What To Expect From Luke Cage
Luke Cage arrives on Netflix on 30 September, and after Daredevil and Jessica Jones the question is not whether Marvel can do another street-level show. It is whether they can do one that feels like Harlem rather than a costume handed a postcode.
Mike Colter already walked into Jessica Jones like he was holding the walls up. That is the version we want more of. A man who is bulletproof and still has to decide what the neighbourhood is owed. The comics have spent decades swinging Luke between hero, husband and Avenger. This series looks more interested in the man who wants to be left alone and is not going to get it.
Expect Cottonmouth, Mariah, and a club doing more business than it should. Mahershala Ali and Alfre Woodard are not the sort of casting you waste on a villain of the week. If the show is smart, the crime story will be about power and respect, not another parade of hallway fights.
Also expect the music to do some of the talking. Everything we have seen points at a soundtrack that treats the city as a character. That would be a welcome change of pace after so many bruised corridors.
Luke’s power is not subtle, and it does not need to be. The interesting part is what he refuses to do with it, and who gets hurt when the people around him are not made of the same stuff. A hero who wins by standing there is a hero television does not build often enough.
If it is another thirteen hours of setup for a team-up, we will say so. If it is a show about a man in a hoodie who cannot be shot and will not be moved, that is the one we have been waiting on.