The power of Luke Cage, the latest entrant in the Netflix-Marvel canon, is rooted in its take on a range of social issues. Its protagonist is a black man with superpowers who was wrongfully convicted of a crime; it boldly includes controversial language and Blaxploitation homages in the fabric of its cultural commentary. Indeed, the show can feel like an unusually dark and complex change of pace, a rare but wonderful thing for the superhero genre.
Yet Luke Cage also stands apart for the quieter, touching moments shared between the residents of its Harlem community—moments that have now been hilariously seized upon for a Family Matters–style “credits sequence” of the show. In this context, the characters played by Mike Colter, Alfre Woodard, and the rest of the cast seem way more jovial than we’re used to seeing, but with actors like this on board, even a corny ’90s sitcom version of Luke Cage seems worth watching.
