Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors Want to Be New De Niro, Pacino

Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors are two peas in a pod -- so much so, in fact, they say they wanna follow in the footsteps of two other legends ... Bob and Al.

The actors sat down with NYT to talk about their new movie, "Creed III," which is out in theaters and, so far, cleaning up nicely -- both in terms of box office and critic reviews. Not just that, but their dynamic/explosive chemistry on-screen is the talk of the town right now.

In the Q&A, JM and MBJ are very complimentary of each other. At one point, the interviewer asks whose opinion they value the most when it comes to 'Creed.' Majors says he only really cared what Mike thought ... which prompts the interviewer to ask the next logical question.

NYT says, "The way you two talk about each other, it sounds like this is the first of many collaborations to come," to which MBJ says ... "It is. We plan on it." Then, the haymaker ... Majors follows up and says, "De Niro and Pacino."

To that, Mike says this ... "We’re excited about that, and I have those conversations with him. Acting is such a solo journey, where you’re fighting for your place on that call sheet for such a long time. So when you’ve got somebody that doesn’t care as much about that stuff, it’s like, 'Let’s go. How much damage can we do together?' Majors responds, "All of it."

In other words, they're ready to paint the town red with more movies, it seems -- and it also sounds like both Mike and Jon fancy themselves as good as two acting greats ... but the internet doesn't necessarily agree, both in the duo comparison and the one-on-one résumés.

Fact is, Al and Bob were only in a small handful of movies together -- "Heat" and "Godfather Pt. 2" being the most famous, before "The Irishman" came around -- and each of them had stellar catalogs of critically-acclaimed flicks under their belt well before they ever collab'd.

So, the juxtaposition doesn't quite make sense there. But, more importantly, some feel like they're jumping the gun ... as neither JM or MBJ have been in enough movies to warrant such lofty esteem. Even in terms of chops, there's questions ... on Mike's end, specifically.

While just about everyone's stoked at the notion that these two studs are planning on working together more -- seeing how they are great in "Creed III," by all accounts -- the way it's coming out is getting a little side-eye. Just a smidge, though ... mostly by film snobs.