‘Luke Cage’ Star Mike Colter on Playing Black Superhero: ‘We Did Not Have an Agenda’

TCA 2016: “It’s an overwhelming task to carry this thing on your shoulders,” Colter says of responsibility to black community

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Marvel/Netflix

Mike Colter, star of Netflix’s “Luke Cage,” insists that the show isn’t about a black superhero, rather a superhero who happens to be black.

“That’s not something we were trying to overtly do. We did not have an agenda,” Colter said at the TCA summer press tour on Wednesday. But Colter also said he understands the importance of black characters in the world.

“It’s important in the landscape of television and I think globally,” he said. “When they look at black culture it’s important that we have positive images. It’s an overwhelming task to carry this thing on your shoulders.”

Interestingly though, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker began his comments at the show’s San Diego Comic Con panel by saying, “The world is ready for a bulletproof black man,” apparently in reference to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The third of Netflix’s five planned Marvel series stars Colter as the indestructible Luke Cage, a role he originated on “Jessica Jones,” starring Krysten Ritter, which debuted in November.

Cage is bulletproof and essentially invulnerable to harm thanks to an experiment conducted on him while he was incarcerated in Seagate Prison.

Coker wrote the first two episodes of “Luke Cage” in addition to serving as showrunner and executive producer on the series from Marvel Studios in association with ABC Studios. Mahershala Ali, Alfre Woodard, Theo Rossi, Rosario Dawson and Simone Missick will also star.

“Luke Cage” will premiere on Netflix Sept. 30.

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