Creed (2015): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Creed (2015) follows Adonis Johnson, a young fighter who learns he is the son of Apollo Creed and travels to Philadelphia to ask his father's old rival, Rocky Balboa, to train him. The story begins in 1998 in a Los Angeles juvenile detention center, where Mary Anne Creed, the widow of boxing champion Apollo Creed, takes the boy in and tells him he is Apollo's son from an affair.

As an adult, Adonis has a finance job but secretly fights in amateur bouts in Tijuana. He quits the job and tries to turn pro in Los Angeles, but nobody there will back him. So, with nowhere left to go, he moves to Philadelphia to find Rocky Balboa, Apollo's old rival from Rocky (1976). If you are new to the saga, that is all the setup you need, and the Rocky movies in order page shows where Creed 1 sits among the other films.

Creed (2015) runs from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Liverpool, and it ends with Adonis losing a split decision to champion Ricky Conlan.

In Los Angeles, a gym will not take Adonis, and he loses a sparring session to a heavyweight named Danny Wheeler. In Philadelphia, Rocky is reluctant at first, but he agrees to train Adonis at a local gym. Adonis also falls for his neighbor Bianca, a singer-songwriter who is slowly losing her hearing.

He fights under the name Hollywood and wins a local bout, but then the press finds out he is Apollo Creed's son. The camp of Conlan, who faces prison time and needs one last big payday, offers Adonis a title fight if he uses the Creed name. After some doubt, and with Bianca's support, he accepts.

Then the story turns. Rocky collapses and learns he has lymphoma, and he first refuses treatment. Adonis gets into a brawl and is jailed, and he tells Rocky he will not fight unless Rocky starts chemotherapy. Rocky agrees, and the title bout takes place at Goodison Park in Liverpool.

Adonis knocks Conlan down and lasts all twelve rounds, but he loses on a split decision. Conlan respects him, and Adonis has earned the crowd's regard. Back in Philadelphia, a weakened but improving Rocky joins Adonis to climb the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Creed (2015) opened in US theaters on November 25, 2015, and in Australia a day later on November 26, 2015. The UK release followed on January 15, 2016, about seven weeks after the American opening.

The US rating is PG-13, the UK rating is 12A and the Australian rating is M, so anyone checking the Creed 2015 parents guide has a clear starting point for family viewing. Those ratings come from TMDB certifications, and they sit at the same level as Creed II and Creed III, which carry matching US, UK and AU ratings.

The film runs 133 minutes, which makes it the longest entry in the saga, three minutes ahead of Creed II at 130 minutes. Next in release order after Creed 1 is Creed II, which arrived in US theaters on November 21, 2018.

Adonis loses to Conlan on a split decision, and in my opinion that is the smartest choice the film makes, because the result is not the point. He goes all twelve rounds, puts the champion on the canvas and earns the Liverpool crowd, much as Rocky Balboa's close loss to Apollo Creed did in Rocky (1976). Rocky II then opens right after that loss, which tells you how the saga treats a defeat: as the start of the next story, not the end of this one.

So, is Creed just a remake of Rocky? It could be argued that the outline is familiar, since both films feature an outsider, a mentor and a title fight that ends in a loss. Yet the film moves the weight onto Rocky, who now has lymphoma and refuses treatment until Adonis forces the issue from a jail cell. The trade is neat: Rocky trains Adonis, and Adonis gets Rocky to fight for his own life. Compare that with Rocky V, where a brain condition ends Rocky's boxing career and the film spends its running time on a young protege, Tommy Gunn. Creed keeps the mentor and student pairing but lets the student care about the mentor, and I think that is why it lands better.

The staging helps. The title bout was shot with a real Everton crowd at Goodison Park, and three of the cast, Tony Bellew, Gabriel Rosado and Andre Ward, are professional boxers, according to Bellew. Creed had a $35 million budget, and that scale shows in a stadium fight. The ring work still follows the saga's rule that a fight tells you who is hurting.

The final scene on the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps shows a frail but recovering Rocky beside Adonis, and it hands the saga's best known image to a new fighter. It also pays off later. By the start of Creed II, Adonis has become world heavyweight champion, and the Drago family returns as the story of Apollo's death is reopened.

Is Creed 1 a good movie? Perhaps the better question is whether it works as both a restart and a sequel, and I think it does, with the fights built around who is hurting and what each man needs from the other.

Creed (2015) was filmed mainly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with additional work in Aston, Pennsylvania and crowd scenes shot in Liverpool, England. The Philadelphia shoot covered the boxing and training scenes, and it keeps the film tied to the city where the saga began.

NBC Philadelphia reported that production was filming in Aston, Pennsylvania in early March 2015. The Liverpool material was shot at Goodison Park during an Everton home match, which gave the title fight a real stadium crowd. According to Tony Bellew, the crowd was filmed before principal filming began the following Monday, and Stallone's image was shown on the stadium screen. Bellew also said he lived in Philadelphia for about 10 weeks during the shoot and stayed in a hotel instead of an apartment.

Creed (2015) comes with six production details, from the Goodison Park crowd shoot to the credited fight choreographer.

• The Goodison Park crowd was filmed during an Everton home match against West Brom, with Stallone's image shown on the stadium screen, before principal filming began the following Monday (per Tony Bellew).
• Tony Bellew, Gabriel Rosado and Andre Ward are the three professional boxers in the cast (per Bellew).
• Bellew said he lived in Philadelphia for about 10 weeks during the shoot and stayed in a hotel instead of an apartment.
• Production was filming in Aston, Pennsylvania in early March 2015, where NBC Philadelphia reported that Stallone helped break up a minor fight on set.
• Ryan Coogler wrote the screenplay with Aaron Covington, with Stallone credited for the characters (TMDB credits).
• Clayton J. Barber is credited as fight choreographer and Hannah Beachler as production designer (TMDB credits).