Marvel's Luke Cage Review: 9 Spoiler-Free Reasons It's Awesome
4. Another Captivating, Complex (And Violent) Villain
In Kingpin and Kilgrave, Netflix delivered two of the best villains the MCU has seen. In the movies it's often pointed out as an area they've struggled, but on TV it's where they've excelled. The pair were rather different in their motivations and powers, but both were dangerous, complex to the point where you even almost sympathised with them, and terrifying delights to watch.
No pressure, then, on Mahershala Ali, tasked with following in their huge footsteps.
However, he is completely up to the task. Seriously, I don't quite know how they keep doing it, but once again they've turned someone who could've been a fairly one-note villain - a local businessman who operates as a crime boss - into a multi-dimensional character. He's fiercely intimidating, ill-tempered, and violent, but also has his loyalties, a past the explains who he is now and why, a code, and a lot of charisma.
He's the sort of character you'd expect to meet on The Wire, instead transported to a superhero setting.