The great Hannah Montana once reminded us all that nobody’s perfect and Luke Cage (Mike Colter), despite his new bulletproof upgrade, is far from it. In a new trailer released by Netflix, he’s reluctant, not sure of what he is and just wants to live his life day-to-day instead of revisiting a troubled past. However, as Pop (Frankie Faison) puts it, “that would be a waste,” and even he can’t ignore the desperate calls from Harlem, begging for a new hero.
So here we are, with the Black Lives Matter movement in full force, watching a black man in a hoodie walk the streets without the fear of getting shot because he’s, well, bulletproof. As a woman of color, I must say that’s pretty inspiring. It’s an image I needed to see after so many others in the media showing black bodies either in handcuffs or laying dead in the streets. But no, that’s not what will happen here because he’s the hero. He’s who we all will aspire to be.
“There are going to be so many kids out there who get to see a black man on that screen and aspire to be like him. We didn’t have that. They get to be included,” Mahershala Ali, who plays the villainous Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, told USA Today.
What he’s speaking to is something I’ve experienced personally. Growing up and seeing white heroes as the default, there’s this silent but still deafening howler screaming at you in all caps that “YOU. DON’T. MATTER.” There were so many times where I wanted to have lighter skin and straighter hair just so I can be like Sailor Moon or Kimberly in the Power Rangers or, heck, even Melissa Joan Hart in Clarissa Explains It All. But every now and then, someone who looked like me would come along and make me feel like I could do anything. Back then, it was Storm in the animated X-Men series and Mel B. from the Spice Girls. Today, kids get to have Luke Cage.
Even if you set aside the social impact it will have on black kids everywhere, the show just looks like it will deliver. Saying that isn’t much of a stretch given what we’ve already seen with Daredevil, Jessica Jones and this chilling new trailer which features a fist literally crumbling against his rock-solid jaw. Goosebumps, I tell you!
If you’re still harboring doubts about the show which hits Netflix on Sept. 30 and will include the likes of Rosario Dawson, Alfre Woodard and Simone Missick as Misty Knight, let the man with impenetrable skin himself ease your worries: “I’ve got you.”
(via Deadline, image via Screencapture)
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