After making his debut as Luke Cage in last year's Jessica Jones, Mike Colter is set to return this September 30 in his character's standalone series. Mahershala Ali, who is best known for playing Remy Danton in House of Cards and Boggs in The Hunger Games movies, will be seen as the main antagonist, Cottonmouth, in the upcoming Marvel-Netflix venture.
In a recent interview with GQ, the Oakland-born actor says that he's "excited" about Marvel's Luke Cage, and claims that it will "just be amazing" for people to get to see an African-American superhero on screen. There weren't any when he was growing up.
During the interview, Mahershala Ali also talks about the musical inspiration for Cottonmouth. It is to be noted that he's a guy who always makes mix tapes for every character he's playing. The 42-year-old actor states:
For Cottonmouth I used a wide range of music, because he is a musician. I also wanted to be mindful of the fact that he was from Harlem. So some of the hip hop I used was specific to artists from uptown and the Bronx: Big L, Diamond D, Brand Nubian; as well as D’Angelo, Mobb Deep, Kanye, and Erykah Badu.
Music, of course, plays an integral role in setting up the unique tone of Luke Cage. Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has already said that every single episode of the first season will be titled after a song by the East Coast hip hop duo Gang Starr.
We already know the titles of the first eight Luke Cage episodes: Moment of Truth, Code of Streets, Who's Gonna Take the Weight?, Step in the Arena, Just to Get a Rep, Suckas Need Bodyguards, Manifest, and Blowin' Up the Spot.
The showrunner has recently announced the titles for the ninth and tenth episodes of the Netflix series via his official Twitter account. Check out his tweets below!
NINE: DWYCK
"” Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) August 17, 2016
TEN: Take it Personal
"” Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) August 17, 2016
In other news, Mike Colter's superhero with unbreakable skin is the cover boy of SFX's latest issue. You can click here to check out a preview for the issue, which includes the cover, as well as another photo featuring Luke Cage.
