Luke Cage: “You have to fight for what’s right every single day, bulletproof skin or not.” 

After the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home with Charlie Cox’s cameo as the really good lawyer, Matt Murdock and the main villain of Hawkeye turning out to be Vincent D’Onofrio as the Kingpin. Making not just DareDevil canonized in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but all the other Netflix series including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher. It was recently announced that both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will not only be returning for the Echo series but with the surprise announcement of DareDevil: Born Again. Though DareDevil: Born Again will not release until Spring of 2024, Matt Murdock will team up with fellow lawyer, Jen Walters, in episode eight of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, streaming on Disney+ October 6th, 2022. 

**Please note that it is suggested by fans that all these series should be watched in a specific order since they do all connect like every other Marvel project and each show has significant impact on one another, especially DareDevil. The order release just happens to be in chronological order, the order in which they should be watched. It includes DareDevil (season one), Jessica Jones (season one), DareDevil (season two), Luke Cage (season one), Iron Fist (season one), The Defenders (limited mini series), The Punisher (season one), Jessica Jones (season two), Luke Cage (season two), Iron Fist (season two), DareDevil (season three), The Punisher (season three), and Jessica Jones (season three). 

All the shows shifted to Disney+ Wednesday, March 23rd, since all of the shows are rated-MA due to violence and gore, profanity, sexually explicit themes, and intense scenes. When Disney announced they were bringing the Netflix series to their family friendly streaming service this sparked controversial problems. But no need to fear, parents must know that there are extreme changes on the parental controls. In order to access any MA rated shows you must enter your Disney+ password and for more security a four number passcode. 

All seasons are bingeable and streaming only on Disney+. 

This article, “Marvel’s The Defenders Saga Has a New Home on Disney+ Ft. Luke Cage (Pt. 3)” is the third part of the Defenders Saga article series. Part three only talks about New York’s best bartender and indestructible man or “Power Man” AKA Luke Cage in Luke Cage.

PREVIOUS ARTICLES  

Read about DareDevil in “Marvel’s The Defenders Saga Has a New Home on Disney+ Ft. DareDevil (Pt. 1)” https://talonnews.org/810/entertainment/netflixs-marvels-the-defenders-saga-has-a-new-home-on-disney-ft-daredevil-pt-1/

Read about Jessica Jones in “Marvel’s The Defenders Saga Has a New Home on Disney+ Ft. Jessica Jones (Pt. 2)” https://talonnews.org/844/entertainment/netflixs-marvels-the-defenders-saga-has-a-new-home-on-disney-ft-jessica-jones-pt-2/

Luke Cage (2016-2018)

Luke Cage follows the distraught Luke Cage who went through a botched experiment that left him “indestructible” with powers of super strength and unbreakable skin. Luke Cage now must live his abnormal life in modern New York trying to go on with his life with his new possessed powers, mourning his wife’s death, and get into the ex-bartending gig. After he failed to have a relationship with fellow hero and Defender, Jessica Jones, in which both appeared in Jessica Jones (Season One) and The Defenders (Limited Series). Luke Cage quietly tries to rebuild his own life again in his city. Hiding himself for long he is forced to come out of “retirement” to fight his own battles to save his city of Harlem and everyone he knows and cares about. “Struggling to keep Harlem safe in a town where everyone knows his name.” 

Luke Cage: From Page to Screen 

Luke Cage’s live-action look completely forgot one accessory from his ICONIC comic style, his very 70s white headband. And fans can’t stop wondering, was Luke Cage modernized completely the wrong way?? An expert’s answers… no. Along with the other Netflix superheroes many of the comic looks did not exactly stick to the original comic design. Similar to Jessica Jones, Luke Cage’s comic suit shows up in the Netflix series as more of a joke rather than his real superhero identity. In episode four, season one of Luke Cage, the episode explains the character and his powers origins. Luke got his super strength and unbreakable skin through botched experiments shown in the episode. With his new found powers he breaks out of the prison in which they kept him for the experiments. As he wanders about after just escaping he still has the wrist bracelets and headband they used to restrain him, he grabs clothes off a clothesline which happens to be a bright yellow shirt and gray pants completing his comic accurate look. 

Opinion on Luke Cage 

Luke Cage is one of the most underrated Marvel characters that has gone from page to screen. Every time we see Luke he is this charismatic and savvy character. The success of this character and the Netflix series is thanks to the star, Mike Colter. He is Luke Cage personified. Screenrant perfectly explated that “his acting captured the paradox of Luke. He is a completely gentle soul, who is also willing to fight you if you threaten anyone he cares about.” I would love for Marvel to bring Luke Cage into the MCU, specifically Mike Colter as the character. I believe Marvel could do that by continuing Jessica Jones’ Alias comic storyline live action. Especially teasing us with the Luke Cage cameo at the end of season three of Jessica Jones. I think Marvel’s best bet would have been to introduce Luke Cage into the MCU with a small role in DareDevil: Born Again. It’s most possible for Luke Cage to be introduced with Jessica Jones in DareDevil due to their connection as The Defenders. If they were to take this route they would take my advice and continue the Alias storyline where Luke is married to Jessica, they have a little daughter, and have Squirrel Girl babysit her. It would perfectly tie the ending of Jessica Jones season three to the comic storyline. If Marvel were to recast Luke Cage, that would be a major mistake especially with what Mike Colter brings to the character, especially with his chemistry with Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones. 

Will Cage Return After Netflix’s Cancellation??

Similar to Jessica Jones, there is so much uncertainty if or when Mike Colter aka Luke Cage will return in any future MCU projects. After the series made the shift to Disney+ the series is popular once again and rumors are resurfacing on Colter’s return as the fan favorite “Power Man”. Now that all the Netflix Defender Saga are canonized the biggest questions fans have due to the Matt Murdock cameo in No Way Home and the Kingpin villain plot in Hawkeye. Thanks to the Loki series messing with the MCU story and multiverse, were the Matt Murdock and the Kingpin cameos the characters we’ve seen in the Netflix series or variants?? It was just confirmed that both of those cameos are NOT variants meaning they are the characters fans have known and loved since 2015. 

Thanks to the shift to Disney+, both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will not only be returning for the Echo series but with the surprise announcement of DareDevil: Born Again. Though DareDevil: Born Again will not release until Spring of 2024, Matt Murdock will team up with fellow lawyer, Jen Walters, in episode eight of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, streaming on Disney+ October 6th, 2022. Krysten Ritter was supposed to return as one of New York’s best Private Investigators, Jessica Jones, but due to scheduling conflicts Jon Bernthal is now taking her part in the series as he is rumored to cameo as Frank Castle AKA The Punisher. Though it is unsure if the Cage actor would be willing to return to the superhero gig, a majority of the Netflix Marvel characters seem to be making their way to the MCU. Sources say that the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, is not interested in bringing Mike Colter back. Fans are extremely disappointed in this statement (nothing has been officially released yet so this may be untrue) since Luke Cage was a critically acclaimed series and fans loved and adored Colter as the charismatic character. 

FUN FACT

Hollywood’s “National Treasure” Nicolas Cage known for his minor role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Disney’s National Treasure, and his newest movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent actually has a connection to Luke Cage. If you guessed both of them sharing the same last name, you’d be correct. The thing about it is that Nicolas Cage’s real name is actually Nicolas Coppola but took the surname “Cage” from one of his favorite Marvel heroes “Power Man” also known as Luke Cage. Nicolas Cage has actually appeared as two Marvel heroes, first in the live-action 2007 and 2011 sequel, Ghost Rider as Ghost Rider himself, and recently in Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse as Spider-Man Noir. “We don’t pick the ballroom. We just dance.” 

Who’s Who in Luke Cage 

The Luke Cage cast includes Mike Colter (Luke Cage/”Power Man”), Simone Missick (Misty Knight), Theo Rossi (Shades), Alfre Woodard (Black Mariah), Mahershala Ali (Cottonmouth), and Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple). 

“You live and die by your choices. The secret to every great lie is it has to run parallel to the truth. The past is the past.” 

Both seasons of Luke Cage are streaming (again)!!