Adonis Creed

Adonis Creed
Rocky character
Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed
First appearance	Creed
Created by	Ryan Coogler
Portrayed by	Michael B. Jordan
Information
Nickname(s)	Hollywood Donnie D (by Bianca) Baby Creed
Gender	Male
Occupation	Professional boxer (formerly businessman)
Relatives	Apollo Creed (father) Mary Anne Creed (stepmother) Ms. Johnson (biological mother) Rocky Balboa (trainer, mentor) Bianca (girl friend) Unnamed half sister (Apollo and Mary Anne's daughter) Unnamed half brother (Apollo and Mary Anne's son)

Adonis Creed, formerly Adonis Johnson, is the main protagonist and title character from the Rocky spin-off and sequel Creed. Adonis is the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed; the result of an affair by the former heavyweight champion and a woman with the surname Johnson. Adonis spends the first several years of his life in foster care and juvenile hall, until he is subsequently adopted by Mary Anne Creed, Apollo's widow. He lives a life of luxury and maintains a stable white collar job, only to abandon it to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a professional boxer. He goes to Philadelphia and convinces his late father's friend Rocky Balboa to train and mentor him.

In 1998, Adonis "Donnie" Johnson is shown in a juvenile hall detention center fighting with other children. He is separated and taken back to his cell. Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad), Apollo's widow, meets with Adonis and adopts him; informing him that he is Apollo Creed's son (sired from an extramarital affair). In the present day, Adonis (using his biological mother's last name Johnson) is a wealthy young college graduate working at a securities firm. However, on weekends, he sneaks out to Tijuana to fight professional boxing matches against unheralded opponents, and maintains an undefeated 15-0 record. Soon Adonis quits his job to pursue his dream of becoming a boxer. Mary Anne vehemently objects, remembering how her husband was killed in the ring 30 years earlier (Rocky IV) and how he suffered after every fight before then. He finds it hard to get anyone in Los Angeles to train him due to his father's death in the ring, particularly after he suffers an embarrassing loss in a sparring match to light heavyweight contender Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler (Andre Ward). Undaunted, Adonis decides to travel to Philadelphia in hopes of seeking out his father's best friend and former rival, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone).

Once in Philadelphia, Adonis meets Rocky and tries to get the elder boxer to be his trainer. Having given up boxing, and believing Apollo wouldn't want his son being a fighter, Rocky refuses. However, Adonis' persistence eventually wins Rocky over. He forms a strong bond with Rocky and regards him as an uncle, even going so far as to call him "Unc" and introduce him to people as such. Meanwhile, Adonis forms a relationship with his downstairs neighbor, Bianca (Tessa Thompson), a singer-songwriter with progressive hearing loss. Donnie gets a match with Leo "The Lion" Sporino (Gabriel Rosado), the son of a trainer who originally wanted Rocky to coach his son. He moves in with Rocky to train for the fight. Rocky takes Donnie—now known as "Hollywood Donnie"—to the Front Street Gym to prepare with the help of several of Rocky's longtime friends, where Adonis markedly improves his hand speed, stamina, and defense. Prior to the fight, Sporino's father learns that Adonis is in fact Apollo Creed's son. After Adonis wins the fight in a 2nd-round TKO, Sporino's father alerts the media of Adonis' parentage. Meanwhile, World light heavyweight champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew), due to go to prison on gun charges which will effectively end his career, is gearing up for his final fight against Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler. After Conlan breaks Wheeler's jaw at the weigh-in for their title fight, Conlan's manager Tommy Holiday (Graham McTavish) decides that the best way to end his career would be against the son of Apollo Creed. Conlan is against it, but reluctantly agrees. Holiday meets with Rocky and Adonis, demanding that he use the name Creed if he wants a shot at the light heavyweight title. Adonis is reluctant due to his desire to forge his own legacy. He only consents after Bianca persuades him to use Apollo's surname.