Do You Have To Watch ‘Creed I’ & ‘Creed II’ To Understand ‘Creed III?’

This weekend brings the long-awaited threequel in the Creed series, which is itself the ninth movie in the Rocky-verse. (It’s also the first without the guy who started it all, Sylvester Stallone.) There have only been three films in this wing of the franchise, which began back in 2015 with the original Creed. That’s not a lot. In fact, is it possible to watch this new one without having seen the first two?

The answer is: It’s up to you! The Creed films, like the Rockys before them, have a continuing story. It’s probably in your best interest to see how Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis a) rose the ranks of the boxing world and b) met the love of his life, Tessa Thompson’s Bianca. Also the first is a very good movie! And the Ryan Coogler-less first sequel ain’t bad either!

That said, it’s not like these are Marvel movies, where you have to at least read up on a bunch of shows you might not have seen to understand the basic plot. Each Creed film is simple: Adonis faces off against some opponent. Again, there’s an ongoing story about Adonis’ personal life and him battling demons. But the tale isn’t so complex that you probably can’t pick it up as the threequel chugs along.

Besides, there’s always Wikipedia if you need to catch up before the movie. But it’s a lot more fun to watch Creed and Creed II than do that, even if it takes exponentially longer.