Hopefully, by now you’ve had the chance to check out the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe family, Netflix’s Luke Cage. The superpowered hero of Harlem made his debut this past Friday and the response has been so resoundingly positive, that the streaming service was actually temporarily down as a result of the high viewership volume.
Now that the third member of the forthcoming ‘Defenders’ team has joined the fray along with Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the street level guardians of New York are doing some serious world building. This particular series may have even had more references and easter eggs than any of its predecessors. These are seven of the most important points addressed throughout season one of ‘Luke Cage’:
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Justin Hammer
There was some speculation before the show’s premiere whether there would be a genuine effort to link the series to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Luckily, in the very first episode, as well as several times after, there were several references to Justin Hammer and Hammer Technologies, the chief rival of Tony Stark and antagonist from ‘Iron Man 2’.
Mariah Dillard
Alfre Woodard’s involvement in this series may have caused some confusion, especially after her brief appearance in this summer’s Captain America: Civil War. While most had speculated that she may be the first real concrete link between the MCU and the Netflix series’, it turns out she is actually playing two different characters with no distinguishing link, except of course for their apparent disdain for superheroes.
Heroes for Hire
Several times throughout the season, Luke Cage was either offered a job or told he should charge for his services as a protector. These offers were consistently made as subtle references to his several team-up endeavors with Iron Fist as “Heroes for Hire”, where they do exactly that.
Cottonmouth
While Diamondback exacts his supervillain destiny and dons the live-action version of his mechanized armor, Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes met his demise before he could become this version of his counterpart. In the comics, Cottonmouth actually gets his name from his array of indestructible, razor-sharp metal teeth, along with his traditional snake-themed outfit.
Power Man
One of the most obvious comic book references made was Luke Cage’s Power Man outfit. Upon his escape from prison, he makes his way to steal some getaway threads from a clothing line, which wound up being his entire comic book costume, complete with the billowing yellow shirt.
Stan Lee
As with any MCU event, you might have been wondering when the legendary Stan “The Man” Lee would make his due cameo. In ‘Luke Cage’, it doesn’t come for quite a while. Episode 12, ‘’, (17 and a half minutes in) right before Method Man’s appearance, you can see a poster featuring Stan in a police outfit hanging right outside the convenience store.
Judas Bullets
The experimental rounds Diamondback came to use against Luke, the “Judas” bullets, were said to have been made of an alien metal. Keeping that information in mind, Claire later says that the properties of the alloy were similar to Luke’s biology, which is able to absorb and deflect energy, making him indestructible. The information at hand points to the origin of the metal being none other than Vibranium, the material both Captain America’s shield and Black Panther’s suit are forged from.
