Moviefone Editorial

Tag: daredevil

  • Charlie Cox Loves the Easter Eggs in ‘Marvel’s The Defenders’

    'Marvel's The Defenders' New York PremiereYou don’t need Daredevil’s radar senses to pick up on the excitement building around the long-anticipated arrival of “Marvel’s Defenders,” and now that the street-level super-team is about to make its debut, Charlie Cox says that, at least for him, the wait was worth it.

    In the new series, which, like its big-screen counterpart “Luke Cage (Jessica Jones (Iron Fist (Finn Jones) to save New York from the mystical ninja death cult The Hand, led by the enigmatic Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) and her newly resurrected assassin, Murdock’s deadly paramour Elektra (Elodie Yung).

    With two seasons of stories already under Daredevil’s belt, the Man Without Fear has a crucial part to play in the team-up, and as Cox reveals to Moviefone, the actor was more than a little invested in making sure the series lived up to the hype.

    Moviefone: The anticipation has been building among the fans as each new show rolled out, but how about for you? Were you feeling an extra little jolt when you started work on this, finally getting the chance to work with the three other leads of the Netflix-Marvel shows?

    Charlie Cox: Yeah. It’s a funny thing, really, because I knew that this was coming when I signed the contract. In 2014, when I was signed on to do “Daredevil,” I knew that they were planning on making the show, so it’s been in the back of my mind for quite a while now — me more than any of the others, I think, because I was cast first.

    So it’s been really exciting, and as the other shows have been made, and I’ve enjoyed watching them all so much, and getting to know the other guys — but really just from passing them in corridors, in the studio and stuff like that, and never really actually spending any real time together — and then all being thrown together to this show, it was just lovely, and such a fun bunch of people.

    Even the ones of us who didn’t grow up on comic books, we’ve kind of become fans now, because we’re so invested in these characters. And so, in a way, “Defenders” was particularly enjoyable, because we got to enjoy all the real geeky fan moments and the Easter eggs.

    When it came to sharing scenes with Mike and Finn and Krysten, tell me about the kinds of chemistry you found you had with each of those actors in your characters. And what was the fun of that bumping against each other?

    I mean, a lot of the relationships were kind of decided for us by the writers, you know what I mean? So it was clear early on that Danny and Matt would have a kind of [sibling relationship]. Matt’s kind of an older brother to Danny, and kind of takes him under his wing a little bit, and tries to mentor him. Not that he needs it per se, but maybe he’s a little more hot-headed, and can be a little more irrational than Matt.

    Jessica’s kind of like everyone’s older sister, and Matt and Jessica have a lot of really fun scenes together. That dynamic is interesting, because they don’t initially like each other very much, and I think they actually learned to kind of respect and admire one another, even against their will, kind of thing. And then Luke’s simple, because he’s just cool, you know no one messes with him. No one’s going to mess with him, so he just kind of sits back, and just is cool.

    “The Defenders” really does advance the Daredevil/Matt Murdock story in particular, more than the other leads, as far as what we’ve been following on the “Daredevil” series. What did it mean to you to kind of know that this story, even though it was an ensemble piece, was going to affect Daredevil’s storyline and his life in such a significant way?

    You know, I don’t think that was intentional. I actually just think that the reason for that is twofold: one, Matt’s already had two seasons of his character’s show, so there’s already been another 13 hours of investment into his character, so we know more about him. We’ve learned more. We’ve seen him in more kind of situations. I think that does mean that when you watch “The Defenders,” you bring more baggage to it than maybe other characters would.

    But also, because of the way the stories came together, this story is personal for Matt. Initially, it’s not personal for Jessica and Luke. They don’t know who The Hand is. They’ve never come across an organization like that. And so Matt and Danny have to kind of explain that to them and bring them in and help them kind of get their heads around what we’re dealing with. But for Matt and Danny, the story’s personal, so from a character point of view, I think that that can be sometimes a little bit more engaging.

    And audiences have been waiting to see what the next chapter in Matt’s relationship with Elektra was going to turn out to be, based on what they know from the classic comic book story arc. Tell me about finding such a clever way to integrate that classic storyline into this “Defenders” run.

    Yeah, that’s an interesting one. I don’t really know — I think it divides people a little bit. I think there’s some people who really enjoy what they’ve seen, and there are others who feel like the elements of Elektra that we love the most aren’t as apparent — at least initially aren’t as apparent — in the series.

    What I liked about it from a character point of view is that Matt is usually relatively sensible and to some degree able to not let his emotions get so hold of him that he makes bad decisions, but in this case, because of everything that happened with Elektra, because of the feelings that he has towards her, because of the guilt that he feels based on what happened to her, he allows himself to believe that she might really be back from the dead, as it were. And that false belief sends him down a path that almost endangers himself and the others.

    We get to explore that relationship a little bit more, but it’s slightly different now, because the boundaries have changed drastically, what with her being undead.

    Daredevil has historically been one of the most conflicted superheroes, and we still see that that conflict is playing out in this series. For you, what’s interesting and challenging about bringing that aspect of Matt and Daredevil to life?

    Look, I think I got so lucky with Matt Murdoch, especially if you’re going to play a character on TV rather than a film, where you’ve got a couple of hours to play a character. On a TV show, you arguably will go on for season after season. I’ve already done thirtysomething hours of this guy. So you really need something, you need some interesting dynamics within the character in order to keep making him compelling, and of course, with Matt, there’s so many.

    Just the obvious ones being that he’s religious. He believes in God. He’s a Catholic, but at the same time, he plays God to some extent. And so I think he believes in the laws of the universe and God’s law, and yet he’ll go out at night and beat the sh*t out of people, because he deems their actions to be sinful. Similarly, he’s a lawyer, and that is also in conflict with his nighttime activities as a masked vigilante. He believes in the law. He believes in order. He believes in the justice system, and yet he takes the law into his own hands.

    And so, what these shows do pretty well, I think, is that we get to see that in action. We get to see Matt go out and be a vigilante. We get to see him be a lawyer. We get to see him in church with the priest, but then we also get to see him at home alone, and sitting with those feelings, and feeling the loneliness and the shame of that inner conflict, and that for me is what makes him a compelling character.

    All of the Marvel-Netflix shows have fun playing with the superhero costume elements — how deeply you want to lean in to that, how soon you’re going to lean in to that — and you get to have some more fun in “Defenders” by playing a Daredevil without some of the traditional suit stuff that we’ve now come to see. Is that more fun for you than playing it in the suit, or do you sometimes want the suit to make you feel like Daredevil?

    That’s a really good question — I don’t know! I really love how the suit came about in the “Daredevil” seasons. The storyline that led towards the suit, for me, justified it, and I need that. If I engage in a superhero TV show or film or whatever, that’s the one hurdle that I need to get over in order to really love it. I don’t like it when the character puts on a suit just because they want to feel cool or something like that.

    It needs to make logical sense to me, and I thought they did it really well in Season 1, whereby it happened after 12 hours of footage, and it came about for two reasons. One, because protection was needed. He needed a material that was going to protect his body better, because he was being so beat up.

    But also because his friend, the priest, had mentioned this alter ego being something like a symbol, something that was consistent and something that wasn’t trying to hide in the shadows, but was actually very visible — and therefore, would help hopefully kind of encourage petty criminals to beware of their behavior kind of thing.

    Going into “Defenders,” I don’t think you can have Matt just show up in a Daredevil suit straight away. There’s almost too many jokes to be made — I think you’d have to do an entire episode where Jessica Jones and Luke Cage make funny jokes about it, you know? So they had to find a way of tying it in so that it emerged organically, with a few jokes, obviously, but it has to come at a time where it makes sense. And I feel they handled that really well, yeah.

    This show was modeled in the vein of the way that the Marvel movies led to “The Avengers,” but that was always a step-by-step process, whereas you guys knew straightaway this was going to happen. Tell me about the feeling now that you accomplished that big goal. What kind of satisfaction have you walked away knowing that you got there and were all able to, all four of you, get together and pull this off?

    I mean, we’ll see when it comes out! We’ll see what the fan reaction is, but it feels like a cool accomplishment to have done these four shows, and made this kind of team-up version of it. It feels like it’s a nice cherry on top. Kind of a full circle situation.

    I get nervous, because I really hope the fans appreciate it. I hope they like it. I know how important these characters are to people, and so it’s tremendous fun that we have making the show, but it’s also really important that the fans feel like we did the characters justice.

    I feel like we did a great job. We did our best. We tried to make a really fun, interesting, different show that was different from the individual shows, so now we just cross our fingers and hope for the best.

  • Official Trailer for ‘Marvel’s The Defenders’ Is a Massive Hit

    Guys, the war for New York is here. So get your sh*t together. Netflix just dropped a seriously badass official trailer for “Marvel’s The Defenders,” bringing together Marvel/Netflix heroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. This is the epic teamwork the franchise has been building toward, after releasing individual series for each character.

    The trailer does not disappoint — from Nirvana’s “Come As You Are,” to the solid one-liners, to this amazing hallway fight:

    They even have their own amusing dinner scene toward the end. (If only it were shawarma in honor of “The Avengers.”)

    Check it out:So far, fans seem to approve, with #TheDefenders trending on Twitter, and the reactions looking … almost completely positive? Is that even possible? Did we just jinx it?

    Here’s the synopsis:

    “Marvel’s The Defenders follows Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). A quartet of singular heroes with one common goal – to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who realize they just might be stronger when teamed together.”

    This Netflix original series will stream globally on August 18.

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  • Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple Won’t Be in Netflix’s ‘The Punisher’

    Rosario Dawson isn’t taking a shift on Netflix’s “The Punisher.”

    The actress has appeared as nurse Claire Temple in all of the streaming service’s Marvel series so far, first on “Daredevil” and through this summer’s “The Defenders.” But she won’t be making a cameo on “The Punisher,” which stars Jon Bernthal as the lethal Frank Castle.

    “At the end of the day, it’s really hard to get all of those casts together. For ‘The Defenders,’ it was difficult to get everybody together. People are busy!” she told Collider. “I really wanted to do a cameo on ‘The Punisher,’ but it doesn’t always work that way.”

    Claire had substantive roles in “Daredevil” and “Luke Cage,” but just minor cameos in “Jessica Jones” and “Iron Fist.”

    Perhaps this is a way of separating “The Punisher” as a spinoff, rather than a sibling to the other Marvel series. Frank Castle isn’t appearing in “The Defenders,” and Frank and Claire never met in “Daredevil.” The only related character joining Frank (so far) is Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen.

    “The Defenders” begins streaming August 18, while “The Punisher” is likely to premiere sometime later this year.

  • 12 New Shows You Should Watch to Fill That ‘Game of Thrones’-Shaped Hole in Your Life

    12 New Shows You Should Watch to Fill That ‘Game of Thrones’-Shaped Hole in Your Life

  • Ouch: ‘Marvel’s Iron Fist’ Is Taking Serious Punches From Critics

    It’s just weird to see critics trashing anything with the word “Marvel” attached to it. Usually Marvel is up there with Pixar as an automatic “A.” But not “Marvel’s Iron Fist.”

    Unlike the previous three Netflix series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Iron Fist” is being flattened. “Daredevil” currently has an 87 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Jessica Jones” is at 93 percent. “Luke Cage” is at 96 percent. “Iron Fist” is joining them as the fourth Netflix/Marvel show leading up to “The Defenders” crossover miniseries … and it’s currently at 14 percent. (Its Metascore is currently at 33.)

    There’s still a week before the series debuts on March 17, so it’s possible a heap of positive critiques will follow. And some fans may feel the opposite of critics, liking this show in a way they did not for previous Marvel titles. But still. This is a bad, and surprising, sign.

    And the critics who didn’t like it, really didn’t like it. Entertainment Weekly gave “Iron Fist” a “D,” destroying it in this opening paragraph:

    “Marvel’s Iron Fist isn’t just the wimpiest punch ever thrown by the world’s mightiest superhero factory. The new Netflix binge swings and misses so bad that it spins itself around and slaps itself silly with a weirdly flaccid hand. But even that might be generous. ‘Swing and a miss’ implies effort. Iron Fist — devoid of vision, lacking in executional chops — barely even tries. It assumes its own marvelousness and proceeds tediously from there, offering few satisfactions for any possible audience. The media was only given six of the season’s 13 episodes for review, but I was snoozing after two and ready to check out after three. This is yellow belt drama that deserves to flunk out of the TV dojo.”

    Daaaaaaamn. They’re not alone, though. Uproxx wrote, “It’s easily the worst of the Netflix Marvel shows and an unfortunate illustration of the perils of miscasting.” Variety complained, “It takes forever for anything to happen on Iron Fist, and as it stumbles along, the uninspired production design, unexceptional cinematography, and painful dialogue fail to distract the viewer from the overall lack of depth, detail, or momentum.”

    There are some defenders, though. In a “fresh” review, Collider wrote, “Iron Fist isn’t terrible, and some of it is actually very good, but it should be so much better.” Empire wrote, “Iron Fist works some fantastical flavour into the MCU’s down-to-earth Defenders nook, but it needs more proper kung-fu flair than showrunner Buck allows.”

    There’s still time for “Iron Fist” to pull a critical comeback, and the reviews may not matter anyway, since 92 percent of RT users said they want to watch the series. Fans have their own opinions, and these harsh critiques may just set low expectations, leaving viewers pleasantly surprised.

    “Marvel’s Iron Fist” arrives Friday, March 17 on Netflix.

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  • Here’s Your First Look at Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’

    the defenders, marvel, netflix, jessica jones, luke cage, daredevil, iron fistIt’s a superhero team-up that’s been more than three years in the making, and soon, Marvel’s “The Defenders” series will finally be hitting Netflix. Now, we have a sneak peek at the titular heroes together for the first time.

    In Daredevil (Jessica Jones (Luke Cage (Iron Fist (Finn Jones) — and debuted an awesome new image of the foursome. Each hero stares down the camera, looking tough and ready to tackle whatever challenge comes his or her way.

    As for what it is exactly that makes them decide to join forces in the first place, it’s still a bit of a mystery, though Marvel TV head honcho Jeph Loeb explains in an interview with EW that each of the heroes’ individual series has been carefully plotted so that their meeting in “The Defenders” is a natural extension of their existing stories. They’ll first come face-to-face in a crowded (read: filled with enemies) corridor in the Midland Circle offices, a nod to a plot line from “Daredevil,” from which they’ll have to fight their way out.

    “Every one of them is following their own trail of bread crumbs, trying to unpack a mystery in New York,” showrunner Marco Ramirez told EW of the lead-up to the big team-up. “We wanted them all caught off guard. Once they’re in that room together, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, s—, who are you?’”

    Fans will be able to witness that fateful meeting themselves when “The Defenders” hits Netflix sometime this summer.

    [via: Entertainment Weekly]

  • How Vincent D’Onofrio Conjured His ‘Emerald City’ Wizard

    Emerald City - Season 1As an actor, Vincent D’Onofrio has long been great and powerful — and now he’s the great and powerful Oz.

    NBC’s ambitious, expectation-bending new series, “Emerald City,” which bows Jan. 6, challenges the pop cultural perception of author L. Frank Baum’s long beloved series of novels set in the land of Oz as largely defined by the classic 1939 musical “Game of Thrones” –flavored sensibility.

    And that includes the show’s interpretation of the Wizard: he’s still a man from the earthly realm who found his way to Oz and achieved a position of tremendous power, but he’s also a haunted, lonely, isolated figure with an enigmatic agenda and precarious hold on his position.

    And as D’Onofrio — who still expects to revive his acclaimed portrayal of “Daredevil’s” Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, very soon — reveals to Moviefone it’s another opportunity to subtly shade a role that’s existed in the pop conscious in a less complex incarnation.

    Moviefone: When you get offered a role like this, I’m sure it comes with a lot of thoughts like, “Well, OK. We know the movie. We know that there’s a bunch of books by L. Frank Baum. What are we bringing to the table?” How did you wrap your head around what you were all doing, since this was such a fresh take — and what you wanted to bring to it?

    Vincent D’Onofrio: I was fortunate to come in late. I heard that [filmmaker/producer] Tarsem [Singh] was doing it, so I asked Tarsem if I could play the Wizard. I hadn’t even read the script … [then] I read a few of them, so my entry into the whole story and how I realized it was through the character of the Wizard: how we could take it further than he was in the original script?

    And they reacted so positively to it and started writing immediately. We were talking about all different aspects and how far we could go with it, his psychology and why he is the way he is, what makes him the fraud that he is in the original, but what really makes him that, whether it’s issues with self-worth and things like this. So we got pretty far deep into that, and I was reading, reading, reading.

    I just loved that the take that I had on the Wizard as I was reading, I realized that that was the movie. You get to learn page by page who the Lion is, who the Tin Man is, who Dorothy is. And you’re like, “Oh sh*t. That’s the Lion! He’s going to be the Lion on that.” “That guy’s going to turn into the Tin Man!” But you knew this through their emotional makeup as human beings, or as beings, and I thought that was fascinating.

    So the more we dove into the character of the Wizard with Tarsem, and the more I read, and finally I read the whole 10 hours of it, I was so immersed in the world. I couldn’t wait to start. I’d come up with the voice. We’d do a couple of different things. He has different voices at different times, and he has a different look in public than he does in private. It was very interesting stuff.

    Once you got to work, and you also had the costumes and his environment to play with and help inform you, tell me a little bit about how they affected you and what you wanted to do.

    I really try hard not to stick my nose in everybody’s business. I really try hard. But when you have such an amazing project like this, you can’t help but never stop thinking about it. So even the way we approached the wardrobe, it’s kind of in a way Falstaffian, in a way at times. I wanted that kind of Shakespeare [feel], like maybe an actor from, like, the ’70s, a British actor in the ’70s, doing Shakespeare. Like with the weird hair, and with the wigs and everything. I really wanted to do that kind of a thing.

    They just loved the idea. At one point in the show, I’m wearing a bald cap, a wig on top of the bald cap, and then a wig on top of that. So there’s the bald cap which is supposed to be me, really, and there’s a wig on top of that, which is supposed to be really the Wizard’s hair, and bald cap, and then a wig that everybody knows is not the Wizard’s hair on top of that. So you get to go deeper and deeper into his psyche and what makes him up.

    We took the idea of — in the original “Wizard of Oz,” in the movie, anyway, the musical — how they project that image that he has, that image projector. Instead of projecting image, in this he brings the image forward.

    Obviously, the Baum work has proven to be timeless over 100 years. Did you see something sort of allegorical in this interpretation that was really relevant to us today?

    All of my life — and everybody else’s life as well, obviously — there are always different factions in society. As you get older and you start to become more and more aware and realize what these factions stand for, these ideologies and these beliefs, you start to understand the scope of society better, and how things change the world, and how lands like Oz or a city like Emerald City, or a country like ours, the countries in Europe and all over the world, how they move into being far right and far left, and being military and non-military, and forming alliances with other countries that sometimes people end up backing out of.

    All that goes on in Oz, just like it does here. All of it. Everything that I just said goes on. And you just hope for the best, like we do in real life. You just hope that, in the end, people are good, and that people really prefer to be calm inside themselves, and that’s their favorite thing. So you just have to hope that in Oz that that’s going on as well. That in the end, people are going to prefer for there not to be war, and there not to be overt manipulation, and a lot of lying going on and a lot of behind the scenes deals being made. So it’s pretty relevant.

    This is another seemingly larger than life but very rooted in reality character you’ve gotten to play for TV, “Daredevil’s” Wilson Fisk being the most recent before the Wizard. Tell me what you liked about that character, and how you see these men, like the Wizard and like Wilson Fisk. It would be easy to be caricature-ish with them, but you find a way to make them feel real.

    It’s always interesting. I’m sure you can relate to this, you’re a writer: we all have things that we create. Some of them are on bigger scales than others, but so what? It’s still just about ourselves creating a certain thing. So to hear people talk about him in the way that you are, it’s very interesting to me because the only answer I can really give you to that is that it’s my job, and I approach it in a very kind of academic kind of way.

    I’m not a very romantic actor in the sense that I don’t live the characters. I used to when I was young. Now that I have kids and a family, and I hope to be a good father, I have to leave it behind me when I go home, the characters. So, for instance, who Wilson Fisk is comes from a single emotion in my life. One very specific emotion. I won’t tell you what that is, but it’s a very particular emotion that happened during an event in my life at one point, and that’s where his voice comes from. It comes through that all the time, like it never doesn’t. And that’s what makes him who you see him as.

    Then you take a guy like the Wizard, it’s the hiding behind the character. It’s the cloak that we put over ourselves when we don’t want to be seen. It’s a very interesting subject, especially for an actor to deal with. I’m not a kid anymore. I’ve played, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many roles I’ve played. This is something that’s become part of my life, cloaking, disappearing, and there’s a price to be paid for that. So the Wizard character comes from that. So that’s the only way I can answer your question.

    What’s got you excited about returning to the Marvel Universe?

    I always want to be there. Honestly, I’m the biggest kid in the world when it comes to that. James Gunn and I have been tweeting back and forth to each other — I really want to work with him. A good friend of mine is Chris Pratt. We’ve done two films together. He’s just an awesome guy. We want to work together again.

    Then there’s this Netflix Marvel thing that I’m doing. I’m always talking to [Marvel’s Head of Television] Jeph Loeb over there about what we’re going to do next, and when. I just love it. I, of course, am not allowed to talk about anything in particular. But I know for sure that they love Fisk over there, and that Fisk will be back. When is that going to happen? I have no idea.

    I’m as bad as my kids when it comes to movies. Like I’m dying to see a few movies, like “Nocturnal Animals,” right? But I also want to see “Wonder Woman.” That’s what I’m saying: I’m dying to see “Wonder Woman.” I’m dying to see these other films as well. But I’m as big a kid as my kids are when it comes to these movies.

    And, of course, the comic book Wilson Fisk began as a “Spider-Man” villain. How great would it be to play the Kingpin against Tom Holland?

    If it’s part of that story, yeah. It’d be awesome.

  • ‘Marvel’s The Defenders’: Elektra From ‘Daredevil’ Joins Superhero Series

    “Marvel’s The Defenders” won’t lack for familiar faces — and another returning character has just been announced.

    The superhero cross-over series will reunite characters from multiple Netflix shows when it premieres in 2017, and we now know that Elektra Natchios (“Daredevil” will be among them. Elektra made her “Daredevil” debut during Season 2, appearing as a blast from the past for Matt Murdock (Charlie Day). Their history and on-again, off-again relationship, plus her serious combat skills, made for some interesting material.

    Like Elektra, Matt (also known as Daredevil) will star in “The Defenders.” He’ll join forces with Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) to form an all-star superhero team, ready to protect the people of New York City.

    News of Elektra’s involvement came today, in the form of a tweet with a quick glimpse at the character in all her intense glory.

    “The Defenders” will continue Marvel’s adventures on Netflix in 2017.

  • 5 Things You Need to Know Before Watching Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’

    Netflix is about to debut the third pillar of its Marvel lineup, “Luke Cage.”

    This new series will build on the foundation established by shows like “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” and showcase the most bad-ass hero in the Marvel Universe.

    Not familiar with Luke Cage? Don’t worry, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about the new series to dive right in, regardless of whether you’ve watched the other Netflix marvel shows.

    1. It’s a Follow-up to “Jessica Jones”
    One thing that sets this series apart from “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” is that its lead hero is already established before the first episode.

    Mike Colter played a recurring role as Luke Cage in the first season of “Jessica Jones.” This series will pick up several months after that one ended, with Luke returning to Harlem and beginning to use his superhuman strength and durability. Look for this season to delve deeper into Luke’s past, even as he battles a new and dangerous threat to the citizens of Harlem.

    2. The Harlem Setting Is Key
    Unlike “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones,” which both took place in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, Luke Cage” will take place in Harlem. That’s not a minor detail; Harlem is crucial to Luke’s origin story, and it’s a place that allows him to carve out his own little corner of the live-action Marvel Universe.

    The Harlem setting is also important because it allows the show to feature a predominantly African-American cast. With all the deserved calls for increased diversity in superhero movies and TV shows, “Luke Cage” will serve as an important step forward for fans.

    3. A Hero Is Only as Good as His Villain
    Between Kingpin and Kilgrave, Netflix’s Marvel shows have set a very high standard when it comes to villainy. All signs indicate that “Cage” will continue that trend.

    This series’ main villain is Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali, above), a crime lord and nightclub owner with ties to Luke’s past. He’ll be joined by Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), a local politician (and Stokes’ cousin) who is torn between family loyalty and her desire to improve Harlem. Whether or not she is as bad as her cousin remains to be seen.
    This is actually Woodard’s second appearance in the MCU this year. She also played the grieving mother who accosted Tony Stark in “Captain America: Civil War.” The two characters aren’t connected.

    4. This Isn’t Your Typical Marvel Show
    “Cage” will also stand apart from the crowd, thanks to a very hip-hop-influenced sense of style. That includes the performances, with Mahershala Ali revealing that he modeled his character after the late rapper Biggie Smalls. The phrase “neo-blaxploitation” has been used to describe the tone of the series.

    The hip-hop approach definitely extends to the music, as well. “Black Dynamite” composer Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad teamed up to compose the score. This may be the first MCU project since “Guardians of the Galaxy” that really compels viewers to rush out and buy the soundtrack album.

    5. Several Familiar Faces Will Return
    Netflix’s interconnected Marvel Universe is growing more complex with each new season that debuts, and “Luke Cage” will continue to build and expand upon what’s come before. Look for several familiar faces to return in these 13 episodes, including the intrepid nurse Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), mob enforcer Turk Barrett (Rob Morgan), and even Luke’s late wife, Reva (Parisa Fitz-Henley).

    While Netflix is slowly building towards the team-based series “The Defenders,” we don’t know if we’ll see characters like Daredevil or Jessica (Krysten Ritter) in this season. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for some cameo appearances, and maybe even a nod to Luke’s future partner, Iron Fist (Finn Jones).
    However, do expect one Marvel hero to play a major role this season. Luke will be joined by Misty Knight (Simone Missick, above), an NYPD detective who may or may not have superhuman powers and who shares Luke’s desire to clean up Harlem at any cost.

    Early reviews are already describing Missick at the show’s breakout star.

    “Luke Cage” punches into your queue Friday.
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  • Best TV Shows to Watch If You’re a Crime Drama Junkie

    As a crime drama junkie, you already have a handle on the food pyramid of hearty, nutritiously litigious crime TV: “Criminal Minds” is your dependable grains group, the whole dysfunctional “CSI” family has your fruits covered, and “True Detective” is like a crunchy, dense helping of veggies.

    OK, don’t think too much about that analogy. The point is, crime show devotees such as yourself have your bases covered — you’re on that case like Veronica Mars after a double espresso. But like any good detective, you’re also voracious and thorough. No need to bust out the fingerprint dust, though, ’cause we’ve got your back with some outside-the-box crime TV you might be missing out on.

    ‘Fargo’ (2014 – )

    If you’re obsessed with crime, chances are you already love the Coen brothers. And that’s the start of why you should watch “Fargo,” but not the end of it.

    The Coens’ legacy gives “Fargo” its homely, off-kilter, and dryly hilarious flavor, but the show’s in-sync ensemble — from Patrick Wilson to Kirsten Dunst — and its smartly written, labyrinthine plots help it stand apart. It’s a reflection of a unique and time-tested style that’s not afraid to do its own thing. It’s also not afraid to kill off characters, so consider yourself warned.

    ‘The Bridge’ (2013 – 2014)

    Crime TV has a recipe, and that recipe is usually seasoned with a big ol’ ensemble and a killer-of-the-week plot. Not so with “The Bridge,” a show so good they had to make it twice (once in Denmark and Sweden and once in the States). This one’s all about intense focus; the intricate story relies on the crazy-good hook of a dead body found exactly on the border of two countries and all the dramatic red tape and frustration that ensue. Performance-wise, it’s laser-focused on Diane Kruger‘s knockout work as Detective Sonya Cross.

    ‘Luther’ (2010 – )

    The austerity and smarts synonymous with the BBC. Luther” in a hard-boiled nutshell, and that’s why you should watch it right now.

    ‘Daredevil’ (2015 – )

    Don’t go away — you didn’t accidentally click on a list about superhero shows. Yes, it’s true that you can’t throw a Batarang without hitting a comic book vigilante these days, but underneath the spandex, Marvel’s “Daredevil” is a surprisingly solid procedural with beautiful cinematography, some of the best fight choreography you’ve seen in years, and an electric cast.

    Matt Murdock might be a blind ninja prodigy, but he’s also an ace lawyer with a heart of gold and a plucky crew of misfits in Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, and among all the criminal beat-downs, you get your fill of detective work and uber-dramatic court trials. Oh, and if you root for the bad guys, Vincent D’Onofrio‘s Wilson “the Kingpin” Fisk and Jon Bernthal‘s Frank “the Punisher” Castle are guaranteed to make you feel good for being bad.

    ‘The X-Files’ (1993 – )

    Hear us out on this one because we’re about to step even further outside the box. Like, so far outside the box that there might be some little green men and yetis and stuff.

    “The X-Files” is a crime show. There, we said it. From its original nine seasons to its 2016 Fox follow-up, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have not only been the most dynamic — and sexiest — duo in the FBI, but they’ve set out to solve crimes every week. It just so happens that the perps sometimes turn out to be ghosts or space assassins or gender-morphing alien cults from other dimensions. That aside, you’ve still got your “I-don’t-play-by-the-rules” agent paired with a by-the-book peer, the rugged chief with a heart of gold, the shadowy informants, the twisted conspiracies, and all the other crime TV tropes you can shake a government-issued Glock 19 at.

    Give Mulder and Scully a single season of your time, and you won’t just want to believe — you will believe.

    Sources