Chances are you've seen the face but didn't know the name. In the last few years, Mahershala Ali has appeared on Treme, House of Cards, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay and this weekend's new release, Free State of Jones. While promoting that film with USA Today, Ali briefly touched on the next Marvel and Netflix live-action collaboration, Luke Cage, where he plays Cornell Stokes aka Cottonmouth, a character he describes as a "Godfather-Mafioso type" villain. Ali particularly focused on the importance of the new show's diverse cast and Luke Cage (Mike Colter) as an African-American superhero. "There are going to be so many kids out there who get to see a black man on that screen and aspire to be like him. We didn’t have that. They get to be included. When I grew up, it was a lie to us that you could be anything you wanted to be. Because we knew we couldn’t be president. What this generation has is President Obama — he’s a superhero for us. And I think that might be hard for people to really embrace and understand."
Luke Cage will start streaming its entire season on Netflix at Midnight on September 30, 2016.
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