Netflix’s ‘Luke Cage’ returns with TV’s ‘woke superhero’
Daredevil is the popular one. Jessica Jones is the fun one. The Punisher is the brutal one. And Iron Fist is the one who’s the equivalent of that late-night, drunken infomercial purchase that you can’t quite believe you made, and don’t entirely understand what it does, but you keep around because you don’t want to admit your mistake.
Luke Cage, though? The Hero of Harlem? He’s the social conscience of Marvel’s Netflix universe.
In the second season of “Luke Cage” (Friday, Netflix), the bulletproof behemoth (Mike Colter) emerges from the events of last summer’s “The Defenders” as a local superstar.
“Harlem’s worship of Luke Cage has reached golden calf proportions,” proclaims the Rev. James Lucas, who’s portrayed by the late “House of Cards” Emmy winner Reg E. Cathey in his final role.
Luke Cage merch is for sale in the former home of Pop’s Barber Shop. There’s an unofficial app that tracks sightings of him. He’s even approached by a Nike representative for an endorsement deal.
As Luke’s friend and adviser Bobby Fish (“This Is Us” standout Ron Cephas Jones) puts it, “Just because you’re a woke superhero don’t mean you gotta be a broke superhero.”
Luke may be able to contain the shrapnel from an exploding grenade in his bare hands, but his newfound fame is causing the once-reluctant hero serious pain. It’s interfering with his relationship with Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), and it’s turning the formerly jovial Luke as hard as the streets he’s sworn to protect.
“You’re scaring people, Luke,” Claire tells him at one point. “I’m a black man in a hoodie,” he responds. “People have always been afraid of me.”
Setting “Luke Cage” in Harlem — like most Marvel heroes, he resides in a real neighborhood — gives the series a strong sense of place that’s missing in shows based in Starling City (“Arrow”), Central City (“The Flash”) and National City (“Supergirl”), to name a few. A silent, slow-motion walk past the corner of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, aka the crossroads of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X boulevards, tells you more about the character than any exposition.
And, honestly, National City? Who came up with that? Was Genericburgh already taken? What about Country Town?
Anyway, Luke doesn’t seem to care much about the rest of New York. He isn’t even terribly interested in the rest of Manhattan. But he’ll do anything to protect the roughly 4 square miles of Harlem — especially when it comes to silencing returning villains Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and her boytoy, Shades (Theo Rossi).
He’ll also have to contend with the powerful, Jamaican-born newcomer John McIver (Mustafa Shakir), better-known as Bushmaster, and his crew from Brooklyn’s Crown Heights.
If there’s anything “Luke Cage” is as proud of as Harlem’s heritage, it’s historical hip-hop. Each episode shares the title of a seminal track, and the new season features KRS-One, Ghostface Killah, Faith Evans and Rakim performing inside the Mariah-owned Harlem’s Paradise nightclub.
Think the Peach Pit After Dark from “Beverly Hills, 90210” or The Bait Shop from “The O.C.” — only more murdery.
In the opening moments of the new season, Luke crashes a warehouse that’s packaging heroin with his name on it — heroin that’s leading to overdoses in Harlem. The guards draw their automatic weapons, to which Luke only rolls his eyes.
“Really, guys?” he sighs, knowing full well the only thing those bullets will destroy is his latest hoodie.
Then he takes a second to turn on his earbuds and pump out Mobb Deep’s “Shook One, Part II” before easily wiping the floor with them.
It’s the best superhero entrance since Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” And it demonstrates that hip-hop is as much a part of Luke Cage’s DNA as his acute awareness of what it means to be a black man in today’s America.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.
