With just a little over a month to go until the arrival of Luke Cage, Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb has been talking to Comic Book Resources about the latest Netflix series and how it is grounded in reality.
“You can’t set out to do Luke Cage and not deal with the reality of what’s going on in this country, and what’s going on in general,” states Loeb. “It’s not what the show’s about, but if we can get our message out, which is, ‘This is all one planet, and we’re going to have figure it out’ — you just can’t put up walls and try to figure it out that way. We made a show which has great fun, great action, all the things that you want out of Luke Cage.”
“Marvel always works best when it lives in the real world, but then has the Marvel touch around it,” he continues. “There are people with superpowers, there is that little magic icing of humor, the people are aware of how unusual this is. It’s one of the things that’s very different about Marvel — if someone is suddenly bulletproof or able to lift up a car or tear off a car door, there are people there going, ‘How did that happen?” as opposed to, ‘Oh, I guess it’s just yet another person with superpowers.’ By making it real and grounded and feel like it is of our world, then if we happen to be able to get a message in along the way, great — but if you just want to watch the show and enjoy the show, enjoy the show.”
SEE ALSO: Watch the trailer for Luke Cage
Loeb also offered up a few words on Mike Colter’s Power Man, and how we’ll see a different side of the character from his debut in Jessica Jones: “He’s a total badass. Mike Colter just plays the role. it’s a very different Luke Cage than you saw in Jessica Jones, even though it’s the same actor. On Jessica Jones, you were seeing Luke through Jessica’s POV, because it was Jessica’s story, and that’s the way it should be. There weren’t scenes where Luke was just doing stuff on his own. Now you’re going to get to see him with his friends, with his worlds, with what’s going on. Detective Misty Knight is in that show, and Simone Missick is just killing it.”
After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) becomes a fugitive who attempts to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But soon he is pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city – forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.
Luke Cage premieres on September 30th, with Mike Colter leading the cast as Power Man alongside Rosario Dawson (Daredevil) as Claire Temple, Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy) as Shades, Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives) as Black Mariah, Simone Missick (Ray Donovan) as Misty Knight, Mahershala Ali (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) as Cottonmouth, Frank Whaley (Gotham) as Detective Scarfe, Sonia Braga (Brothers & Sisters) as Soledad Temple and Erik LaRay Harvey (Boardwalk Empire) as Diamondback.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=Ki3o_rmuMR8
Originally published August 23, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
