Is Marvel trying to tonally match HBO's The Wire for their 2016 show Luke Cage? According to a user on Reddit, that may be the case. A user named throwawaymcu, claiming to work for a music syncing company, allegedly received info about next year's Netflix show.
"Luke Cage is written by Cheo Coker (Ray Donovan, Southland) and the first two episodes are being directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock Pilot, Scandal Pilot). Played by Mike Colter, it is the story of a bulletproof, super-powered man on the run from the law who, despite his checkered past, can’t help but become a hero. We like to say it's all Marvel but closer in tone to The Wire.
TONE: Luke Cage is a dark, yet vibrantly kinetic world with cinematic scope -- SHAFT meets CITY OF GOD. The music is hip-hop in all its bombast and complexity, a living, breathing character in the show, with song choices ranging from the instantly recognizable classics to the fresh, next big thing. This unique tone will be the backdrop as we tell the story of a superpowered escaped convict at war with himself, who sets up shop in a community at war with itself. Marvel represents family entertainment. Our series will never show tobacco smoking or drugs. We are PG-16, never rated R.
SETTING: The Harlem of right now. A patchwork of brick-and-mortar history and a highrise future. Predominantly Black, the area is nevertheless a mosh pit of income brackets and ethnicities. Our hero, LUKE CAGE, moves in several worlds – he lives above a Chinese restaurant, and works for cash at a beloved barbershop by day. At night, he’s a dishwasher at a slick, gangster-owned nightclub. Within these different worlds Luke will notice a pattern: Harlem is plagued by crime, corruption, and gangsters, and needs a hero.
THEMES: Identity. Power. Manhood. Who is Luke Cage? Is he the escaped con that just wants to be left alone, or is he railing against his destiny to become a hero and better his community? Over the course of season one, Luke will grow into the hero we've been waiting for.
Luke Cage is the third of five Marvel premium Netflix series. It’s a dark, grounded, adult, premium cable show. Luke is one of Marvel’s most iconic “street-level” superheroes, with his origins going back to the early 1970’s, and he’s a huge fan-favorite."
It's really hard to judge the level of authenticity to all of this, mainly considering that it's coming from Reddit where anyone can post anything they'd like without any credible backing. Looking at this whole post there's two things that stand out.
We like to say it's all Marvel but closer in tone to The Wire.
If this is all true, that could really work for the tone of this show, but pay attention to this later on in the posting.
Marvel represents family entertainment. Our series will never show tobacco smoking or drugs. We are PG-16, never rated R.
Daredevil really felt more like adult entertainment over anything else. It's about as close to R as Marvel has come in the MCU, keeping in mind that the Blade film series isn't a part of that. The term "PG-16" doesn't really make sense, since rated R films are for 17 and older.
It's hard to be considered "family entertainment" while aiming for the tone of The Wire, which deals with crime in the real world, and rarely hits anything, tonally, that be considered something for the family.
While remaining as skeptical as possible, this does read like it would fit into the the MCU, especially the Netflix universe set up by Daredevil. However, there's no other information that lends to the legitimacy of the post. We'll keep you updated as more develops.