When the mountainous mass of muscles that is Terry Crews wants something, it seems perfectly plausible to me that he should always get it. But he’s never been able to land the long-sought after role of superhero Luke Cage (a.k.a. Power Man), a character that will play a major role in the upcoming Netflix series Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. (Duh.) The role was recently given to The Good Wife star Mike Colter, and while it wouldn’t be crazy to assume Crew destroyed a few buildings in a fit of rage when he found out, his reaction was a tad more civil.
Not one to hold grudges over things that he had no control over, Crews graciously sent Colter a shout out via social media, congratulating him for getting the part. Here’s what he posted to his WhoSay account.
Congratulations to my man Mike Colter for being cast as LUKE CAGE! A brilliant actor for one of my favorite superheroes ever! Love him!"
Definitely kind words coming from a guy who has wanted the part of Luke Cage for ages now. (As did Idris Elba and Michael Jai White at different points.) Crews tried to back out of it all at some point, but there he was again back in August, months after Netflix’s announcement of their Marvel slate, campaigning once more to take on the role. And no one was listening but his fans, sadly.
Not to knock Colter’s talent or anything, but he just doesn’t command the same amount of attention that Crews does. At 46, there’s no denying the former NFL star is a little long in the tooth for the role, especially if all the Netflix series go multiple seasons, but the world needs to see Terry Crews kicking supervillains’ asses at least once. And The Expendables movies don’t count for that. Hell, I’d even like to watch him throw down with Andy Samberg on Brooklyn Nine-Nine for part of an episode, assuming they were both wearing masks.
While Crews will remain a strong presence on that Fox comedy, Colter will be playing Luke Cage in not only the two aforementioned series, but in the crossover miniseries The Defenders. That eight-parter will hit Netflix after all four of the standard series have finished their runs, including Daredevil and Iron Fist, a series that Cage would presumably feature in as well, since he and Iron Fist teamed up for a while in the comics.
Do you guys think Terry Crews’ classy reaction was the best one, or do you think he should have run over to Netflix and Marvel Studios while swinging a chain in the air? I know my answer.
