I have a bit of history with Marvel‘s Luke Cage. I performed a quick google search and found my old script review of the project back when John Singleton was attached to direct and Tyrese Gibson was supposed to star. Ben Ramsey wrote the original draft. I dropped that script review on April 21, 2004. Cut to eleven years later, Luke Cage is finally getting made not as a movie, but as a 13 episode series on Netflix. Cheo Hodari Coker is the showrunner and wrote the first two episodes. My sources in New York were able to bag me a breakdown and here is what I found out.
MAIN BAD GUY: Diamondback was also the main bad guy in the Luke Cage movie script from 2004. Diamondback and Luke Cage were childhood friends and fell for the same woman. Diamondback then framed Cage for a crime he didn’t commit and got sent to prison. Previously we broke that another bad guy, Cottonmouth, was going to be in the series and it makes sense if Cottonmouth is working for Diamondback.
LOVE INTEREST: Reva Connors is a friend of both Luke Cage and Willis Stryker. She is the woman that comes between the two former childhood friends and causes Diamondback to frame Cage in the drug deal that sends him to prison.
PLOT SYNOPSIS: “Luke Cage is a former gang member who is framed for a crime. In prison, he volunteers for a medical experiment that goes awry, giving him super strength and bulletproof skin. Using his newfound powers, Cage escapes and becomes a hero for hire. His archenemy is Willy Stryker, a former childhood friend from Harlem. The two committed petty crimes together, and both fell for the same woman, Reva Connors, which led to their eventual falling out. It was Stryker who framed Cage for a drug deal that sent him to prison.”
Luke Cage is set to begin production next month in New York City and will shoot 13 episodes through December. The show is set to premiere on Netflix in 2016.
