INTRODUCING: LUKE CAGE OF HARLEM

UPDATE:  While doing a little more research, it appears that some scenes have been filmed already in the Mount Morris Park Historic District and this explains that old school barbshop set that popped up on Lenox this past fall on the corner of 119th Street: LINK

While sitting at the counter of Harlem Shake on Lenox at the corner of 124th Street we noticed that an old comic book had been posted on one of the display cases.  This brought back all of the memories of collecting the superhero genre as a kid and reminded us that the character known also as Power Man will soon be seen around Harlem in the next few months.  Any comic book enthusiast out there will know by now that Harlem's first superhero will now have his own show thanks to the successful first season of the poplar Netflix series Jessica Jones last year.

Luke Cage becomes Jones' love interest when they meet in Hell's Kitchen and the two eventually become part of the team called The Defenders (which will become a miniseries) but the story will ultimately start north of 96th Street since character was born in Harlem.  While spending time when wrongfully sent to prison as a young man, the uptowner was then set up as part of super soldier experiment which imbued incredible strength, hyper healing abilities and bullet proof skin.  Basically a black Captain America but without the need of the shield because of the whole indestructible factor.  With the newfound powers that enables a prison break, Cage eventually becomes a hero-for-hire who works under the radar.

Filming should start soon and we wonder if the story arch will include some of Harlem's more notable neighborhoods.  For the origin story, the lead character would probably be in the rough decades of the 80s or 90s but as an adult, the self-made man could have found a cool part of the neighborhood to call home.  Luke Cage 2.0 is no longer the blaxploitation character invented in the 70s so we expect a current take on the living situation.

An old tenement on Lenox, a historic brownstone in Central Harlem, a castle on Sugar Hill or a loft in an industrial space under the 12th Avenue Viaduct come to mind.  Family has also been a big part of the characters background and Luke Cage eventually becomes one of the Marvel Universe's only famous fathers so Harlem really makes sense in a lot of ways as far a making uptown a modern home base.  Harlem Shake would also be a great backdrop for a date spot so this story might just come to full circle by September when the series debuts.