With ‘Luke Cage’ only a few weeks away Marvel/ Netflix is pushing hard to promote their latest series, this time with a new clip showing off the villain of the season, Cottonmouth a.k.a. Cornell Stokes, played by Mahershala Ali. In the clip, we see Cottonmouth threatening someone while standing in a front of a large portrait of Biggie Smalls (a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G.), a prop that is used beautifully as he gets closer and closer to his victim, and from the angle, eventually the crown is resting atop his head. To make the scene even better he even discusses the portrait, talking about how the eye is always drawn toward the crown, ending the monologue by proclaiming (just as the angle puts the crown on his head) that “Everybody wants to be the King.”
It is a great teaser and set-up for what is hopefully another great and memorable Marvel/ Netflix villain (though I doubt he could actually get better than the Purple Man from ‘Jessica Jones.) The clip also reveals the deep music and hip-hop cultural influences layered into the show, confirming what we learned from recent featurettes about the subject, and making more sense of the titles of each of the 13 episodes of ‘Luke Cage’ season 1 being Gang Starr songs.
What did you think of our first clip with Cottonmouth? Will he be a worthy adversary for ‘Luke Cage?’ Are you counting down the days till the show premieres? Share your own thoughts and excitement in the comments section below!
Series description below:
After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) becomes a fugitive trying to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But he is soon pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city – forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.
