By this stage in the game, all four of Netflix and Marvel’s primary anti-heroes have headlined their own solo series – Frank Castle notwithstanding – in anticipation of The Defenders.
We’ve had Matt Murdock, the lawyer-by-day who spends his evenings stalking the streets of NYC as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, before Netflix and Marvel ushered Jessica Jones into the spotlight soon thereafter. Krysten Ritter’s unruly Defender, a borderline-alcoholic with a superhero problem, is arguably one of the more compelling pieces fuelling Marvel’s team-up series, but that’s not to say Luke Cage and Iron Fist were completely devoid of memorable characters.
After all, the latter spinoff introduced viewers to Colleen Wing and Danny Rand, while Luke Cage was chock-full of glowering baddies. From Cottonmouth to the souped-up Diamondback, Cheo Hodari Coker’s standalone series pulled no punches in testing our Hero for Hire, but Hernan Alvarez (AKA Shades) was arguably the unsung villain of Luke Cage. Dubbed the Littlefinger of Harlem, it was Theo Rossi who brought the scheming gangster to life so brilliantly, and we now have confirmation that Shades will be back, back, back for Luke Cage season 2.
Chatting to Parade (via ComicBook), Rossi revealed that his ice-cool baddie will be back to cause headaches for Mike Colter’s Power Man, and it seems the show’s sophomore season is ready to fire up production sooner rather than later.
“Luke Cage is going down, [we’re in] season two. We’re pretty excited, it’ll be nice to get back into the swing.”
The Defenders has been labeled the priority for Netflix and Marvel – and rightly so – ahead of its premiere on August 18th, but with Jessica Jones season 2 already lensing on the streets of NYC, don’t be too surprised if Luke Cage follows suit over the coming months.
