Marvel’s Luke Cage Star Mike Colter Reveals What It Would Take to Return to MCU

Luke Cage actor Mike Colter is a Hero for Hire — if he’s not too busy battling evil.

The Evil star played the bulletproof Harlem hero in Marvel’s Jessica Jones for Netflix, reprising the role in his own two-season show and the crossover miniseries The Defenders. The MCU series from Cheo Hodari Coker, which also starred a pre-Blade Mahershala Ali, was the second Marvel-Netflix series to be canceled after Iron Fist and was part of a string of cancellations that saw Defenders-verse shows Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and Daredevil axedat the streamer back in 2018. 

Colter would return as Luke Cage “only if it doesn’t affect my schedule in a way that I can’t do another season of Evil,” the actor told ComicBook of his hit series, which premieres its fourth and final season May 23 on Paramount+. “I mean, I would totally entertain a good script and idea that made sense.”

Marvel Studios has already revived Charlie Cox’s Daredevil for Spider-Man: No Way Home, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Echo, and brought back Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin for the Disney+ series Hawkeye and Echo. The Marvel’s Daredevil co-stars will next reunite for Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again, a new show and continuation that will see Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, and Jon Bernthal reprise their respective roles as Karen, Foggy, and Frank Castle/The Punisher.

“I don’t stay up at night thinking about it, nor do I recall it unless someone brings it up,” Colter added of his superhero stint. “But I enjoyed my time. I don’t look in the past. If something comes up, great, we’ll talk about it. But right now, I’m [past it].”

The actor, 47, last appeared as the impenetrable-skinned superhero in the Luke Cage season 2 finale in 2018, which ended with Cage declaring himself the “sheriff” of Harlem. But Colter isn’t opposed to having the role recast with another actor.

“I just try to stay in reasonable shape just because, but I don’tthink about Luke Cage opportunities,” he explained to ComicBook in 2023. “It’s one of those things where it’s in the rear view mirror atthis point. If somehow I get a call, my dance card is kind of full.”

“I’mhappy, more than happy, to let someone else take on that mantle or thatrole. That character’s living on for a long time,” Colter continued. “Fans are going to havethat character in one way, shape, or form for the rest of their lives,and I’m happy to have been a part of that for those guys.”

Evil season 4 is streaming May 23 on Paramount+. Sign up for Paramount+ for free here.