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

Luke Cage, Marvel’s mercenary hero, has been lending his services to Disney+ since the end of June. While the character may not be well known in the public mind, he has actually been around for over 40 years and his influence extends far beyond the streets of Harlem. Here are five things you need to know about Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter.

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 the series to a black superhero. The symbol is very powerful, especially at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement is emerging after several unarmed African-American men have been killed by police in the United States.

In contrast, Luke Cage has the distinction of having impenetrable skin. It can withstand both fire and bullets. Look, he doesn’t have a superhero costume. We often see him wearing a hoodie and the same street clothes as victims of police brutality, while his enemies wear tailored suits. Set in a realistic and gritty world, Luke Cage clearly carries a political claim just by being there.

One thing distinguishes the Luke Cage series from the two that preceded it, Daredevil and Jessica Jones: its hero was already known to the audience even before he played the first episode of his series. Indeed, in the first season of Jessica Jones, Mike Colter already slipped into the shoes of Luke Cage. He plays an important role there because he is the widowed husband of a woman accidentally killed by Jessica Jones. And subsequently, they begin a relationship… tumultuous.

Luke Cage picks up a few months after the end of the first season of Jessica Jones and sees Luke return to Harlem. Almost in spite of himself, he uses his superhuman strength and vulnerability to help the people in his neighborhood, which is plagued by a powerful drug ring.

In its aesthetic and soundtrack, the Luke Cage series is in many ways reminiscent of the black heroes of 1970s cinema, but with a significant addition, or even more support, of a modern social conscience. “When you say blaxploitation, people usually think of bell bottoms and an African soundtrack.,” series creator Cheo Hodari Coker told the magazine in 2016. EW. “But in reality, they are black characters who act like their white counterparts.“

But with its relatively serious dimension – to remain in the superhero series – Luke Cage reinvents the genre and takes it towards neo-blaxploitation. In another interview Geek’s DenHe follows: “It was important to me that we did not look down on the films of the 70s. We wanted him to be a modern character. We are not ashamed of our criminal past. We enjoy it. But we have taken the parts that are still relevant to modern times.“

Archie Goodwin, comic book creator Luke Cage, wanted to keep the character’s African-American roots and street language authentic, especially since a movie like Shaft came out around the same time. Except Marvel comics don’t use the same flowery language as blaxploitation films.

So Goodwin had to be creative, while maintaining a sense of authenticity that came from the streets. His solution became the oft-derided catchphrase: “Sweet Christmas!“whose French equivalent would be”Sweet Jesus!“Eventually it made it into the comics and the show picked it up, Luke was gracious every time he said it.

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

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

And they were like, “Yeah…he could work out and work out, but he doesn’t have Wesley Snipes’ body, and Luke Cage should have that body.” And that demotivated me, so I thought, if I’m going to make a movie based on a comic book, it has to be an original character. It should be something I create rather than trying to fit.“

Did you notice the hidden details in Luke Cage?