konan.
• Manchild: Deconstructed. Conlan, despite looking to be in his mid-thirties, is infamous for his almost tantrum-like temper, whether it be attacking his opponent during a weigh-in or brandishing a gun in public before the film's events. However, while Ricky himself is too proud to admit it outright, it becomes clear that he feels some shame for his past actions and understands that they've led to terrible consequences for himself and his family.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Seemingly based on Ricky Hatton: a British boxer with an aggressive counterpunching style, with signature tasseled trunks with his favorite football team's logo, considered a hometown hero. However, Hatton isn't nearly as unpleasant as Conlan, and has never had any serious problems with the law in his life; he was also a welterweight, not a light heavyweight. The incident with Conlan punching Wheeler at the weigh-in is also based on a real incident with a British boxer... except in that case it was Bellew (who plays Conlan) getting punched by David Haye, making it something of a Mythology Gag.
• Only in It for the Money: Played for Drama. While he has little respect for Adonis and believes that fighting Apollo Creed's son would merely be a publicity stunt, Conlan eventually agrees to the fight because the massive paycheck from such an event will be enough for his family to live on while he's serving his prison sentence.
• Oop North: Pretty Ricky Conlan speaks with Tony Bellew's natural Scouser accent (matching his Liverpool background).
• Scary Black Man: Possibly. Ricky Conlan is played by Tony Bellew who is half Black on his Mothers side. Though he is generally white passing for most viewers.
• Worthy Opponent: Slowly comes to respect Adonis throughout their fight; by the end of their first fight, he gives Adonis his endorsement as "the future of this division". When he eventually has his rematch with Adonis at the start of the third film, he remarks that the latter "had a good run" with the title while he was gone, and he's still a good sport when Adonis beats him.

Viktor Drago

Viktor Drago

Played By: Florian Munteanu

Voiced in French By: Jochen Hägele

Appearances: Creed II | Creed III

The son of Ivan Drago and a talented boxer in his own right. Under the intense tutelage of his father, he seeks to restore the Drago name by beating Adonis Creed for the heavyweight title.

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• Achilles' Heel: Stamina. Much like Clubber Lang, Viktor is a wrecking machine that ends fights quick and hard. And like Clubber, it wears him out fast if his opponent makes him go too many rounds.
• Animal Motifs: His father describes him as similar to stray dogs in Ukraine.
  Ivan: You ever see stray dogs in Ukraine? They go for days without food. People spit on them, they have nothing, no home. Only will to survive, to fight. I have son. All he knows is this. [shows boxing stance] My son will break your boy.
• Anti-Villain: His reasons to beat Adonis aren't personal in any way. He was practically pressured into fighting by Ivan which in turn his goal was to salvage his father's name even though he does not care for their reputation, but genuinely loves his father and fights because he was told to.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His general fighting style relies on using his devastating strength and furious speed to take out opponents as quickly as possible and he has built his punching style around extremely powerful blows. While this style can be very effective at taking out opponents quickly, it has the draw back of using up a lot of energy from Viktor, meaning his stamina goes down if a fight goes on past the first few rounds and evening the playing field considerably with anyone who can get past the opening attacks. He also uses a lot of big punches which are very powerful but have the drawback of not only using more energy but opening him up for counter attacks if he misses and making it hard to rebound and adjust his moves.
• Berserk Button: Ivan is able to throw him into enough of a rage to beat Adonis for subjecting him to fight each and everyday for Ludmilla leaving them and putting pressure on Viktor making it seem like it was his fault. Also, insulting or threatening Ivan will invoke Viktor's inverted Papa Wolf complex.
• The Berserker: In contrast to Ivan's ice cold demeanor in Rocky IV, Viktor is constantly roiling with anger and aggression, and while decent at taking instruction and tactics from his father, he lacks the discipline to remain in control against Donnie in the first fight, getting himself disqualified. By the second fight he still is just as ferocious and perhaps even moreso due to the fact that he's boiling with frustration from his inner conflict towards Ivan once again for his actions.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Lashes out at his father over trying to impress the same people that cast them out when Ivan lost to Rocky.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Is friends with Adonis by Creed III, with Donnie even setting him up in a hotly anticipated title match against one of his proteges. He's even Adonis's sparring partner for his fight against Damian.
• Determinator: Deconstructed. Viktor is so determined to win that he continues to get up in the last fight on his father's commands, regardless of his physical state. This becomes more heart-wrenching when he's so beaten, he can no longer put up any sort of defense against Donnie, but keeps getting back up. It takes Ivan throwing the towel for him because he knows Viktor won't quit and will likely keep going until the fight literally kills him.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: While he loses the fight, he is still able to create a new life in America and becomes a successful fighter, even becoming close friends with Donnie.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he isn't evil, just antagonistic, Viktor's loving devotion for his father Ivan is practically the only thing that drives him.
• Extremely Protective Child: Viktor is shown to be fiercely defensive of Ivan, and won't tolerate seeing his father attacked or disrespected. During the weigh-in for their first fight, Adonis shoves Ivan after the latter makes a remark about Apollo, and Viktor responds by throwing Adonis halfway across the stage.
• Fatal Flaw: Anger. Viktor is a very powerful and unorthodox boxer who has an inhuman tenacity for fighting as his style is similar to that of a brawler, as he's described as being a well rounded fighter in terms of his physicality especially when it comes to his overwhelming strength. The only thing Viktor truly lacks is his inability to control his anger as he may be able to keep himself at bay for a small amount of time while still being very aggressive he tends to let rage take over him during the midst of a fight to where he swings very quickly and very wildly.
• Foil:
  • He is this to Adonis. Both men are the son of talented boxers that followed in their father’s footsteps. However, while Donnie was adopted and lovingly raised by Mary Anne and took up boxing despite holding a decent white-collar job, Viktor saw his mother leave him at a young age and grew up in poverty while his father subjected him to Training from Hell. Furthermore, while Donnie’s goal is to forge his own legacy apart from his father and Rocky, Viktor feels he has to win in order to restore the lost honor of the Drago name.
  • He's also one to Rocky himself, to the point that he could be an Evil Counterpart. A ne'er-do-well from the slums, fighting local nobodies in dank rings, he gains an opportunity of a lifetime when he's plucked from obscurity to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship, and against a Creed at that. His signature attack is even a devastating body shot. The only difference is that Rocky fights with love in his heart, but Viktor fights with hate.
  • To his own father, Ivan. While Ivan was part of the Soviet elite, trained in high-tech labs with a massive entourage of trainers, publicity people and managers, Viktor grew up in squalor after him and his father was abandoned following Ivan's loss, being trained on the streets of Ukraine by his father alone. Also, while Ivan's loss costed him everything, leaving him an outcast, Viktor's loss cost him a lot less, since he still had his father to lean on, a father that was fully accepting of his loss, unlike the people who left Ivan following his own. He's also highly emotional, and driven by anger, while Ivan was ice-cold at all times.
• Freudian Excuse: He grew up in poverty with himself and his father being pariahs from Russian society and his mother abandoning him shortly after he was born for a rich new husband and never even contacting him or trying to help him out and he was raised to use his hate to become a champion and restore pride to the Drago name. It's really not a surprise that Viktor has a lot of anger towards the world.
• Glass Cannon: A downplayed variation of this. He's fast, strong, and durable enough to be called a Lightning Bruiser, but only if the fight is short. Take the fight too long, and those devastating yet energy-consuming punches start giving him stamina problems, especially when he misses. By their final round, even though Adonis has broken ribs and been knocked down several times, he's still standing tall, while the less injured Viktor is gasping for air and almost stumbling around. Though this could also attribute to his mother leaving the ring before his fight was finished thus having a play in him nearly just giving up at that point.
• Hates Their Parent: Has very little love for his mother, with good reason. He not only hates her for leaving him as a child, but even more so for how she treated his beloved father, Ivan.
• The Heavy: While Ivan Drago is most definitely the main antagonist of Creed II, it's his son Viktor that Adonis is pitted against as a means to find peace on behalf of Rocky and his own father.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a nasty one when his mother abandons him after his second match against Adonis turns against him. He loses any ability to defend himself afterwards, to the point where Ivan is forced to throw in the towel.
• Hero-Worshipper: An understated and somewhat tragic case; Viktor clearly looks up to and admires his father, which plays heavily into his "Well Done, Son" Guy tendencies. He's also protective of him, getting outraged for him about Russia's treatment towards him, and when Adonis pushes Ivan for bringing up Apollo, Viktor shoves him back a few feet. Ivan telling him its okay that he lost the final fight and joining him for a run clearly cheers up Viktor at the end.
• Husky Russkie: Viktor Drago's actor Florian Munteanu is a very muscular 6'4. Though according to the announcer, Viktor is actually Ukrainian (though they could be referring to his nationality, as he was raised in Ukraine, but was born to Russian parents).^note Munteanu is Romanian.
• Lightning Bruiser: Like his pops, Viktor is a walking brick wall being able to soak up punches like a kid was throwing them, and when he decides to hit, he hits hard, and much faster than a Mighty Glacier.
• Manly Tears: Viktor lets them flow when he loses the rematch with Adonis and he more or less failed his father. His mother leaving before the match ended also likely had something to do with it.
• Meaningful Name: Viktor is a reflection of Ivan's desire to use his son to win and get back in good graces with Russia at any cost. Which makes it more ironic when it ends up being Ivan to throw in the towel during the last fight, realizing it's not worth it.
• Mirror Character: In spite of the differences in their backgrounds, more than a few similarities are apparent between Viktor and Adonis, particularly in how both are openly passionate and emotional boxers with chips on their shoulders about their roles as heirs to famous boxing legends, who use somewhat unorthodox hybrid styles of boxing forged through Training from Hell, refuse to stay down even when they really should, and have a Berserk Button centered on insulting their fathers.
• Morality Pet: He's this for Ivan. It was because of him (being the son of the family) that eventually Ivan Drago, one of Rocky's strongest and most inhuman opponents, ended up showing more humanizing traits and redeeming himself by prioritizing Viktor more than his pride.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If only Viktor had not used illegal blows in his his first fight with Adonis, he would've clearly won the heavyweight championship title fair and square, as he was definitely dominating his opponent, and at worst would have needed only one more round to clinch it.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Viktor's chilly anger in the ring and tendency to go for low-blows even when he's winning call to mind Andrew Golota, another Eastern-European (Polish, in Golota's case) heavyweight underdog.
• Parental Abandonment: His mother Ludmilla left him and his father following the latter’s loss to Rocky, never trying to help him even after she remarried a wealthy man. When she shows up at a dinner celebrating Viktor’s boxing accomplishments, he leaves the table in anger and calls out his father for trying to win her affections back despite the fact she abandoned them. At the end of his rematch with Adonis, when it becomes clear Viktor is losing, he sees Ludmilla leaving the arena and becomes completely demoralized.
• The Power of Hate: Viktor channels much of his anger over his impoverished upbringing, disgraced family name, pressure from his father’s training, and his Parental Abandonment by his mother into his fights. Rocky himself points out to Donnie that Viktor was “raised on hate”.
• Shadow Archetype: Viktor reflects Donnie's own hangups about being worthy of his family name, and the pressures that come with it, particularly in the first fight. Donnie only beats Viktor when he learns to fight for himself and his own family, not his father, while Viktor risks serious injury (maybe even death) by refusing to quit when he should out of fear of letting his father down.
• Tragic Villain: Between his mother leaving him at a young age, growing up in poverty as the son of the disgraced Ivan Drago, and the intense pressure and training from his father in order to become heavyweight champion and restore his family’s reputation and honor, Viktor has not had a happy life.
• Villainous Underdog: Make no mistake, Adonis has money, success, experience, and the world title. Viktor is a nobody from nowhere. Only by quirk of fate is he given an opportunity to challenge the champion.
• Villainous Valor: In the final fight, he is utterly gassed, demoralized and helpless to prevent Donnie from landing massive shots to his face, but still forces himself to rise and fight even when it's clear he can no longer put up an adequate defense. Ivan actually throws in the towel for him because he knows Viktor won't stop.
• Villainous Virtues: Exceptionally loyal and genuinely loving towards his father, Ivan, risking his good standing with the Russian elite solely because they were the same people who cast his father out.
  • He's also incredibly brave and determined, refusing to give up even when the fight has gone against him. Ivan eventually has to throw in the towel on his behalf, knowing Viktor would likely die before he quit.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His entire motivation is to make his father proud by winning the heavyweight championship and restoring the Drago name.

Damian "Diamond Dame" Anderson

Damian "Diamond Dame" Anderson

"I been under fire so long, but heat made a shiner out of coal. There's diamonds on my gold."

Played By: Jonathan Majors

Appearances: Creed III

"You think you mad? Try spending half your life in a cell, watchin' someone else live your life."''

Donnie's childhood best friend now turned rival.

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• The Ace: He was this in his childhood, and comes close to regaining this upon his shot at the championship match. His bitterness and single-minded determination to take everything from Adonis also make him a Broken Ace in the present.
• Attack the Injury: A key part of his victory over Felix involves taking a heavy shot at his left shoulder, damaging his ability to guard in the next round, then taking additional shots at his left arm while it's out of position to cripple his defense.
• Batman Gambit: His entire scheme to get his shot at the world heavyweight title depended entirely on his being able to predict how Adonis would react to the guilt of seeing his old friend.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Somewhat subverted with him. He wanted to prove himself not only still good enough to be champ, but also better than Adonis, who he felt lived the life that HE deserved. Sure enough, he got that chance...and lost fair and square. Once it was proven that Donnie earned all of his accolades, however, Dame had little issue giving Donnie his props and acknowledging that he was the better boxer.
• Black Boxer Stereotype: He fits all of the "angry" aspects of this trope.
• Blood Knight: As eager as he is to prove how much better he is than Adonis, Damian is still visibly excited to see "little Donnie" putting up a good fight during their match, nodding with approval when Adonis gets back up after his knock-down.
• Composite Character: Has shades of both Clubber Lang not just in character, but also in fighting styles. Much like Clubber Lang, he's spent the vast majority of his life imprisoned and desiring a chance at the championship title. But compared to Lang who was outwardly aggressive throughout, Damian maintains a friendly façade in spite of his bitterness.
  • He can also has shades of Rocky's own previous mentee, Tommy "Machine" Gunn. Both of them struggle to make a name for themselves due to connections to a skilled boxer and legend. Tommy was quick to throw Rocky under the bus to dispel notions that he was his puppet/robot, whereas Damian did it due to bitterness in having lost his chance ages ago.
  • He even takes elements from Rocky himself, being an unknown underdog who is given a title shot to salvage a major event after the challenger becomes unable to compete who goes on to shock everyone with his performance in the ring. Unlike Rocky who had this golden opportunity fall into his lap, he made this opportunity arise through manipulation and violence.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Within the Creed trilogy, Damian marks a stark departure from both of Adonis' previous opponents, "Pretty" Ricky Conlan and Viktor Drago.
  • Neither Conlan or Viktor had personal history with Adonis or vendettas against him. Conlan was merely a professional opponent for Donnie to prove himself against, while Viktor was fighting to save his father's reputation, only being connected to Adonis through the past conflict between their parental figures. Damian on the other hand is a personal adversary from Donnie's past, being his childhood best friend who resents him for living the life that he never had.
  • Conlan and Viktor were both humanised through their relationships with their respective trainers, serving as parallels to the strong relationships that Adonis had with Rocky and later Little Duke. Tommy Holiday is heavily implied to be Ricky's Parental Substitute and an Only Sane Man who keeps him on the right path, while Viktor's entire motivation is to honour his father and trainer, Ivan Drago. In contrast, Damian's unnamed trainer only appears during his two fights and Damian treats him - and by extension, the rest of his team - as a complete non-entity, clearly feeling far more confident in his own judgement without any other insight or help.
• Determinator: Nothing will put Damian down. Unfortunately, his determination is crossed with his anger, bitterness, and regret, which he laser-focuses on Donnie.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Damian is not at all "evil", but he is bitter and capable of cruelty, especially when it comes to getting back at Donnie for (in his eyes) abandoning him in prison. However, when Bianca asks how Damian got locked up instead of using the opportunity to possibly smear Donnie in the eyes of his wife, he instead provides some basic details and says that the rest is for Donnie to tell.
• Fatal Flaw: His inability to let go of the past. His primary motivation for most of the film is to get back at Donnie for leaving him behind to be arrested and robbing him of the chance to become a professional boxer and get all the perks that come with it. Once he finally gets everything he wanted, however, he still continues to treat Donnie like the young kid that wouldn't get to where he is right now without Damian's help and underestimates him, while Donnie is able to let go of his past and the guilt he burdened, which allows Donnie to fight to the fullest and get the better of Damian in the final round.
• Gemstone Motifs: Dame is heavily associated with Diamonds. He used to fantasize about buying a diamond chain when he was young and inevitably chose it as his ring name later in life. From a symbolic standpoint, Diamonds are created from a process involving extreme heat and pressure, much like how Dame's long list of personal hardships has forged him into the ferocious fighter he is today.
• Genius Bruiser: Damian utilizes a mix of brute force and well-timed attacks.
• Graceful Loser: He's willing to bury the hatchet with Donnie after Donnie beats him in the ring.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Damian isn't a bad person, but all the years he's spent locked up festering in bitterness and anger towards Donnie and the world mean he's capable of being extremely cruel and willing to pull some really shady stunts to get ahead. However, he does have his noble qualities and once Donnie defeats him in the ring he shows no more animosity, and the two are able to bury the hatchet and resume their friendship.
• Karma Houdini: He does lose his championship title to Donnie, but he faces no legal consequences for several of his underhanded tactics, including paying a man to assault Viktor.
• Knight of Cerebus: Of all three of Donnie's main opponents (including Ricky Conlan & Viktor Drago, who acted as just opponents for Donnie to prove himself into the ring), Damian Anderson is the only one that is an active threat in Donnie's life.
• Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed but Damian is surprisingly quick for someone of his immensely bulky build.
• Manipulative Bastard: He's very good at reading people and using what he learned against them. He knows Adonis is trying to hide from his own past regarding the whole situation that leads to Damian's incarceration, so he subtly guilt-trips Adonis about it at every moment. He makes himself sympathetic enough that Adonis is willing to let him into his own gym, even though Damian secretly has his own gym and partners all along, and engineers the events that culminate in Adonis giving Damian a shot at the title - something that Damian knows Adonis is feeling obligated to do for him. This even extends into the ring itself, where his tactic is to mess with his opponent's head by taunting them endlessly until they make a mistake that he can exploit.
• Made of Iron: Crossed with Determinator, Damian is nigh-unstoppable in the ring.
• Mirror Character: Adonis and Damian are both fighters who come from poverty (although Adonis was later adopted by his wealthy step-mother), and end up in trouble with the law because of impulse control problems. While Adonis is fortunate enough to get himself out of that situation and becomes a better man because of it, Damian had no such luck, remaining in prison and becoming a shell of rage and regret. He's what Donnie would be if he never let go of his rage towards others and insecurities.
• Misery Builds Character: Deconstructed. Damian lived in abject poverty alongside Adonis and had his promising future of being a professional boxer dashed against the stones after an attempt to defend Adonis from being jumped led to Dame being incarcerated for eighteen years. As a result, Dame has become a terrfying fighter who could tear down a champion like Felix with a combination of strategic provocitation and well-timed crippling strikes. But this all has come at the cost of leaving Dame a bitter and resentful human being who is obessed with the past and willing to cross whatever line he thinks is neccessary in order to get back into the spotlight. This dynamic is even reflected in EST Gee's verses for "Anthem", which is told from Dame's perspective in contrast to Adonis, who is represented by Big Sean. The lyrics start off as a Boastful Rap but gradually becomes much more somber recalling the harsh realities he had to endure to reach this point, and how he now must effectively fight for his life or end up right back where he started.
• Pet the Dog: Although he's harbouring a lot of hatred towards Donnie for seemingly abandoning him he doesn't extend this loathing towards Bianca or Amara, whom he is nothing but cordial and friendly towards.
• Pragmatic Villainy: With his time in prison having caused a major setback for his boxing aspirations, Damian has to resort to underhanded methods both inside and outside the ring to achieve his goals.
  • He conspires with some old friends from prison to have Viktor Drago attacked and injured, rendering the latter unfit to fight Felix for the title, which prompts Adonis to pit Felix against Damian instead. This not only gives Damian an earlier opportunity at a title shot, but it also allows him to avoid having to potentially fight the younger and much stronger Viktor for it.
  • It's noted in the lead-up to his first professional fight that Damian's age, being two years older than the already-retired Adonis, and his lack of professional experience put Damian at a disadvantage with the current champion Felix Chavez. This prompts Damian to use several cheap shots and dirty moves during the fight, but he makes sure that these do damage without being severe enough to get himself disqualified.
• Real Award, Fictional Character: Damian is said to have been a Golden Gloves champion prior to his incarceration, and claims that he was the highest ranked amateur fighter at the time. He still has the trophy for it, and proudly displays it along with various others during the promotion for his debut fight with Felix.
• The Resenter: Resents Adonis for living the life he felt he would've earned had he not been locked up.
• Scary Black Man: He is muscular and large and he often has an angry expression on his face which makes his appearance easily intimidating to other characters in the film.
• Separated by a Common Language: British viewers have some difficulty in taking him seriously, as "Dame" is understood to mean "old woman", "female knight", or "pantomime dame".
• Sugary Malice: His smiles and friendliness are made all the creepier by the fact that he maintains them even immediately after violently assaulting people.
• Unnecessary Roughness: He takes a few shots in practice sessions and in his real matches that are just shy of being blatantly illegal and gets called on it several times, though not to the point of being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. Adonis has to train specifically to avoid having this used against him in their fight.
• Villainous Underdog: Trying to reignite his boxing career after his stint in jail, Damien serves as an antagonistic version of the underdog who wishes to become a champion — which he succeeds after facing Felix, the word champion at the time of the third movie. For bonus points, the audience even boos him prior to their match, which shows how much the deck is stacked against him.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: His shorts in his match against Adonis have the colors of Africa on them.
• We Used to Be Friends: Damian and Adonis were as close as brothers in their youth until their respective incarceration, and Adonis' subsequent adoption by Mary Anne Creed.

Trainers

Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr.

Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr.

Played By: Wood Harris

Appearances: Creed | Creed II | Creed III

"Let go of the fear. You hear me? Let go of the guilt. Let go of it, dawg. Let go of whatever was and walk into what is. Go out there and be ferocious! Do you hear me? Be ferocious!"

The son of Duke Evers and Adonis' mentor figure after Rocky.

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• Brutal Honesty: Doesn't mince words with Adonis about his capabilities and limitations.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: While Duke Sr. did have moments of Brutal Honesty, such as trying to discourage Apollo from seeking a rematch with Rocky, he was still a supportive mentor to both fighters when training them. Little Duke is much more abrasive and borders on a Drill Sergeant Nasty, and initially wants nothing to do with Adonis when the latter asks to be trained. Though the two eventually do form a respectful camaraderie, and Little Duke's harsher training methods push Donnie to improve himself in tandem with Rocky's more fatherly mentorship.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Even before the full truth of the past between Adonis and Damian comes to light, Little Duke figures out the moment Damian steps into the gym that Damian isn’t trustworthy at all and that he clearly has a chip up his shoulder and takes advantage of Adonis's hospitality to vent his pent-up anger on other boxers. After the disastrous bout with Felix, he calls Adonis out for not heeding his warnings.
• Fire-Forged Friends: In the first film, Little Duke dismisses Adonis when the latter asks to be trained, feeling that Donnie doesn't have what it takes to follow in Apollo's footsteps. At the start of the second film, he's clearly bitter when Donnie defeats his current fighter, Danny Wheeler, and only agrees to train Donnie to fight Viktor Drago when Rocky refuses. By the third film's events, Little Duke has become Donnie's full-time trainer and the pair are on much better terms, though they still have disagreements regarding Damian.
• Generation Xerox: Just like his father before him, he becomes the main coach for the title character.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: More or less serves the exact same role in the films that his father did for Apollo and later Rocky.

Other Boxers

Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez

Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez

Played By: José Benavidez Jr.

Appearances: Creed III

Adonis's protégé and the current world champion.

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• The Ace: He's the world champion by the time of the third movie and he was originally set up to face none other than Viktor Drago, his teacher's previous opponent and a formidable fighter in his own right, without any fear at all. Additionally, in his career, it's stated that Felix had lost only once. That is unfortunately until he meets Damian and winds up in the hospital.
• Composite Character: He has shades of Mason "The Line" Dixon and Apollo Creed himself: all of them are unstoppable world champions who's looking for that one fighter who could really give them a real challenge, so they decide to give an underdog fighter a chance to prove themselves against them. However, in Felix's case, it goes badly for him as Damian proves to be so aggressive that he actually injures Felix pretty badly and he has to be hospitalized after what was supposed to be a simple match.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: Despite being clearly out of his league against Damian, Felix still gives him quite a good fight, even managing to knock one of Damian’s teeth out, until Damian keeps exploiting his injuries, which ultimately puts him down for the count.
• Good Counterpart: Unlike Tommy Gunn, Felix proves himself to be a loyal student of Adonis who isn't swayed by money and glory and genuinely earns the respect and adoration of boxing fans as the world champion.
• Informed Ability: He's apparently had an impressive career (see The Ace above), but the only time he's seen in the ring, he suffers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at the hands of Damian, a past-his-prime boxer who is competing in his first professional match. Felix gets a few hits in, but Damian largely dominates the fight against the defending heavyweight champion.
• Mama's Boy: He respects his mother very much and defers to her judgment when deciding which match to fight. When his mother is convinced that a fight with Damian would be good for Felix, he doesn't hesitate to accept the match.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Wears shorts patterned after the Mexican Tricolor in his fight with Dame. This and his theatrical entrance helps establish him as something of a parallel to Apollo Creed.
• The Worf Effect: Despite his impressive career, he finds himself outmatched when fighting against Damian 'Dame' Anderson, who doesn't hesitate to play a bit dirty and mess with Felix's head until he makes a mistake. This gets him hospitalized.