Marvel Netflix: Ranking the 10 best seasons of the entire run
By Mark Lynch
Photo Credit: Marvel’s Luke Cage/Myles Aronowitz, Netflix Image Acquired from Netflix Media Center
10. Luke Cage season 1
After Luke Cage made his first Netflix appearance on the first season of Jessica Jones, everyone waited with anticipation for his solo series. Cage was perfect next to Jessica Jones, and we saw that the two characters had chemistry on screen. We hoped it would lead to the relationship they have in the comic books. When the season started, it was amazing. Luke Cage going up against Cottonmouth, played by the great Mahershala Ali, was a match made in Heaven. Cage had a villain he couldn’t just punch, and Cottonmouth had to play dirty to defeat Cage. Unfortunately, the season took a nosedive after Cottonmouth was killed off midway through the season.
His replacement, Willis Stryker, wasn’t a good villain. If that wasn’t bad enough, their backstory wasn’t something anyone seemed to care about and their final fight scene was cringeworthy. Maybe if the actor played the role better, we’d have more of a reason to care about their history and the storyline. Alas, this wasn’t the case. Even with the lackluster second half of the show, this season ended with some promise. Luke Cage gets arrested and sent back to jail but, of course, we all knew this wasn’t going to last long. And it did give the audience a reason to look forward to the next Luke Cage sighting, which was in The Defenders.