Comic-Con hasn’t just been about comics for a long time, but TV shows and movies based on comics are still held in high regard at the show, so it makes sense that Marvel’s Luke Cage panel—one of the first that’s actually about comic book-y stuff—would have a lot of hype built up for it. Plus, after the success of Daredevil and Jessica Jones (and the fact that Luke Cage premieres next month), people are eager to see what Mike Colter’s invulnerable hero has been up to. Unfortunately for us folks who aren’t in San Diego, though, Marvel declared that nobody was allowed to take photos or videos of the panel, which means we don’t get to see most of the stuff the attendees got to see (though there is a teaser at the end of this post).
Thankfully, not even Marvel can stop Twitter, and plenty of people were more than willing to tweet about what was happening during the Luke Cage panel. One such person was Marvel’s own Ryan Penagos, who gave a pretty comprehensive report on what happened onstage.
The panel began with a highlight reel of cool stuff from Marvel’s Netflix shows, ending with an emphasis on The Punisher, which prompted Jon Bernthal—the guy who plays The Punisher—to come out and talk about how much it means to him to get a chance to play such an iconic character. Then he introduced Luke Cage, telling the audience that he’s “super excited” for it, and Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Coker took the stage along with actors Frank Whaley, Theo Rossi, Simone Missick, and Alfre Woodward. They talked about Missick’s character, Misty Knight, as well as some other members of the Luke Cage supporting cast like Shades, Cottonmouth, and Mariah Dillard.
After that, Mike Colter came out and introduced a clip, which we are not allowed to see. According to Twitter, though, it featured Cage getting shot at and beating up some bad dudes, prompting him to bemoan the fact that he’s “always having to buy new clothes.” Then, Coker explained how much Luke Cage meant to him when he was a kid, noting that he was “not just African-American, but funny, smart, and tough.” He also referred to Luke Cage as “the Wu-Tang-ification of the Marvel Universe” and declared that “the world is ready for a bulletproof black man”—which could be the line of the whole con.
Finally, after all of that, the showed a proper teaser for Luke Cage that features him kicking a whole bunch of ass. It’s set to Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” and you can see it below:
Luke Cage premieres on September 30.