Michael B. Jordan Filmography: His Best Movie Is Surprising

Michael B. Jordan is about to have his directorial debut with Creed III. We took a deep dive into his filmography and came up with his top 10 films.

By Sckylar Gibby-Brown | Updated 4 months ago

Michael B. Jordan’s filmography spans almost a quarter of a century, which has given the actor enough time to build a pretty expansive resume.

Jordan started as a child actor at the age of 12, picking up small guest roles on television shows like The Sopranos (1999-2007) and Cosby (1996-2000) before switching to feature films as an adult and starring in the Rocky spin-off movie, Creed (2015) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther (2018).

Audiences have watched Jordan mature his acting from child star to critically acclaimed actor who has developed a range that sprouted from playing dramatic teenage roles to villainous big bads and even hosting a hilarious episode on Saturday Night Live. 

Michael B. Jordan began his 54-credit filmography when he was 12 years old and was cast as an unnamed Rideland kid in The Sopranos in 1999. Three years later, Jordan found his big break at the age of 15 when he was cast to guest star in 13 episodes of The Wire. He played a young man in Season 1 named Wallace, who was caught up in the delusions brought on by the drug trade.

Jordan went on to star in 59 episodes of the American soap opera All My Children, securing his career as a television actor. 

Next, Michael B. Jordan would play Nate Warren in 13 episodes of The Assistants (2009) while simultaneously adding guest appearances on shows like Burn Notice (2007-2013) and Bones (2005-2017) to his filmography resume.

Finally, Jordan booked the part of a disconcerted but talented high school athlete, Vince Howard, in Friday Night Lights (2006-2011) before officially switching away from television shows to feature films when he was cast in the Anthony Hemmingway and George Lucas aerial action-drama Red Tails (2012) set during World War II.

From there, Michael B. Jordan’s career and filmography took off, making him one of the most sought-after actors that he is today. A critically acclaimed actor, Jordan has been nominated for and won numerous accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of the Black Panther villain, Killmonger.

Not just an actor, Jordan has also produced Just Mercy (2019) and A Journal For Jordan (2021), and made his feature film directorial debut with Creed III (2023).

Michael B. Jordan has already experienced an expansive career, and he is only just getting started. To help sort through the many credits this actor has, here are the top 10 movies in Michael B. Jordan’s filmography.

MICHAEL B. JORDAN’S BEST FILM IS THE ANIMATED MOVIE JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX (2013)

Often considered one of the best-animated renditions of a DC comic book ever, The Flashpoint Paradox is based on the comic book Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert. Michael B. Jordan voices Cyborg in the animated film in his first video voice-over role.

In The Flashpoint Paradox, Flash finds himself in a wartorn alternate universe where he must team up with alternate versions of DC’s main superheroes in order to make his way back home to his original timeline.

DC’s upcoming Flash, releasing June 16, 2023, will feature some elements from Flashpoint, though it won’t be a true adaptation of the film the way that The Flashpoint Paradox was. The Flashpoint Paradox also starred Justin Chambers (Grey’s Anatomy) and C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders).

MICHAEL B. JORDAN’S MOST POPULAR ROLE IN HIS FILMOGRAPHY: CREED (2015)

Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington worked together to write the script for the Rocky (1967) spin-off, Creed. Out of all of Michael B. Jordan’s filmography, this is the film the actor is known for the most. Jordan plays Adonis Creed, the film’s main protagonist, an amateur boxer who is trained by the legendary Rocky Balboa, Adonis’ father’s old rival, as well as his old friend.

While Rocky Balboa was meant to be the sixth and final film in the Rocky franchise, MGM Studios took a risk and commissioned this Rocky spinoff to be created. Luckily, although not unexpectedly, Creed was a major hit, earning critical acclaim as well as audience approval.

In addition to Jordan, Creed starred Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, as well as Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnorak), Phylicia Rashad (For Colored Girls), and Graham McTavish (Rambo).

FRUITVALE STATION (2013)

Michael B. Jordan stars as Oscar Grant in this heartbreaking but powerful story of a young man and the people he interacted with on December 31, 2008, hours before he was killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer.

It’s a biographical film based on true events, written and directed by Ryan Coolger in his directorial debut two years before the writer/director would work with Jordan again on Creed. 

Upon its premiere, Fruitvale Station won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for the U.S. Dramatic Film at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition to Jordan, Fruitvale Station also starred Melonie Diaz (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures).

JONATHAN MAJORS JOINED MICHAEL B. JORDAN IN CREED III

Third in the Creed franchise but second when it comes to the reviews, Michael B. Jordan capped off the trilogy in style with this one, and he even made his directorial debut. In Creed III, Jordan’s character comes face-to-face with Jonathan Majors’ Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson, a childhood friend of Adonis who is looking for a little revenge of his own.

Both actors are magnificent in their roles, and from a Rocky franchise perspective, this was something of a full-circle moment for a lot of stories.

MICHAEL B. JORDAN ADDED A VILLAINOUS ROLE TO HIS FILMOGRAPHY IN BLACK PANTHER (2018)

Black Panther is one of the most impactful films to be produced by the MCU. Michael B. Jordan paired with Ryan Coogler once again to add this feature to his filmography. While Coogler wrote and directed this feature, Jordan set the standard for future Marvel villains with his nuanced and justifiable portrayal of the movie’s big bad, Killmonger.

Black Panther took the MCU to a new level when the studio released a film with strong female characters, incorporated African culture into the mainstream, provided POC STEM role models for black youth, and proved once and for all that a film with a predominantly black cast could not only be incredibly successful at the box office but could also give the MCU its first Oscar nomination for Best Film.

In addition to Jordan as Killmonger, Black Panther also starred the late Chadwick Boseman as the titular Black Panther, as well as Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).

JUST MERCY (2019)

Much of Michael B. Jordan’s filmography is full of powerful, painful, and true stories like the circumstances featured in Just Mercy. This biographical drama showcased Jordan’s debut as a producer, in addition to his playing the leading character, a defense attorney named Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is a real-life lawyer who has spent his career challenging the discrimination against the poor and minorities by the law. 

While Just Mercy ultimately has a happy ending, the film is an emotional ride that plainly showcases the injustices in the American judicial system by driving the inequities home in the minds of audiences as they watch a handful of difficult scenes. It’s an important film that talks about what no one wants to talk about, and Jordan does an excellent job of translating this importance through the screen.

Jamie Foxx plays Walter McMillion, a man that is wrongly accused of murder and whom Stevenson must save. The film also features Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Michael Harding (The Devil All The Time), and Christopher Wolfe (House Party).

CREED II (2018)

While not quite as good as the first film (sequels hardly ever are), Creed II is still a very good movie and serves as the eighth installment of the Rocky franchise. While the first of the Creed films saw Jordan’s Adonis Creed looking to make a name for himself as a boxer without the help of his father’s name, Creed II sees Adonis being broken down, both emotionally and physically, as he faces the challenge of fighting the son of his father’s killer. 

Sylvester Stallone returns to play Adonis’ mentor Rocky Balboa once more, as well as Tessa Thompson as Bianca, Adonis’ fiance, and Phylicia Rashad as Adonis’ adopted mother and Apollo’s wife, Mary Anne Creed.

CHRONICLE (2012)

Six full years before Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan added the superhero film Chronicle to his filmography (we’re not going to talk about 2015’s Fantastic 4). Unlike Black Panther (and the unmentionable Fantastic 4), Chronicle took a darker, more dramatic take on the popular superhero genre.

Done in a found-footage style, Chronicle is the story of three high school seniors who develop telekinetic powers and how their lives begin to spin out of control after they abuse them.

In Chronicle, Jordan plays popular Steve, who joins cousins Matt (Alex Russel) and Andrew (Dane DeHaan) in discovering a mysterious object that gives them superpowers. 

A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN (2021)

A disappointing film considering the talent involved with making it, A Journal For Jordan received mixed to negative reviews after its release. Written by Mudbound (2017) writer Virgil Williams and directed by Denzel Washington, A Journal For Jordan has been accused of lacking direction and being overly sentimental. Still, the feature was nominated for several awards, including Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.

Michael B. Jordan plays Charles King, the lead in the film, alongside Monsters and Men (2020) actress Chanté Adams. A Journal for Jordan is the story of a military man who penned a journal for his son describing how to live a good life before he was killed in action.

THE FIRST MOVIE IN MICHAEL B. JORDAN’S FILMOGRAPHY WAS HARDBALL (2001)

Michael B. Jordan’s first movie on his filmography list was a baseball film with Keanu Reeves. Hardball is the story of low-life Connor (Reeves), who is coerced into coaching a little league team from the Chicago projects as part of a loan settlement. In the film, a 14-year-old Jordan plays Jamal, the oldest of the Little League players. 

John Gatins (Coach Carter) wrote the script for Hardball, basing it on the book Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Daniel Coyle.

The film was directed by Brian Robbins (Norbit) and stars Diane Lane (Under the Tuscan Sun) and John Hawkes (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) next to Reeves and Jordan.

WITHOUT REMORSE (2021)

One of the more recent additions to Michael B. Jordan’s filmography is Without Remorse, the story of an elite Navy SEAL who uncovers a conspiracy while on a journey to avenge his wife’s murder.

The film was co-written by Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water) and Will Staples (The Right Stuff) and was based on a Tom Clancy novel by the same name. Stefano Sollima (Suburra) directed this feature. 

Though the film received mixed reviews from critics, many shared the sentiment that while the script may have needed some touch-ups, the performance by Jordan was captivating and overall phenomenal.

Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang) stars alongside Jordan in this action-thriller, as well as Jamie Bell (Rocketman). 

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