Your Burning Questions About Luke Cage, Answered by Mike Colter

Last week's annual Comic-Con extravaganza was filled to the brim with goodies, and among all the excitement was a new Netflix series called Luke Cage. The standalone show — which stems from the same universe as the dark and twisty Jessica Jones — is set to hit Netflix in the Fall and is yet another precursor to the inevitable formation of The Defenders. During some roundtable interviews with the cast, we got a few new and exciting details about the show, straight from star Mike Colter. Read on for our interview with the Luke Cage actor, then check out the whole cast's quotes on diversity.

You guys are making history out here. What does that feel like?
Mike Colter: I tend to deflect because, luckily, I didn't read a lot of Luke Cage growing up, so I wasn't overwhelmed by this opportunity . . . I just identify with the dialogue and this character and the sparsely written relationship with him and Jessica . . . So, I look at history, and I look at what Luke Cage is and how he's becoming the first black superhero that's brought to television. I look at it as a guy who's literally, you know, he's unaware of it in the sense that I'm unaware of it. He's not thinking about that. He's thinking about other things that are more tangible.

What's it like being Luke and being in this world of superheroes? Is that influential on your performance?
MC: No. I mean, again, Luke is in his own world, he's thinking about his own things . . . he talks about it in a very subtle way when he mentions it. Because, he doesn't know these people. He just knows there are people like him. I mean, Jessica's talking about, "There are other people like us." She probably knows more about these people than he does. He's like, "What difference does it make? Are you going to be friends with them? What are you going to do, are you going to form a group called the Defenders? What is this about?" And essentially, that's what I think is funny about it. Because no one has this agenda, this directive of like, let's all join together and create this coalition of superheroes. That's not who he is. He doesn't want to do groups. I don't think anybody actually wants to be in groups.

In the series, Harlem is kind of its own character. What conscious decisions did you make about where you were filming and what you were doing?

MC: It probably [will] throw people off. It was really the new-age Harlem sometimes . . . ultimately, Harlem — the character that we're trying to create — does resemble the Harlem of maybe 10 years ago. Harlem 10 years ago was different. There wasn't a Whole Foods there on the corner of 125. I lived there about that time, and it feels just about there. It's still Harlem, but it's not getting ready to be the Harlem we know today . . . the sidewalks are so big! People forget the sidewalks are huge. The sidewalks in Harlem, they're two to three times wider than other sidewalks in Manhattan. That alone, you go, "Wow, where am I?" If you've never been to Harlem, it's cool.

What has been significant and beautiful about fans who have come up to you?
MC: Wow, I try to bury those. I would say, ultimately, the older generation, the people that are older than I, they walk up to me and say, "Man, I've been waiting for so long for this character to be brought to life." And, "Great job, I can't wait for the series. I've been watching Jessica Jones." Or, even better, people who aren't fans of comics who just happen to stumble on the material because someone recommended it to them. And they took a chance, and they watched it, and they go, "Wait a minute, wow, this isn't what I thought it was going to be." That, to me, is a better win, because you're trying to grow your audience and your demographic. I'm always looking for a new demographic. Mainly, the reasons I do most of my jobs, or jobs I look at, is like, does the audience that watches this material, do they know me already? And, do I want to be introducing them. I'm looking for new audience members and new demographics all the time. That's what this was about for me.