‘Luke Cage’ is ‘The Wire’ of Marvel Television, Says Showrunner

Marvel’s first foray into street-level heroism drew comparisons with The Wire, but Luke Cage may much more accurately wield the title, per showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker. The Netflix series boss opens up on the “sophisticated” approach with a dash of ‘90s hip-hop, while Mike Colter promises a familiar sight for comic fans.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly at the Captain America: Civil War premiere, Coker elaborated on a bit of Luke Cage’s musical influences, as well as the Defender series’ “powerful fusion of dark drama, hip-hop, and classic superhero action.” Says Coker:

It’s very sophisticated. I mean, it’s got a ’90s hip-hop vibe, but it’s really forward-thinking. We have Adrian Younge and [A Tribe Called Quest member] Ali Shaheed Muhammad doing the scoring for us. We have a lot of different musical appearances, but at the same time, we’ve got the Marvel action. We’ve got drama. I would like this to be, I mean, I know this is heavy but, The Wire of Marvel television, because we really deal with a lot of different issues.

Series star Mike Colter too illuminated a few tidbits, particularly its incorporation of the more outlandish comic origins:

We were trying not to be on the nose. We’re going to give all the fans all the things they want. But we’ve got to bring it up a bit and step into the current time. So we’re going to make sure everybody’s happy, but don’t expect a yellow shirt every day. Let’s put it that way … We brought it to mustard. We started there. We knocked it down a bit. Not so bright.

Thus far of Netflix’s Luke Cage, we know that Sons of Anarchy vet Theo Rossi will play “Shades” Alvarez, alongside Mahershala Ali’s Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, Alfre Woodard’s Mariah Dillard, Frank Whaley’s Detective Rafael Scarfe and Simone Missick’s Misty Knight. Marvel menace “Diamondback” has been rumored to appear, while Rosario Dawson is confirmed to her reprise her role as Claire Temple for a more significant arc.

Star Mike Colter has also previously spoken to the musicality and flashbacks of the series, which Cheo Hodari Coker will showrun. We’ll also likely meet Iron Fist toward the end of the season as well, but stay tuned for more news of Luke Cage’s 2016 premiere!