Marvel's Luke Cage: 10 Ups And 2 Downs From Season 1

4. Some Truly Compelling, Vicious Villains

Netflix and Marvel have really succeeded when it comes to villains, with both Kingpin and Kilgrave two of the best villains of any superhero offerings on any screen.

Cottonmouth is very much of their ilk; he's not just a bad guy, he's a multi-layered person with motivations that you can understand, and there are times when you might even feel sympathy for him as he gets his own fleshed-out backstory. At the same time, he's incredibly violent and vicious, allowing his henchmen to do most of the work like a true gangster, but never afraid to get his hands dirty. Mahershala Ali does a great job, and brings a huge amount of charisma to the character, while also making him a chilling, intimidating foe.

He's aided and abetted by two excellent supporting players: Theo Rossi's Shades, and Alfre Woodard's Mariah Dillard. The former is a weird, almost Littlefinger-esque player who attempts to weave his way between the various power struggles within Harlem and come out on top. The latter a serious politician who professes to have Harlem's best interests at heart, but can't break away from the family ties that lead to corruption, while being strong and intimidating as well. Combined, it's a highly-dangerous trifecta of villainy for Luke Cage to take on, and continues the recent tradition of Netflix having the comic book world's best villains.