Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors square up in exclusive new image from Creed III

Jonathan Majors is about to make the leap to a bona fide movie star by playing antagonists in both Creed III and Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania in the coming months. In the former, he plays Damian Anderson, a childhood friend of world champion boxer Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). 

Imprisoned for years, he’s now freshly released, in fearsome shape, and is quick to remind his old pal just who was considered the better fighter in their youth. Majors breaks down the new character in the latest issue of Total Film, featuring John Wick on the cover. Here’s what he had to say about the character, and you can see an exclusive image from the new movie above.

Majors and Jordan – who produces and makes his directorial debut, as well as returning as Adonis – worked on the character of Damian together, building him from the ground up. Anderson is Majors’ paternal grandfather’s surname, and the actor poured himself, and his family upbringing, into the role

"Although I was never incarcerated, I did deal with juvenile detention, in-school suspension, expulsions… all the way up until adulthood," says Majors, who was arrested for shoplifting and disciplined for fighting during his school years. "So I understood that, you know? But my big connection to it was the fact that the man who raised me was an ex-con, as gross as the word is. He had been incarcerated for 15 years before we found each other. I believe that his sole purpose in my life was to get me to adulthood. My mother and him parted ways, but he still remained… I mean, he’s my stepfather. To this day, I see him as my stepdad, you know? So I understood, secondhand, the incarcerated mind. I witnessed it, what that development is."

The years of incarceration inform who Damian is, physically and mentally. It’s even there in his fighting style. Majors, a natural athlete who has always played sport to "a competitive level" and is "competitive with myself, as far as my body [is concerned]", committed to "eight months of hard living and hard training" before shooting Creed III. 

But he was sculpting his brain, also. "That’s probably what me and Mike talked the most about," he explains. "How is he going to fight? He’s quite unorthodox. It’s a mixture of prison survival and ancient pugilism. He’s a very smart fighter. Though he’s strong and visceral, he’s intelligent."

• Order a copy of the John Wick: Chapter 4 issue here

For more from Jonathan Majors about Creed III, pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film, which hits stands (and digital devices) this Thursday, February 2. Check out the covers below:

(Image credit: Lionsgate/Total Film)

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(Image credit: Total Film/Netflix/Lionsgate/Paramount)