Netflix's Luke Cage is no doubt a huge success. After being released Friday, it has become one of the streaming service’s most-streamed series and has fans asking for a second season. Mike Colter, who stars as Luke Cage, is Marvel's first black superhero, and the series focuses a lot on everyday issues plaguing the black community; but there was one change made for the series, and that's Cage's hoodie.
Colter's character was originally designed to wear a yellow hoodie, but it evolved into a dark hoodie. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Colter discussed the change to his character's ever-present hoodie.
“It’s a nod to Trayvon, no question,” Colter said. “Trayvon Martin and people like him. People like Jordan Davis, a kid who was shot because of the perception that he was a danger. When you’re a black man in a hoodie, all of a sudden you’re a criminal. That’s something we shouldn’t have to deal with, but we do. It’s a double standard. We can’t cover our head when it’s cold and raining because God forbid someone sees us and puts our life in danger. We wanted to pay homage to that—it’s not something we were shying away from.”
Luke Cage was filmed in 2014, at the same time Eric Garner was killed, and Colter spoke about the lack of justice that was served.
“When we were filming this, there were different things going on,” Colter said. “Eric Garner, the policemen, were acquitted. No one was brought to justice. There was no handing out of any sentence. There are a couple of other things that happened during the time we were filming. We were watching the news, and it was always someone being shot who was unarmed, and there is no justification for it. It’s mind-boggling.”
If you haven't checked out Luke Cage yet, do yourself a favor and get to it!