During the Marvel Netflix show era, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage was one of the programming line’s main superheroes. After being introduced in Jessica Jones as a romantic interest for Krysten Ritter’s title character, the super strong, bulletproof man went on to lead his own TV show for two seasons and join forces with Jessica, Daredevil and Iron Fist in The Defenders. With that era having ended a long time ago, Colter has explained why “now it’s time” for Luke Cage to jump back into action for one of the upcoming Marvel TV shows.
Mike Colter stopped by Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum to discuss his career, and towards the end of their conversation, the Smallville actor asked him if there will ever be a Luke Cage comeback. Colter said back in January that he’s had “conversations” with Marvel about a potential return, and his latest comments make it sound like him reprising the role is more a question of when it will happen rather than if:
Krysten and I, she's been talking about this for years, and I'm always like, ‘Look, it'll happen or it won't happen.’ Because I was so, like, whatever. I'm like, I'm gonna do something else. But now it's been a while. It's been 10 years since Luke Cage premiered this summer or this fall, and it’s been 10 years for sure since Jessica Jones. I do think now it's time. Daredevil's back. I've had discussions with Marvel and I do think that is it's very, very likely that I will come back at some point, but I don't know when. But I think I will.
Characters from the Netflix era have slowly been making a comeback in the MCU ever since Charlie Cox cameoed as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Following full Daredevil appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Echo, Cox is now leading the Disney+ subscription-exclusive Daredevil: Born Again, and Krysten Ritter returns as Jessica Jones in Born Again Season 2 on the 2026 TV schedule later this month. So from Mike Colter’s perspective, with Daredevil and Jessica Jones back in play, plus enough time passing for him since he last played Luke Cage, he’s ready to revisit the superhero. The Evil alum continued:
People are always like, ‘Well, he said he didn't want to do it.’ I'm like, ‘Well, I wasn't really thinking about it or interested in it. I just wasn't thinking about it.’ Yeah. And now I'm thinking about it a little more because it's like it's been enough time and I feel like I've done some other stuff and I feel I could do it again and maybe there's some stuff we could do that's different than the last time. So I'm kind of open to that now.
When we left off with Luke Cage at the end of his own series, he’d decided to install himself as the “sheriff” of Harlem after taking over Mariah Stokes-Dillard’s club so he could keep a tighter grip on the criminal activity in the area. Mike Colter expressed interest late last month in exploring his character having “the power and complete control of the neighborhood,” while at the same time doing the right thing without getting his hands dirty. Now that the actor has kept busy with other roles over the last several years, he’s game to jump back into the MCU, so let’s hope these conversations he’s been having with Marvel are fruitful.
While a Luke Cage revival would be fantastic, I’d gladly accept the character being squeezed into Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, which is about to begin filming. It’d be even better if Jessica Jones stuck around as well so these two former lovers could reunite. For now, we can look forward to Born Again Season 2 premiering Tuesday, March 24 on Disney+.
