Singleton on Luke Cage: It's Dope. It's Dope.
Imagine if 50 Cent got super-powers!
John Singleton has been gearing up for a big screen version of Luke Cage, the first Marvel Comics whose title dealt exclusively with a black character. The hero/mercanary tale is being written by Ben Ramsey, who has set up shop at Sony Pictures and now casting decisions are merely a few weeks, or less, away.
Comics Continuum caught up with Singleton, director of 2 Fast 2 Furious and Boys N the Hood, and got the latest on the project:
Singleton told The Continuum the villain will be Diamondback, the original Hero for Hire comics villain who framed him and had him sent to prison.
"And I'm trying to get in some of the other characters, like Chemistro, and maybe the Wrecking Crew or some of the obscure Marvel villains," Singleton said.
This is actually an important film, believe it or not. There hasn't exactly been a plethora of black superheroes on the big screen. Storm from the X-Men come to mind (Berry may get her own Storm spin-off movie series according to Lauren Schuler-Donner) as well as Catwoman (Halle Berry plays her as well in the Summer 2004 release). But there haven't been any black superheroes on screen in, well, ever. Robert Townsend had fun as a superhero in the 1993 comedy Meteor Man, and Damon Wayans skewered the genre in 1994's Blankman, but no serious attempts have been made at establishing a black superhero. The time is now. Singleton needs to bring a wide, diverse perspective to Luke Cage in order to deliver a profitable audience and fanbase to the studio or else risk turning a potential Spider-Man into a Superheroz N the Hood.