Luke Cage Season 2: Release date and expectations

Luke Cage just announced a release date for Season 2. Here are some of our expectations for the season.

The first season of Luke Cage dropped in September 2016. With the second season dropping on Netflix on June 22, that’s a good length of time between the two seasons. The Defenders, however, introduced Luke Cage to Matt Murdock and Danny Rand and reconnected him with Jessica Jones. After that season aired, it felt inevitable that these characters would find themselves teaming up in one way or another again.

Heroes for Hire

Heroes for Hire is a comic book that first started in 1996, but the company originated in Power Man and Iron Fist back in 1978. Iron Fist and Luke Cage teamed up to provide investigative and protection services. Luke Cage was no stranger to being a hero for hire since he had a solo series titled Luke Cage, Hero for Hire.

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In Season 2 of Luke Cage, Danny Rand is set to appear and that means we should be seeing the Heroes for Hire storyline. Luke Cage makes Danny Rand slightly more tolerable. The Defenders spent a good amount of time having Danny’s fellow heroes make fun of him. Hopefully, this means that he’s less self-absorbed this season.

We’ve seen a lot of Danny since Iron Fist and Marvel needs this pairing to work out before fans like myself get worn out (if they haven’t already). My hope is that they’ll use him in moderation and won’t feel the need to have him in every episode. At the end of the release date trailer, we hear someone telling Cage to get paid, so it makes sense that these are the stories they’ll pull from and why they’d include Iron Fist.

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Misty Knight’s new arm

Rand’s money gets Misty Knight a new arm and there’s no way that this is something they should just glance over. Her bionic arm is a huge part of her character in the comics and the main difference is that she’s not getting the arm from Tony Stark. For the sake of Marvel keeping the MCU and Netflix shows separate, it had to be Danny who gets her the arm. He has the money and a company that has access to tech, so it was the logical alternative.

Reg E. Cathey’s final performance

Reg E. Cathey (House of Cards, Fantastic Four) passed away in February 2018 and his final performance was playing Luke’s father for Season 2. He’s a wonderful actor and bringing him in as James Lucas is something to look forward to. Luke didn’t talk much about his family in Season 1, since Pop is really the one who felt like his family. It’s always nice to dive into the past of these characters and not have the sole focus be on the fact that they’re superheroes. They still have the same sorts of problems that regular people have.

Returning protagonists

Mariah and Shades return in the second season and, while I don’t think they’re as polarizing as Mahershala Ali’s Cottonmouth, they still bring something to the table. Mariah has connections in the political world and can sway certain things her way. In the comics, she’s known as Black Mariah and is a gang leader. It would benefit the show to continue pushing her character in that direction.

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In Power Man #48, Iron Fist joins Luke Cage for the first time and Shades and Comanche are criminals for hire to counteract Heroes for Hire. This could be a good set up for a showdown between the four characters this season.

The trailer also shows a ton of action, which is to be expected with these Netflix shows at this point. I’m also looking forward to the new slate of music that they bring since this definitely had a great soundtrack in season one.

Luke Cage Season 2 drops on June 22 on Netflix. Be sure to mark your calendars!