A Marvel Netflix Hero Is the New Mayor of New York City
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Devil's Reign #6. It's a time of change for Daredevil and the residents of New York City. In the fallout of Devil's Reign, Matt Murdock's twin brother Mike is dead at the hands of Wilson Fisk, who now holds the title of former Kingpin of Crime and Mayor of New York City. When Marvel's heroes discovered Fisk was using his political power to deputize villains and put citizens at risk, they came up with a plan to have one of their own run against him in the mayor race. Their choice turned out to be Luke Cage, one of the many street-level heroes to have their Marvel Netflix show transition over to Disney+.
Daredevil and Elektra faced off with Fisk and his wife Typhoid Mary, resulting in the current mayor being arrested for his crimes. Thanks to his son Butch, Fisk was able to escape and ran off with Typhoid Mary to lead a peaceful life outside of the limelight. This leads Luke Cage to run for mayor unopposed, which means the Hero for Hire is all set to replace Fisk and represent the Big Apple. What makes Luke Cage such a natural fit for New York City Mayor is he's considered one of the people. He doesn't have a secret identity and isn't a billionaire like Tony Stark.
This actually comes up early in Devil's Reign, when heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil are trying to decide who should run against Fisk in the next election. Tony Stark wants to take on the honor, but everyone agrees it has to be Luke. As Jessica says, "Rich Dude versus Rich Dude" isn't the best path to victory. To win an election, you have to inspire people, and that's one thing Luke Cage excels in. Devil's Reign #1 saw Luke give one of his inspirational speeches while fighting Shocker on the New York streets. Bystanders recorded the entire ordeal on their cellphones while Luke Cage told the audience exactly what they needed to hear about Fisk's dirty dealings.
Devil's Reign: Omega #1 will reveal more details about Luke Cage and his mission statement as Mayor. Marvel has already announced one of his plans, and that's reclaiming the Thunderbolts name. Writer Jim Zub and artist Sean Izaakse are reuniting for a new volume of Thunderbolts, which also happens to be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Hawkeye (Clint Barton) leads this new iteration with America Chavez, Spectrum, the younger Power Man, Persuasion, the Purple Man's daughter Persuasion, and a new character named Gutsen Glory.
"It's definitely not the kind of team line-up that readers might expect for Thunderbolts, and that's intentional. Don't get me wrong, I love the original team line-up and had a blast writing back in 2016-2017, but this iteration is operating differently by design," Zub told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview.
"Our new Thunderbolts team arrive thanks to things that happen at the end of Devil's Reign. Without spoiling that, the idea here is that Luke Cage and Hawkeye want to reform the Thunderbolts team name after it's been dragged through the mud by Wilson Fisk's blatantly criminal crew."
Do you think Luke Cage has what it takes to be the Mayor of New York City? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!