Luke Cage Season 2: 32 Easter Eggs & References Explained

10. Black Mariah

It's fair to say that Alfre Woodard's portrayal of Mariah Dillard is a little different from her representation in the comics, namely that she's far more intelligent and conniving in the TV show and no longer a morbidly obese ogre...at least not in the physical sense.

However, there are a few references to her comic book namesake, "Black Mariah", with Dillard explaining that she was taunted with the nickname as a child, and Piranha even amusingly refers to her as "Black Mariah Trump."

Black Mariah first appeared in Hero for Hire #5 back in January 1973, so to call her a pivotal figure in Luke Cage lore would be an understatement.

9. The Hatfield-McCoy Feud

Episode eight sees Mariah being brought in for questioning after she scarcely avoids being burned to death by Bushmaster, with Misty begging her to open up about the blood feud between the Stokes and McIver families, in order to put a stop to this "jerk-flavoured Hatfield and McCoy s***."

The Hatfield-McCoy feud is a very real, well-documented historical dispute that took place between two families on the West Virginia-Kentucky border in the years after the American Civil War, resulting in countless deaths and imprisonments. It was immortalised in the 2012 History channel docu-series Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton.

Splash some of that deliciously tangy jerk sauce over it and you've basically got the Stokes-McIver war in Luke Cage, or so Misty says.