The world will know the name Luke Cage when Marvel’s Power Man series debuts on Netflix this September 30th, but let’s meet the big bag of Harlem before that happens. Mahershala Ali features as the villain Cottonmouth, a.k.a. Cornell Stokes, and he’s flaunting his non-superhuman power in a new clip.

Cottonmouth is shown in front of a painting of the late rapper Biggie Smalls, a.k.a Notorious B.I.G., before walking towards the camera until the crown is sitting atop his head. “Everybody wants to be the king,” he says, but he is the king of his criminal domain. As we learned from a behind-the-scenes featurette, music and hip-hop culture play instrumental parts in Luke Cage. Each of the 13 episodes are titled after Gang Starr songs, and now we see one of the biggest icons of the musical genre looming over the story.

Watch the clip below.


Mike Colter debuted as Luke Cage in Jessica Jones season 1, but now he’s going off to be the protector of Harlem in his own series before teaming up with the other Hell’s Kitchen heroes for the Avengers-style The Defenders. Luke Cage also features Simone Missick as Misty Knight, Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard, Theo Rossi as Shades, Frank Whaley as Rafael Scarfe, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple.

So far, we’ve seen trailers and a couple other clips from the series before the premiere. We have a couple more weeks left, so prepare for more sneak peeks closer to the drop.

Here’s the official description of Luke Cage:

After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) becomes a fugitive trying to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But he is soon pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city – forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.


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