Marvel’s Luke Cage Showrunner and Star Explain How It Brushes Against Today’s Politics

The world of Marvel’s Luke Cage looks a lot like the world outside today. There’s anger, and frustration. There’s a sense that the whole world around these people, from the kids to the wizened older residents of Harlem, could implode at any minute. What can they do? What can the community do? How can they stop it all from caving in?

That’s where Luke Cage finds himself when he heads to Harlem in the show, premiering on Netflix this September in 180 countries. And that’s no accident. The world of Luke Cage is meant to be the world of today – with a little added bonus of superpowers.

“This is really an era in which it’s a fascinating time to have a bulletproof black man exist in the world. One of the things I thought about in terms of an overall theme is that when you look at neighborhoods, people step aside or don’t step up because of the consequences,” showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker told Comicbook.com Thursday at San Diego Comic-Con. “There’s been this whole thing for years of no snitchin’. Snitches don’t just get stitches [anymore], they get bullets. So what happens when you introduce a bulletproof black man into a situation? How does that affect how the cops deal with the situation? How does that affect how the criminals deal with the situation? How does that affect the community in terms of their view of what’s happening, and whether or not they step up?”

Of course, in this case, Luke doesn’t necessarily want to step up, until in Mighty Marvel fashion, he realizes he has to.

“If this hero himself is reluctant about being a hero, how does that help him when he thinks about it, come into this mantle of responsibility? It’s not a responsibility everyone would want! All these issues, we deal with within the context of the Marvel universe. Mind you, the first two episodes were written last August or September…” Coker said.

“It seems like [now] it’s starting to bubble up and climax – or you hope it’s a climax, because ultimately… it’s timely. There’s no agenda. It just so happens to be that this is a story we’re telling right now, and it feels really timely,” added star Mike Colter of the political climate of today being matched on the show. “I look at it as one of those things where, Luke Cage is a guy who doesn’t want to solve problems with violence. He looks at his bulletproof skin, his impenetrable skin and his super strength allows him to have a voice, and not be afraid. There’s a difference between using your powers to invoke something and manipulate a situation, versus giving yourself the space to speak.”

He doesn’t use his powers – or at least doesn’t want to use them – just to bash some heads (though they promised plenty of action).

“Because he doesn’t have to be afraid of anyone; he’s afraid of his past, but he’s not afraid of cops, he’s not afraid of bad guys, because he can deal with it. I think it’s an idea we’re just starting to explore and hopefully it opens up another conversation,” Colter explained. “It’s a conversation that has to be had. Ultimately, it’s going to be something that has to bring both sides together, because people right now think there’s two sides, the cops and the perceived suspects; really, we’re all one. There’s a fear because of the unknown, and we have to bridge that gap. I think Luke Cage is the kind of person that deals with both sides. He can walk into the neighborhood and talk to the guy on the corner, but he can also go back and talk to a cop.”

To that end, Coker and Colter were never actively trying to make the show political, just trying to reflect the real world – and hopefully change a mind or two.

“It’s no accident that Luke Cage wears hoodies. Because of what happened to Trayvon Martin. My first reaction from my kids, when they saw some of the initial things we had planned for Luke Cage, was ‘Daddy, why is he dressed like a thug?’ To me, I’ve been wearing hoodies for 25 years!” Coker said. “I want people to understand that you cannot judge a book by its cover. Heroes wear hoodies too. This hero exists in the world of now. There was no way we could’ve imagined things would be the way they are right now, but at they same time, we didn’t want to get so mired in all the politics that it got in the way of telling a good story. One of the things about comicbooks, always, and I’m a huge X-Men fan, going back to Chris Claremont, John Byrne, what they did when I was a kid, first reading comicbooks, even Jeph Loeb [he said, gesturing to Loeb standing behind him], you know, they always managed to treat superpowers and the responsibilities that come with that in ways that had to do with the human condition. Yes, we want to deal with things, but we never want it to get in the way of the genre, because we love comicbooks and we love superheroes and these stories.”

The end solution, Coker hopes, is to get the best of all worlds.

“The fun thing is that we can exist with both and at the same time have really dope music? What’s not to like!” he said with a grin.

Luke Cage premieres on Netflix September 30, 2016.