I’ve been fighting my whole life. It’s not a choice for me. Every punch I’ve ever thrown has been on my own. Nobody showed me how to do this.

So says Adonis Johnson, son of Apollo Creed in the first trailer for Creed, a reboot/reimagining of the Rocky franchise.

The Fruitvale Station director/star duo of Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan reunites for this uniquely organic continuation of the Rocky series. Of course it makes sense for Stallone to take on the Mickey role now, and that’s precisely what he does here for the son of his old rival Apollo Creed.

The tone is part The Fighter (working class hero makes it big) and part Warrior (family drama and legacy), not to mention the heavy dollop of Rocky nostalgia that is evident in nearly every frame of the picture.

Adonis is hardly the God in this story: His seems to be an underdog story to rival Rocky’s. The trailer juggles the clichés that are inherent to the genre with some exceptionally well-cut moments: There are the token training montages, trainers telling our hero he hasn’t got the moxy to survive, pensive stares into the Philadelphia night sky as Adonis ponders his future and the money shot at the end as Lupe Fiasco delivers a majestic fist-pumping moment.

This trailer comes out only a few weeks after we got the Southpaw trailer, which was also excellent. Like a true underdog, Creed may have even topped it.

And if Fruitvale Station is anything to go by, then we can rest assured that the future of the Rocky franchise, as seasoned a franchise as the hero it portrays, is in safe hands.

Because, as a great fighter once said, ‘It ain’t about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit’.

Creed also stars Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad and pro boxer Anthony Bellew. It is expected to hit theatres on November 25.

Watch the trailer:

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