I’m a big fan of Michael B Jordan, and while I’m skeptical about The Fantastic Four being anything than an utter disaster, I’ve got pretty good hopes for Creed. There’s a good chance that these hopes are not well founded. The Rocky franchise has gone down a couple notches each times it pulls itself off the mat. Still, The premise of this one gives me a bit of a nostalgic warm and fuzzy and I’m rooting for it.

Today, we got the first official synopsis for the film that features Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed and Sylvester Stallone as his trainer/corner man, Rocky Balboa.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures comes award-winning filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s “Creed.” The film explores a new chapter in the “Rocky” story and stars Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone in his iconic role. The film also reunites Coogler with his “Fruitvale Station” star Michael B. Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed.

Adonis Johnson (Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.
Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer. Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend. Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring.

With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?

***Update – I wrote the first part of this post before I read the synopsis. I’m not growing more skeptical of what sounds like a super sappy, man wants to do one more good thing before dying of cancer movie.