WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.
John "Bushmaster" McIver arrives in Luke Cage's Season 2 premiere as a newcomer to New York City intent on seizing control of Harlem -- his "birthright" -- and insistent that Mariah Dillard be called Stokes, hinting at his deeper connection to her family. A single-minded man with brutal tactics, near-bulletproof skin and lightning-fast fight moves. No one-dimensional antagonist, the true nature of his grievances, the meaning of his street name, and the wickedness of the Stokes come into focus as the season's story unfolds.
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Introduced in 1977, Bushmaster's Marvel comics counterpart was born in the Caribbean, and worked his way up through the criminal underworld, and eventually set his sights on the United States, which brought him into conflict with Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Misty Knight. He eventually forced Noah Burstein to put him through the same process that gave Luke his powers, granting him superhuman strength and durability. But in a subsequent fight with Luke, Bushmaster was doused in chemicals that transformed his body into "unliving metal," a mutation that eventually led to his death.
Played by Mustafa Shakir, the Bushmaster of Luke Cage is a little more nuanced, even if his virtual mantra, "Mariah must burn," isn't exactly subtle. However, when the reason behind that becomes clear, late in the season, his demand is certainly understandable, and maybe even righteous. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, John McIver, in Luke's words, "murdered [his] way to the top of the Stylers," but that's not really his story.
He's the son of Quincy McIver, who once upon a time dreamed with fellow dishwasher Buggy Stokes of making rum and opening a nightclub. They memorialized their partnership on a cocktail napkin, with Quincy guaranteed half of the profits from Harlem's Paradise, which he helped to design and build, and from the sales of Bushmaster rum, whose recipe only he and Buggy knew. When outside interests wanted to buy their company, Buggy was told he could keep Harlem's Paradise and get a cut of rum sales, if only he'd kill Quincy, who refused their offers. Buggy murdered his partner, but was shot in the process, and died months later. All that remained of Bushmaster was a limited, private stock, and the name, adopted by John McIver. Harlem's Paradise remained in the hands of the Stokes, with Mama Mabel and Pistol Pete moving swiftly to erase any role Quincy had in the construction of their empire. But that wasn't enough.
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Quincy's widow Gwen flees New York for Kingston, Jamaica, where she cleans rooms at a resort so that she and her son can get by, if only barely. In a flashback shown in Episode 11, Mabel and Pete pay a visit to Kingston in the mid-1980s, with a young Mariah and Cornell in tow, purportedly to settle Gwen's demands for Quincy's share of Bushmaster and Harlem's Paradise. First they laugh in her face, and then Mabel herself sets fire to her house, using a Molotov cocktail made from a bottle of Bushmaster rum, with Gwen still trapped inside. That act leaves young Johnny an orphan, and explains his determination to see Mariah burn, and his pleasure in setting fire to the Stokes family brownstone. (It also finds a tragic parallel later in the so-called Rum Punch Massacre, in which Bushmaster's uncle Anansi is burned alive by Mariah in his own New York restaurant, named after the late, beloved Gwen.)
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But still, the Stokes weren't finished with the McIvers. Raised by his uncle Anansi and aunt Ingrid, John was already viewed as special, because he'd survived a vaccine that killed the other children. But when Pete returns to Jamaica two years later and shoots John, the boy was healed by a bush woman who used nightshade, which Ingrid confides to Luke hardened his skin. "'Our miracle boy,' Ansansi would say," she proudly recalls. "The nightshade saved him, but he was always indestructible, just like you." He continues to use nightshade, like a steroid, we're told, to boost his strength for his fights against Luke and Mariah. That comes at a cost, though, to his mind and body.
Luke insists he and Bushmaster are nothing alike, but clearly they are, not only physically but morally. John McIver operates my a code, even if it's far more brutal than Luke's. But while they have a common enemy in Mariah Dillard (Stokes!), they're only at odds initially because Bushmaster views Luke as an obstacle to winning the heart of Harlem, his "birthright," and then because Luke stands in the way of his goal: killing the granddaughter of Buggy and Mabel Stokes.
For that, Bushmaster is willing to sacrifice everything.
Streaming now on Netflix, Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2 stars Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Alfre Woodard, Theo Rossi, Mustafa Shakir, Gabrielle Dennis, Rosario Dawson and Reg E. Cathey.