Mahershala Ali And Alfre Woodard Discuss Their LUKE CAGE Villains And Marvel's Netflix Strategy

Marvel and Netflixs' third series, Luke Cage, releases tomorrow, and the "Power Man" is going to have some powerful villains to contend with, though not in the usual superpowered sense. In a recent interview with IGN, Woodard and Ali gave some insight into their manipulative villains, along with their thoughts on joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their recent foray into the world of Netflix programming.

Woodard plays Mariah Dillard in the series, a politician looking to bring change to Harlem, who is put in a difficult position by her cousin, crime boss Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes. For Woodard,  the familial connection between her character and Ali's Stokes was important to have, as it added a new layer to the dynamic of a politician and a crooked businessman being partners. "Everybody is just trying to make order of life around them, and you have partnerships, and so, and especially if you have family, everybody is going to be in it," Woodard said. "Some of every kind of person. But by the time you discover all your differences and your different ways of approaching things, you’ve already been weaned together, played together, you already have relationships... so I think it paints a very realistic picture that a politician on the up and up has in their family a successful businessman who steps in and out of the gray areas. But you don’t divorce them."

Woodard also says the show found an unorthodox way to rework the "Black Mariah" name on which her character is based, deciding it would be an old name Stokes would call her when they were children. "[Showrunner] Cheo [Coker] wanted to give recognition and homage to Black Mariah, but I started saying, 'Well, it depends on who calls me Black Mariah.'...So we talked about those things that would set it off, and it was, it is old schoolyard poop between cousins."

Mahershala Ali praised the Netflix model that Marvel has recently implemented, saying it allows for greater exploration of villains  within the freamework of a story, as opposed to a 2 hour MCU film. "I would say that the audience has grown more and more savvy, and I think that the heroes themselves have pretty much stayed within a certain framework. It’s the villains that have gotten more interesting. They’ve had to get rounded out. And you’ve got to understand what triggers people, what drives them." 

Ali elaborated that the shows allow for a more modern, grounded take on the superhero genre, which may find itself as more appealing to a casual audience member who may not be as interested in the more grandoise nature of superhero stories.  "And then so, along with that, the worlds themselves have gotten a little bit more complicated, and somewhat of a better reflection of how we all live real life. So to me, at this point, it’s about trying to make these projects gritty and have elements in them that reflect urban life in some way, shape, or form that resonate as truthful. Because people can handle it....and I think it’s a positive thing, because you give yourself an opportunity to capture people who are not necessarily that invested in these types of stories. Who go, “Oh, this is actually good. I’ve never really been really attracted to these kind of stories, but besides the guy being able to fly, or jump around, and move things, or he’s bulletproof, this is great.”