Bloody Heart • Creed III

Synopsis

Synopsis

In 2002 Los Angeles, a young Adonis "Donnie" Creed sneaks out with his best friend, Golden Gloves champion Damian "Diamond Dame" Anderson, to watch him compete in an underground boxing match. At the same time, their other best friend and Damian's girlfriend Athena "Thea, Goddess of War" Graham but affectionately known as Thea, finds out she's pregnant after taking a pregnancy test in a gas station's bathroom. After Dame's victory, he tells Donnie about his aspirations to turn professional and become a world champion. During a detour at a liquor store, Donnie impulsively attacks a man named Leon.

Damian is sentenced for 18 years in prison and Athena goes on to give birth to triplets: two boys and a girl. While struggling to care for her children, Athena starts participating in mixed martial art underground matches to earn money.

When during a match Athena loses her temper, she pins her opponent down and headbutts her unconscious. She catches the eye of an local promoter of the all-female MMA league, he recruits Athena and helps her make her professional debut at the Prime MMA Championship. She faced Nikki "Lady Killer" Gonzaga and defeats her with an armbar submission in the first round.

She soon joined Strikeforce, becoming their first Women's Bantamweight Champion. Afterwards she makes her octagon debut for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Athena originally opposed using the nickname her fans gave her, "Goddess of War", but later accepts it.

In 2016, Athena is widely regarded as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time, and soon retires to focus on her children and her company.

In 2017, Donnie wins a rematch against "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, newly released from prison. Donnie retires from boxing to focus on his wife Bianca and their daughter Amara, whose hearing impairment has since led the family to become fluent in American Sign Language. Three years later in 2020, Donnie runs Delphi Boxing Academy with Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr., and is promoting his protégé, world champion Felix "El Guerrero" Chavez, in a match against Viktor Drago. Due to her hearing problems, Bianca forgoes performing and becomes a successful producer. While the two watch the declining health of Donnie's adoptive mother Mary-Anne, Amara aspires to become a boxer like Donnie, which gets her into trouble at school for punching another student.

Dame reconnects with Donnie after getting out of jail, and shares his desire to resume his boxing career. Donnie reluctantly invites Dame to the gym to spar with Chavez, however, his aggressive style draws scorn from Chavez and Duke. Dame later visits Donnie's home, where he meets his family and recounts their time together at a group home, a story that Bianca had never heard. Privately, Dame asks for a title shot against Chavez, citing Donnie's previous one-in-a-million shot, which Donnie calls impossible.

At a party for Bianca's record label, Dame cryptically tells Bianca about Leon and that Donnie was keeping it secret from her. Drago is attacked by an unknown assailant and is too injured to participate in his match against Chavez. Not wanting to lose his investment in the event, Donnie suggests Dame as an opponent, pitching an underdog fight much like Rocky Balboa's first title shot, which Chavez accepts. During the fight, Dame fights dirty, but knocks out Chavez, winning the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Following the match, an uneasy Donnie visits Mary-Anne, who shows him letters Dame had written to Donnie while in prison that she kept from him due to believing he was a bad influence. One letter contains a picture showing Dame with a fellow inmate that Donnie recognizes as Drago's assailant. Realizing Dame orchestrated the attack, Donnie confronts him. Dame reveals that he manipulated Donnie and his family to get his title shot, before giving him a black eye. Donnie is unable to open up to Bianca about his guilt over Dame, who revels in his newfound fame and publicly slanders Donnie as a fraud who turned his back on him.

Mary-Anne suffers another stroke and dies in front of Donnie after a conversation with him, while Mary-Anne believes him to be Apollo. After her funeral, Donnie confesses to Bianca that Leon was the abusive caregiver in the group home he and Dame lived in before he was adopted. After Donnie attacked Leon at the liquor store, the ensuing brawl with Leon's friends caused Dame to pull a gun. When the police arrived, Donnie fled, but Dame was arrested. Attempting to block out the memory, Donnie never contacted Dame out of shame and guilt. Knowing Dame will not stop defaming him, he tells Bianca there's only one way to bring him down.

Donnie goes on First Take, where Dame calls in to goad Donnie over the phone. Donnie decides to come out of retirement and challenges Dame for the championship, which he accepts. After training with Duke and a recovered Drago, Donnie faces Dame in the "Battle of Los Angeles" at Dodger Stadium. In a grueling, evenly-matched affair, Donnie has visions of his abusive foster home and Dame's life in jail, leading to a knockdown in the final round. Donnie sees his family in the crowd and lets go of his fear and guilt, and knocks out Dame to win the match and regain the championship. Afterward, Donnie reconciles with Dame, with both men admitting it was not the other's fault. Donnie joins Bianca and Amara in the ring in the empty stadium, where he pretends to box with Amara.

Three years later in 2023, Donnie and Dame run into Thea at her company. Causing Thea to reveal that Dame is the father of her children.