'Luke Cage' is about a reluctant superhero who lives in the shadows in Harlem. He has to decide if he's going to step up and fight for the heart of the city and defend the people against Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes, my character, who kinda wants to keep everything in order and intact. I'm the criminal element in the story.
The thing about Luke Cage that makes him different is - on the surface is he's a hero for hire; Luke Cage wants to get paid. Luke Cage in the comic books is like, 'I'm doing this stuff. It's all well and good, but I gotta make a dollar.'
What makes Luke Cage unique isn't him being black. Yes, he is black, but he has other things.
I'll get a nice little break, after doing Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Whether I'm in [his show], I don't know, but there's The Defenders.
I wanted Season 2 of Luke Cage to be Ice Cube's 'Death Certificate,' or Fugees' 'The Score,' or Public Enemy's 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,' or my favorite, 'The Low End Theory' by A Tribe Called Quest.
I always respected Luke Cage and thought that he was interesting, and I really liked what Brian Michael Bendis did in his update of the character in 'Alias,' the comic.
With 'Luke Cage,' we all, as a collective wanted to tell the truest story that we could but, at the same time, also be very true to the comic book genre.
My private joke about 'Luke Cage' is that it's a bulletproof version of 'Lemonade,' and that, essentially, it's a concept album that has a video component.
Honestly, what 'Luke Cage' is - it's a hip-hop Western. And you have Luke Cage as the sheriff of Harlem.
I pretty much spend most of my time in the gym bulking up and staying fit and putting muscle on so I can play the part of Luke Cage, but I've never been a gym rat.
I'm excited about 'Luke Cage' with Michael Colter, who plays Luke Cage. I play the villain, Cottonmouth. It takes place in Harlem. It'll just be amazing for people to get to see an African-American superhero, which there weren't any when I was growing up.
'Luke Cage' came out in 1972 at the height of the blaxploitation era. It was a literary response to this notion of blaxploitation movies. It was the first time in American culture that Hollywood was embracing black movies.
'Luke Cage' is a gift. There's so many different ways you can look at it.
There aren't a lot of African-American superheroes. I've been reading comics since I was eight or nine years old. Luke Cage stood out.
The reason I keep making so many musical metaphors with 'Luke Cage' is that I don't view it as much a television show as I do a concept album with dialogue.
I will always get a certain thrill of watching bullets bounce off Luke Cage.
Luke Cage is seen in 'Jessica Jones,' but he doesn't really come into his own until the 'Luke Cage' series. That's when you really see who he is.
Luke Cage is a beast, man. You can't take that guy down no matter what.
Even though my approach is slightly different, the Luke Cage of 'Jessica Jones' is no stranger to the Luke Cage of Marvel's 'Luke Cage.' It's really a continuation to a certain extent. It's just got a little different flavor, but it's still the same suit.
Luke Cage is using his open hand instead of a closed fist. It's a little disrespectful but it's very effective. Some people call it a pimp slap, we call it smack-fu. He's doing you a favour by hitting you with an open hand. It hurts, it renders you unconscious but you live.
'The Wire' is, by far, my favorite television show of all time. And I've always said that my aspirations for 'Luke Cage' was that it would be 'The Wire' of the Marvel television universe.
The primary thing that I enjoy about Luke Cage is that he has a morality about him but it's conflicted. He's never sure what the right move is, but he at least contemplates it. He's a not a rash character. It's that thoughtfulness that I really identify with.
I am not walking around looking like Luke Cage does at all.
I didn't sit around thinking, 'I'd love to play Luke Cage,' but when the character was presented, I did my research, and I was just like, 'This is a real gift. He's a great character, and I'm happy to have a chance to take a crack at him.'
I was a huge fan of comics: not necessarily 'Luke Cage.' I was more of an 'X-Men' head. I was always more Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, John Byrne.
