Mike Colter is Luke Cage in the series of the same name by Netflix – Netflix / Marvel

Luke Cage is the third series, Marvel on Netflix, after Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and before Iron Fist, the event The Defenders, and the spin-off The Punisher. And already the feeling of a proven formula, d’ an algorithm is all-powerful ? The city of New York at night, a heroes less super than human, a charismatic villain and “thief of scenes” (Fisk in Daredevil, Kilgrave in Jessica Jones and Cottonmouth in Luke Cage), and a world that is more realistic and dark than its equivalent film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Luke Cage ticks all the boxes of this specification, but also falls in the same through the following : decreases of pace, dialogues sursignifiants and episodes too long.

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live my life of super heroes

Yet, as early as the first episode (out of the thirteen in the season), there is something going on. Or rather, it doesn’t happen much. Luke has been working at the barber shop, listening to the conversations, and then goes on with his second job, in order to be able to loop the end of the month. Here it is. Live my life super-hero ! Already in the cast of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage was only a secondary character, a confidant, “and it was envisaged that from the point of view of Jessica,” says his interpreter, Mike Colter. “There you discover his story, his life, his daily life, day-to-day. “.

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” Lift a car with one hand, it does not pay the rent

From his past, the viewer learns little (a failed experiment, the loss of a love, a miscarriage of justice), but enough to understand that he just wants to forget about, live a quiet life. The series thus takes the risk to show this routine, just to see Luke cross the streets and the days, with the risk of repetition and boredom that it entails. “It was good to have super-powers, his days are not special,” says Mike Colter. Some people say they dream of having his powers, his life. But lift a car with one hand, it does not pay the rent. “

His powers are the same as those of Superman, a superhuman strength and a body bullet-proof. Spectacular, necessarily. Except… ” Luke is not in the “show off”, he does not want to impress people, he would prefer even not to use them, ” says the actor. But sometimes there is forced, he has no other choice. Luke did not suit, nor the trappings of the super-heroes. It is in his DNA, he is more down-to-earth, more nuanced, more humble than the Luke Cage demonstrative of the comics of the 70′s. “

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A man of the people, a hero of the neighborhood

” The powers are often the only special thing in the series and movies of super-heroes, ” says the showrunner Cheo Hodari Coke. I wanted to go to the opposite. Superman can fly away or hide behind Clark Kent, but Luke has no mask, people know where to find it. “At best, he puts the hood of his sweet on the head, and is used most often of his body bulletproof as a shield. “He is a man of the people, a hero of the neighbourhood, he does not realize immediately the importance that it has, the role it can play in society. “And he is black.

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A Black (on) lives in America

In these times of police killings and racial tensions in the United States, “Yet a black man unarmed shot and killed by american police “, the existence of Luke Cage, black man in the bulletproof, finds a particular resonance, and politics. “It is a super-hero. At least if we stick to the comics and original to what people want, ” explains Mike Colter. People want it to be a super-hero. But there is a Black who lives in America. Some prefer to say african-american, found that it is a better formula, but for me, I say black. Luke, therefore, is a black, who is not here to “save the day” but to “survive the day”. “

Luke Cage is happening, moreover, most of the day that Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and even the night is more colorful, more contrasted. If New York city has always been a full-fledged character of the series Marvel/Netflix, Harlem is more alive with her huge wide sidewalks, its iconic places and its unique energy. “How to embody the super-hero Luke Cage to the screen ?, concludes Cheo Hodari Coke. Mike Colter runs down a street in Harlem, you put music, and, behold, thou art Luke Cage. “

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