'Luke Cage' To Feature On-screen Appearances From Method Man, Faith Evans & More

Netflix's upcoming expansion to its ever-growing contribution to Marvel's cinematic universe, Luke Cage, will feature several on-screen appearances from well known artists including Method Man, Faith Evans, Raphael Saadiq and others, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has confirmed.

Also slated to appear are the likes of R&B/soul icons The Delfonics and veteran soul man Charles Bradley, among other acclaimed performers. 

As MCU Exchange reports, the admission came during an interview with the Los Angeles Times featuring Coker and series star Mike Colter at the recent San Diego Comic-Con event. In discussing several aspects about the show — which joins Marvel's Daredevil and the Colter-featuring Marvel's Jessica Jones as a building-block towards the eventual Defenders crossover series — talk turned to the series' heavily musical bent, which is built into Luke Cage's DNA; in addition to the on-screen performances, the season was scored by LA multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad — a fact about which Coker is clearly proud.

"[We had] Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in terms of the score," he said. "We had a 30-piece orchestra; we live-scored the entire series, you know, and that was the thing — because people don't really do that any more — it gives it a certain breath, I mean, like, it really invokes Isaac Hayes, and it invokes, you know, Curtis Mayfield, but it does it in its own way that has its own special hip hop flavour, not only what Adrian does in terms of always using the analog recording and real instruments, but even Ali Shaheed Muhammad, of course, being one of the architects of A Tribe Called Quest.

"So we have that vibe... but then, in terms of actually on-camera appearances, we have everyone from Faith Evans and Raphael Saadiq to Charles Bradley to The Delfonics, Method Man … I mean, we've got some really great performances, and so it's kind of this mixture of music matched with action. There's not a dull moment the entire season, and I can't wait."

Luke Cage will premiere on Netflix on 30 September. Watch the Los Angeles Times' full interview with Coker and Colter below, as well as the trailer for the show's first season, as premiered at the recent San Diego Comic-Con.