Sweet Christmas! The day has finally arrived when Marvel’s first and foremost hero for hire, Luke Cage, hits the scene with his own series from Netflix. Following fast on the heels of his successful predecessors, Daredevil and Jessica Jones, Luke Cage’s show promises to explore the Harlem side of things in the city of New York. Cage himself is a man who was sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. While in lockdown, the only way that Cage could reduce his prison time, and subsequently survive, was to undergo a series of experiments that resulted in him gaining super powers. Said abilities include super strength and unbreakable skin which makes him bullet-proof and grants him invulnerability approaching the level of Superman.

With all this being said, what’s a good hero without villains to impede his path? Pulling from Luke Cage’s comic book history, the Netflix series has decided to bring to life the antagonists of Harlem’s hero in the forms of Cottonmouth, Black Mariah, Shades and Diamondback. While obviously these villains will be drastically altered to reflect the more down-to-Earth setting of Cage’s Marvel Cinematic Universe world, don’t expect them to be any less dangerous.

Cottonmouth

Name: Cornell Cottonmouth (In the comics, his last name was ACTUALLY Cottonmouth)

Actor: Mahershala Ali

First Appearance: Power Man #18

Creator/s: Lein Wein and George Tuska

Abilities: Super Strength and Razor-Sharp Steel Fangs

Bio: Cornell Cottonmouth was a drug dealer in New York City who had a hand, albeit unknowingly, in framing Luke Cage for the crime that wound up putting him prison and eventually with super powers. Cottonmouth was running heroin across the city when Diamondback, a criminal competitor, decided to frame Cage using one of Cornell’s shipments. Eventually, after escaping prison and declaring himself a hero for hire, Cage decided to attempt to take down Cottonmouth by joining his organization and learning enough from the inside to turn the tables. Eventually, Cage’s cover was blown, the two got into a down and dirty super-powered brawl and Luke was able to send off Cottonmouth to the cops and destroy his organization.

Cottonmouth was never exactly a prolific villain for the ages, having only really appeared in his first story and a recent, modern story here and there to act as a thorn in Luke Cage’s side. One of the more recent story arcs, "Shadowland", saw him as part of a new incarnation of a supervillain gang called “The Rivals” that were attempting to fight a New York that was watched over by a darker version of Daredevil who, at the time, was the leader of the ninja organization, the Hand. (There was also a second Cottonmouth who appeared as part of the Captain America supervillain squad, the Serpent Society, but the two are unrelated.) I wouldn’t expect Cottonmouth to be sporting his trademark teeth in the Netflix series however as he’s being presented much more realistically as Cornell Stokes, a gangster in the heart of Harlem.

Black Mariah

Name: Mariah Dillard

Actor: Alfre Woodard

First Appearance: Hero For Hire #5

Creator/s: Steve Englehart, George Tuska, Billy Graham

Abilities: Mariah has no abilities to speak of but think of her closer to Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin in terms of being able to fight and use her size to her advantage.

Bio: Mariah made her entrance as a supervillain with a pretty disturbing modus operandi. Creating an organization called the “Rat Pack”, Mariah and a number of others would drive around New York City, looking to pick up the injured and the deceased in order to steal what valuables they had then kick their bodies to the curb. Needless to say, Luke Cage was eventually hired by the widow of one of Rat Pack’s victims and the two came to blows. Much like the previous encounter with Cottonmouth, Cage managed to defeat Mariah and turn her over to the police. She would attempt to thwart Cage again a few times in the future when he was partnered with his best buddy, Iron Fist, who will be appearing in his own upcoming Netflix series.

Don’t expect Black Mariah to be much like her Marvel comics counterpart. In the Netflix series, Mariah plays an aspiring politician and sister to Cottonmouth. While Cottonmouth operates a nightclub in Harlem, Mariah takes advantage of his ill-gotten gains by pumping them into her campaign and political aspirations.

Diamondback

Name: Willis Stryker

Actor: Erik LaRay Harvey

First Appearance: Hero for Hire #1

Creator/s: Archie Goodwin and George Tuska

Abilities: No powers but a master at hand-to-hand combat and has specialty knives that have different crazy functions, such as sonic knives and exploding knives... (Why would a knife need to explode?)

Bio: Willis and Luke were childhood buddies, growing up on the mean streets with each other as part of the gang called “The Rivals”, which Cottonmouth would later join. Growing up over the years, the two friends found themselves competing for the affection of a girl named Reva, but as she was about to choose Luke over Willis, Diamondback decided to plant the drugs on Cage, ending with him in jail. After doing his time and leaving with super powers, Cage set up shop in Harlem and began his Hero for Hire business while Willis still led a life of crime; the two remained friends since Luke never realized what had actually happened. Diamondback, of course, couldn’t leave well enough alone and tried to kill Luke through hired mercenaries, only to have his secret be revealed in spectacular fashion as Cage began bringing down his empire.

As the two one-time friends fought, Diamondback was, ironically, killed by one of his exploding knives and Cage lost his friend in more ways than one. Diamondback’s role in the Netflix series is the boss who runs everything from behind the shadows, though I’m anxious to see if he does in fact use his signature knives, as ludicrous as some of them may be.

Shades

Name: Unknown

Actor: Theo Rossi

First Appearance: Hero for Hire #1

Creator/s: Archie Goodwin and George Tuska

Abilities: A pair of shades that actually shoot laser beams out of them (think Cyclops without the mutant part)

Bio: Shades was a part of the same gang that Luke Cage and Diamondback found themselves in as youths. For his numerous crimes, he found himself in Seagate Prison, being tortured by one of the guards who also had tortured Luke. Eventually managing to escape, he tried to get Luke’s help in getting revenge on the guard but after being rejected, managed to get his hands on a pair of sunglasses that shot laser beams. Tussling with Luke Cage and Iron Fist, he was eventually brought down and handed over to the police. His story didn’t end here; in fact, he has a much more relevant role to the Marvel Universe.

In past years, Shades became rehabilitated and had a son named Victor Alvarez. The two tried helping the community and contributed to a large amount of outreach. Unfortunately for Shades, he was killed in a conflict between Daredevil and his arch-enemy, Bullseye. Upon his death, the pieces of his “shades” were absorbed by his son Victor, giving him superpowers of his own. Victor became the new “Power Man” following in the footsteps of Luke Cage and continues as such to this day.