Marvel on Disney+: 5 things to know about the Luke Cage series

Luke Cage, Marvel’s hero for hire, has been delivering its services on Disney+ since the end of June. While the character may not be well known in the minds of the general public, he’s actually been around for over 40 years, and his impact extends far beyond the streets of Harlem. Here are five things you need to know about Luke Cage, portrayed by mike colter.

Marvel’s first black superhero to get his own project

Before Black Panther in 2018, there was Luke Cage from 2016. It must be remembered that at the time – not so long ago – the announcement of his arrival at Marvel sounds like an event. This is the first time that Marvel has entrusted a series to a black superhero. The symbol is very strong, especially at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement is emerging after several unarmed African-American men were killed by police in the United States.

Conversely, Luke Cage has the distinction of having an unbreakable skin. It resists both bullets and flames. Look-wise, he doesn’t have a superhero costume. We often see him wearing a hoodie and adopting the same streetwear look as the victims of police brutality when his enemies are wearing tailor-made suits. Inscribed in a realistic and rough universe, Luke Cage clearly carries a political claim by his mere existence.

Myles Aronowitz/Netflix

This is the sequel to Jessica Jones

One thing sets the Luke Cage series apart from the two that preceded it, Daredevil and Jessica Jones : his hero has already been introduced to the public even before he plays the first episode of his series. Indeed, Mike Colter has already slipped into the skin of Luke Cage in the first season of Jessica Jones. He plays an important role there since he is the widowed husband of a woman killed involuntarily by Jessica Jones. And subsequently, the two begin a relationship… tumultuous.

The action of Luke Cage kicks off several months after the end of Jessica Jones’ first season and sees Luke return to Harlem. Almost despite himself, he uses his superhuman strength and invulnerability to help people in his neighborhood, plagued by a powerful drug trafficking network.

A series under the influence of Blaxploitation

With its aesthetics and soundtrack, the Luke Cage series is reminiscent in many ways of the black heroes of 1970s cinema, but with a significant addition, or at least more support, of a modern social conscience. “When you say blaxploitation people usually think bell bottoms and an African soundtrack“, said in 2016, Cheo Hodari Cokerthe creator of the series at the magazine EW. “But in reality, they are black characters who act similarly to their white counterparts.“

But with its relatively serious dimension – while remaining a series of superheroes – Luke Cage reinvents the genre and takes it towards neo-Blaxploitation. In another interview with Den of GeekHe pursues : “For me, it was important that we didn’t look at 70s movies with disdain. We wanted it to be a modern character. We are not ashamed of our blaxploitation past. We enjoy it. But we have taken the parts that still apply to modern times.“

Myles Aronowitz/Netflix

The series has kept the iconic phrase from the comic book

Archie Goodwin, the creator of the comic book Luke Cagewanted the character’s African American roots and street language to be authentic, especially after the success of a film like shaft released at the same time. Except Marvel comics don’t use the same flowery language as blaxploitation movies.

Goodwin therefore had to be creative, while retaining that sense of authenticity that came from the streets. His solution became an often-mocked iconic phrase: “Sweet Christmas!“whose French equivalent would be”Sweet Jesus !“It was eventually dropped in the comics and the show picked it up, with Luke being kindly chambered every time he utters it.

Quentin Tarantino wanted to make a movie about Luke Cage in the 90s

Quentin Tarantino isn’t the kind of director to adapt other people’s stories, but he almost made an exception in the 1990s, when he had the idea of ​​bringing Luke Cage to the big screen. The superhero has apparently been among Tarantino’s favorites since childhood, and after Reservoir Dogs in 1992, the director briefly considered going to Marvel with his idea for the character. But during an interview with NerdistTarantino said that it was actually his fellow comic book fans who talked him out of it:

“In the case of Luke Cage, it was my comic book geek friends who almost talked me out of it, because I thought Lawrence Fishburne at the time would have been a great Luke Cage, and they were talking about Wesley Snipes. I could see them both, but I figured Fishburne would be better.

And they were like, ‘Yeah…he could train and stuff, but he doesn’t have the body of Wesley Snipes, and Luke Cage needs to have that body.’ And that demotivated me, so I got it into my head that if I’m doing a movie adapted from a comic book, it should be an original character. It should be something I create rather than trying to fit in.“

Did you notice the hidden details in Luke Cage?