Luke Cage and SPECTRE
Hardyboy
Posts: 5,912Chief of Staff
I just finished watching the latest Marvel/Netflix collaboration, LUKE CAGE, an awesome program that's arguably better than both DAREDEVIL and JESSICA JONES. It's slick and stylish and manages to be very modern while channeling 1970s Blaxploitation films, and Luke is a true hero you can't help but like. But to my topic. . .
I was struck by a certain similarity to a major story arc in LUKE and to the plot of SPECTRE. I was aware of Luke when I was a kid, but I didn't read the comic, so I don't know how much of this is from the comic or if it was perhaps inspired by the latest Bond film--but a look at Wikipedia suggests that it didn't exist before 2015. Anyway, before going further, let me warn those who haven't seen LUKE--or possibly even SPECTRE--of the following
SPOILERS!
Here they come. . .
Still here?. . .
Last chance. . .
OK, in LUKE CAGE, Harlem is being run by a mysterious crime lord called "Diamondback." In the course of the series, Luke goes about taking him down; and when the two men finally meet Luke is shocked to discover the villain is his old childhood friend Willis Stryker. What's more, Stryker reveals they are half-brothers: Stryker is the result of an affair the good Reverend Lucas had; two years later, the reverend's supposedly barren wife delivered Carl Lucas, who of course will become Luke Cage. Willis and Carl were raised as close friends; but Willis always hated and resented Carl for being the preferred child, for getting the legitimate name, and for getting all of their father's attention. As a result he builds himself into a powerful but mysterious crime boss, and, as it turns out, he is behind all the troubles Carl faces--being framed for a crime and sent to prison (which results in his becoming Luke Cage), the murders of everyone he loves, etc. . . .
So I ask you, my friends, is this or is this not reminiscent of the Bond/Blofeld storyline in SPECTRE?
I was struck by a certain similarity to a major story arc in LUKE and to the plot of SPECTRE. I was aware of Luke when I was a kid, but I didn't read the comic, so I don't know how much of this is from the comic or if it was perhaps inspired by the latest Bond film--but a look at Wikipedia suggests that it didn't exist before 2015. Anyway, before going further, let me warn those who haven't seen LUKE--or possibly even SPECTRE--of the following
SPOILERS!
Here they come. . .
Still here?. . .
Last chance. . .
OK, in LUKE CAGE, Harlem is being run by a mysterious crime lord called "Diamondback." In the course of the series, Luke goes about taking him down; and when the two men finally meet Luke is shocked to discover the villain is his old childhood friend Willis Stryker. What's more, Stryker reveals they are half-brothers: Stryker is the result of an affair the good Reverend Lucas had; two years later, the reverend's supposedly barren wife delivered Carl Lucas, who of course will become Luke Cage. Willis and Carl were raised as close friends; but Willis always hated and resented Carl for being the preferred child, for getting the legitimate name, and for getting all of their father's attention. As a result he builds himself into a powerful but mysterious crime boss, and, as it turns out, he is behind all the troubles Carl faces--being framed for a crime and sent to prison (which results in his becoming Luke Cage), the murders of everyone he loves, etc. . . .
So I ask you, my friends, is this or is this not reminiscent of the Bond/Blofeld storyline in SPECTRE?
Vox clamantis in deserto
Comments
Spectre however has no existing canon to draw from in making the decisions they did regarding Bond and Blofeld's backstory.
It is definitely an interesting parallel, bur I doubt it is a direct reference to spectre as the stepbrothers part of the plot was one of the main things mentioned in the negative by reviewers of Spectre.
It is a film trope that has been around far longer than spectre after all.