Producer Michael E. Uslan shared that he almost made a Luke Cage movie after the success of his and Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film.
Uslan revealed his old dream of making a Luke Cage film in an interview during a Wizard World panel, as reported by MovieWeb. He envisioned the film as a way to jumpstart a Marvel Cinematic Universe with a Black superhero lead.
"Right after our first Batman movie, I optioned the rights from Marvel to Luke Cage, Hero for Hire," Uslan said. "This was when Marvel was mired. All they had was Captain America, and Fantastic Four, neither of which could be released theatrically. Marvel was in a mess."
Uslan pitched the movie to Universal and Motown Productions, focusing on how Marvel could lead its universe with a "grounded" superhero such as Cage -- aka Powerman -- whose powers of strength and invulnerable skin would be easier to shoot in a believable manner on-screen, as it wouldn't require too many special effects.
While hard to believe now, Marvel then did not have many financial resources to film big blockbusters, like DC's Batman or Superman films of the '80s, which led Uslan to think Powerman would be a great candidate for a way into a larger Marvel world on-screen.
In Uslan's film, Cage would be living in New York City within the late '70s to early '80s, fighting crime on his streets -- inspired by his character in the Heroes for Hire comic series and his team's first appearance in Powerman and Iron Fist #54. Unfortunately, after his meeting, Motown folded as a company and Universal was sold, leading Uslan to abandon the project altogether. Luke Cage wouldn't appear on-screen until 2016 when Marvel Studios and Netflix created a television series that ultimately ran for two seasons before cancellation.
However, Uslan's dreams of seeing a Black superhero lead on-screen from a Marvel property did come to be... almost a decade later. Blade debuted in 1998, leading to a successful franchise and a jumping-off point for Marvel to create more films such as 2000's X-men and eventually 2008's Iron-Man, which propelled Marvel into the MCU we know of today.
Created and produced by Cheo Hodari Coker, Luke Cage stars Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Erik LaRay Harvey, Rosario Dawson, Alfre Woodard, Gabrielle Dennis and Mustafa Shakir. Both seasons are currently streaming on Netflix with Season 1 is available on DVD.
Source: MovieWeb