Luke Cage Luke Cage General Discussion Thread - Part 1

[Thread Manager]

This is a continuation thread, the old thread is [split]474497[/split]

 

[chamber-music]

A thread to discuss Luke Cage or as his known to his mother Carl Lucas

What do you think the show should cover?

Luke Cage has one of the more interesting backstories in comics. His origin is like Boys In The Hood meets The Shawshank Redemption meets Payback meets The Fugative.

The show could cover Cage teenage years doing petty crime for deformed Harlem crime lord Sonny Caputo in his gang The Rivals and their rivalry with The Diablos gang. The strain his gang life puts on his family and Cage eventually leaving the life behind when he sees fellow gang member Stryker stab a Diablos gang member.

Willis Stryker's rising through the criminal underworld, the maggia hit in which Willis is saved by Cage and his girlfriend Reve leaving him which he blames on Cage and sets up his betrayal.

Cage time in Seagate Prison and his torture by racist sadist guard Rackham. Dr. Noah Burstein Super-Soldier variant experiment which leads to Cage getting his powers. Cage escape and becoming a costumed hero for hire. Cage investigation into who set him up, finally finding out it was Stryker and facing off against him. Cage eventually clearing his name and reconciling with his brother and father. Teaming up with Iron Fist.

 

[Slick]

LUKE CAGE Comic Con 2016 Panel Highlights - Marvel Netflix
[YT]Xbaaz1s8DJQ[/YT]

 

[Xrated48]

Thought the trailer was great love that they got a hallway fight scene similar to Daredevil.

 

[ernesth100]

https://youtu.be/q2miUa74dQg

My reaction

 

[Kane52630]

 

[ernesth100]

I love how little ****s he seems to give.

 

[Dave McFly]

loved EVERY minute of that trailer Netflix/Marvel is on FIRE!

 

[Mai]

Thought the trailer for this was great. Loved the action, not long to go now for the series

 

[Hypestyle]

hopefully this gets renewed for at least six more seasons.

 

[Brawl]

OMG EARGASM!! They put Ol'Dirty Bastard on the soundtrack!! They kept CAGE 100!! This right here is legit. It is a God-honest homage to Luke Cage and kept true to his spirit in the comics.

 

[Rowsdower!]

That teaser was f***ing awesome! Can't wait for this show. Colter is totally badass.

 

[VelcroWallet]

Bulletbroof black man in a hoodie? You have just earned your extra dollar Netflix.

 

[ernesth100]

OMG EARGASM!! They put Ol'Dirty Bastard on the soundtrack!! They kept CAGE 100!! This right here is legit. It is a God-honest homage to Luke Cage and kept true to his spirit in the comics.

What did you expect? This is Netflix, they always come through

 

[NiallC]

So I'm saying this here because Shades doesn't have a thread, and I must warn I'm also saying this as someone who knows very little of the mythos behind Luke Cage other than his basic power set, his origin and his partnership with IF and marriage with JJ.

Anyway, so I was reading Shades' wiki page trying to find out more about him and saw that he once went out with a woman called Reina and that they had a child together. It dawned on me that they've mentioned Luke's late wife being called Reina. Now this is where my lack of knowledge troubles me. DidLuke ever have a wife called Reina in the comics or do you think they've done this deliberately so that upon Shades' introduction he already has anger towards Luke and this will also allow him to have legit reason to be antagonistic towards Jessica. If in this universe Luke 'stole' Reina from him.

 

[sabetoonth]

Luke's wife is/was Reva

 

[chamber-music]

Luke's wife is Reva Connors.

Reva Connors was involved in a love triangle with Luke and his best friend Willis Stryker. Stryker's jealousy of Luke lead to him framing Luke which got him sent to prison.

Shade's wife is a Dominican woman called Reina Alvarez. They are the parents of the current comic Power Man Victor Alvarez.

 

[NiallC]

Ah you're right. I wasn't remembering the name properly, thanks guys. I probably should have looked at the cast list but I was on the bus home after an incredibly hard shift and my head wasn't all there.

 

[BarryAllen]

Speaking of Shades, Jeph Loeb made some interesting comments about him in this Collider interview (http://collider.com/comic-con-2016-luke-cage-showrunner-mike-colter-interview-marvel/):

Jeph, how would you describe Shades and his role in Luke Cage’s story?

LOEB: The responsibility that we have, in telling the story of Luke Cage, is enormous. We’re talking about, for all intents and purposes, the first black superhero from the streets. We’re talking about a character who, in the early ‘70s, came out and really spoke to an audience in a way that no one had ever done before. In many ways, it woke up a young Cheo Coker, who suddenly could relate in a way that had been very different. Being able to take that responsibility on, particularly now with what’s going on in our world, is something that we take very seriously. When we started talking about what that show was going to be and who the characters were going to be, the first character that everybody asked us was, “What are you going to do about Shades?,” because he is so important to Luke’s origin and to the way that the world grew out of these two characters. When Theo walked in, there was a confidence there that we immediately were drawn to. If you’ve got Mike Colter playing Luke Cage, you’re going to have a larger life presence. You’re going to have somebody who brings with him that superhero quality, not just as a superhero, but as a person and as a personality. And so, what was great about Theo’s take on it was that you could see two people standing on equal footing.

What drives him, as a character?

LOEB: We talked a lot about how there’s a game of chess that’s being played. There’s a game of power that’s being played. What Shades is, in many ways, is an opportunist. He’s someone who’s looking for what the next game is that he’s playing, who the next player is that he’s playing, what the next level is, and how he’s getting there. If that means he has to change allegiances, in order to better himself, than maybe that’s what he’ll do. If he can find a way to make the Luke Cage thing work for him, he’ll see how that plays. If he has to figure out how to make Luke Cage go away, in order to make things work, than that works on that particular day.

Particularily the bolded part stands out to me. The first character you ask what to do with and consider crucial to Cage's origin is Shades? Even above Willis Stryker?

I think Shades might be playing a bigger role in this series than most of us thought outside of being Cottonmouth's goon. They've been describing him as a opportunist and strategist, so I'm thinking while he's working with Cottonmouth, he'll be planning, observing and try and seize Cottonmouth's assets while there's a power void when Cottonmouth and Cage come into conflict. This lines up with this IGN interview with Theo Rossi:

https://youtu.be/Z3UmFu8dTOY?t=1m53s

Rossi mentions how Shades is always "moving chesspieces around in his head", while interestingly enough stating that Cottonmouth and Shades grew up together, which could either be:

1. true
2. possibly a mistatement about Shades and Cage growing up together as part of the Rivals gang, which lines up with the previous info we've gotten of Shades having "ties to Cage's mysterious past" and a "history with Luke Cage"
3. a combination of both with Shades having grown up with Cottonmouth and the "ties to Cage's mysterious past" from the casting announcement only referring to Cage meeting him and Comanche while locked up in Seagate Prison, ignoring the Rivals gang connection between the two of them (while still keeping that between Cage and Stryker)

He also says that while Cottonmouth and Shades respect each other, "everyone wants the top spot".

This makes me think Shades might end up coming out on top after Cage combats Cottonmouth and Black Mariah's schemes, possibly setting him up to a major player (possibly even a big bad for Season 2?). Hopefully we hear news about Comanche with all of this.

 

[chamber-music]

Rossi said Shades is the shows Littlefinger (Game Of Thrones Machiavellian character).

 

[BarryAllen]

Rossi said Shades is the shows Littlefinger (Game Of Thrones Machiavellian character).

That's dope. It'll be interesting to see how manipulative and shady (pun definitely intended) they make Shades.

Other news: Every episode of Luke Cage will be named after a Gang Starr song, and Cheo Coker has revealed the first three:

https://twitter.com/cheo_coker/status/759033654358061060

Episode 1: Moment of Truth
Episode 2: Code of the Streets
Episode 3: Who's Gonna Take the Weight?

His next tweet also says we can expect new episode titles every Friday until the show's premiere.

 

[VelcroWallet]

Are those Gang Starr songs? That's sick. #Hyped

 

[ernesth100]

That's dope. It'll be interesting to see how manipulative and shady (pun definitely intended) they make Shades.

Other news: Every episode of Luke Cage will be named after a Gang Starr song, and Cheo Coker has revealed the first three:

https://twitter.com/cheo_coker/status/759033654358061060

Episode 1: Moment of Truth
Episode 2: Code of the Streets
Episode 3: Who's Gonna Take the Weight?

His next tweet also says we can expect new episode titles every Friday until the show's premiere.

They hype is a level of which we've never seen before.

 

[gildedmuse]

Watching that Netflix roll makes them look like team hoodie ^^ No, they don't have matching 'A's on their uniforms but they all shopped at the same place, so...
To absolutely no one's surprise I am a huge geek. One geeky thing I do is divide my music into character playlists. (I've found superheroes work really well because of their larger than life, mythic qualities sand there are so many of them you can cover almost every character type) In fact, recently I'be decided to redo the whole thing only using Marvel (okay and also Firefly) because it got unmanageable with too many fandom and too many characters with similar themes. Right now I've had only got four songs for Cage and they aren't really a sound you'd associate with Luke. they just have lyrics that speak to the character. Look, I grew up on The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Disco, and 60s/70s/90s Rock. It's what my parents listened too so until high school, basically, it's what I listened to. I've expanded my musical taste since then. Turns out I'm really just a poetry lover, I like music for the lyrics. A lot of you seem way excited about these songs/artist I don't know, So Inwas hoping you all could point me towards some that particular speaks to Cage. Not just songs likely to appear on the show's soundtrack l, but ones whose lyrics really reflect Cage as a character. So if anyone has any suggestions I'd be super thankful! (I'm also struggling with a couple others like Misty Knight and Iron Fist - so few songs about being raised by mystical ninjas before defeating a dragon and returning to New York to take revenge upon your father's killer - so if you randomly have refs for them. Hey throw out any song that particularly reminds you of a character that's pretty much how I learn new not top 20s. But mostly Cage.)

 

[Wylie Times]

Watching that Netflix roll makes them look like team hoodie ^^ No, they don't have matching 'A's on their uniforms but they all shopped at the same place, so...
To absolutely no one's surprise I am a huge geek. One geeky thing I do is divide my music into character playlists. (I've found superheroes work really well because of their larger than life, mythic qualities sand there are so many of them you can cover almost every character type) In fact, recently I'be decided to redo the whole thing only using Marvel (okay and also Firefly) because it got unmanageable with too many fandom and too many characters with similar themes. Right now I've had only got four songs for Cage and they aren't really a sound you'd associate with Luke. they just have lyrics that speak to the character. Look, I grew up on The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Disco, and 60s/70s/90s Rock. It's what my parents listened too so until high school, basically, it's what I listened to. I've expanded my musical taste since then. Turns out I'm really just a poetry lover, I like music for the lyrics. A lot of you seem way excited about these songs/artist I don't know, So Inwas hoping you all could point me towards some that particular speaks to Cage. Not just songs likely to appear on the show's soundtrack l, but ones whose lyrics really reflect Cage as a character. So if anyone has any suggestions I'd be super thankful! (I'm also struggling with a couple others like Misty Knight and Iron Fist - so few songs about being raised by mystical ninjas before defeating a dragon and returning to New York to take revenge upon your father's killer - so if you randomly have refs for them. Hey throw out any song that particularly reminds you of a character that's pretty much how I learn new not top 20s. But mostly Cage.)

Honestly the Gang Starr songs that are the episode titles are a good place start. Also a pretty much anything by Public Enemy. I'd argue Kendrick Lamar's Album "To Pimp a Butterfly" has themes that relate directly to Cages past.

But yeah, start with those Gang Starr songs, the showrunners were VERY deliberate in which songs they picked to name episodes after.

Them even saying it the "Wu-Tangification of the Marvel universe" is deliberate as many Wu-Tang albums sound cinematic in their approach (not just because of the kung fu and blaxsplotation samples).