WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's Luke Cage Season 2, streaming now on Netflix


The Season 2 finale of Marvel's Luke Cage completely upends the status quo the Netflix drama, with control of Harlem no longer in the hands of Mariah Dillard or, for the first time in generations, any member of the Stokes family. However, it's not fierce new rival John "Bushmaster" McIver who ends up on the perch at Harlem's Paradise.

In a twist somewhat reminiscent of Marvel Comics' 2010 "Shadowland" storyline, in which Daredevil assumes leadership of The Hand, intending to turn the cult into a force for good, Luke Cage reasons that the neighborhood doesn't need a queen but a sheriff.

REVIEW: Luke Cage Season 2 Is the Rare Sequel That Outshines the Original

"Look, I’m bullet-proof, all right?" he tells his doubting friend D.W. "You can’t burn me, you can’t blast me, and you can’t break me. And, most importantly, you can’t buy me. I’m the only person that can make Harlem great again."

But how does Luke get the keys to Harlem's Paradise, and where does that leave the season's other major players?

Mariah Dillard

Alfre Woodard in Luke Cage Season 2

Although Alfre Woodard's Mariah Dillard seemed as if she might take the millions earned from insider trading and go straight, her unwillingness to give up Harlem's Paradise, from which her family has long ruled the neighborhood, signaled otherwise. Any lingering doubts were extinguished in Episode 10, "The Main Ingredient," in which Mariah embraces the Stokes name as she orders the massacre at the restaurant owned by the relatives of her new rival, Bushmaster, and sets fires to his uncle Anansi before executing him with her treasured pearl-handled pistol. It's that act that seals Mariah's fate, and places all the key players on a collision course that meets in the finale.

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Betrayed by her estranged daughter Tilda Johnson and her ex-lover Shades Alvarez, Mariah is arrested and arraigned on 12 counts of murder, which includes her cousin Cornell and the so-called Rum Punch Massacre. But Mariah remains defiant, even from Rikers Island, where she orders the deaths of anyone connected to Harlem's Paradise who might testify against her, with the exception of her attorney, her former henchman Sugar (whose wife showed her kindness), and Tilda. However, that last exception proves fatal. Mixing a slow-acting poison called “Beso de la Araña" ("Kiss of the Spider") and applying it to her lips, Tilda pays one final visit to her mother, then kisses her goodbye. Although she had only moments earlier asked Tilda to look in on Harlem's Paradise, Mariah realizes by her daughter's use of "mother" instead of "mommy," that she "didn’t mean a damned thing she said."

While Mariah may not realize (yet) that she's been poisoned, she nevertheless hurries her attorney to record her will, in which she leaves Harlem's Paradise to "someone who loves Harlem as much as I do": Luke Cage. However, it's not a gift to her enemy, but instead a curse. "You know the story of the Sirens?" she explains to her baffled attorney. "The beauty of their voices compelled men off-course to crash against the rocks. This club will be his Siren. He’ll be lulled by its song, lulled by so-called greatness.”

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Shades Alvarez

Theo Rossi as Shades in Luke Cage Season 2

Hernan "Shades" Alvarez (Theo Rossi) cites the Rum Punch Massacre to Misty Knight as his reason for turning evidence on his one-time employer and lover Mariah Dillard, but the fissure opened before that. He had urged her to sell her beloved Basquiat painting, sign Harlem's Paradise over to him and just walk away from the life, sure, but he knew much earlier there was little hope for redemption, for Mariah or for him.

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However, what weighed so heavily on Shades was his own execution of Darius "Comanche" Jones (Thomas Q. Jones), his trusted right hand and former cellmate at Seagate turned police informant. It turns out Mariah had known for some time that Comanche was a snitch, but she also suspected he was Shades' prison lover; always observant, she was right on both counts. She also had a hunch that Hernan was wearing a wire when he returned to Harlem's Paradise, in the season's penultimate episode, purportedly to make amends. He nevertheless convinces her to give him her pistol so he can defend against Bushmaster's assault on the club, only to later hand over to Misty the weapon tied to at least three murders, right in front of Mariah.

Mariah has the last painful laugh, though, as her death at Rikers Island nullifies Shades' deal with the district attorney. He's arrested by Misty for the murders of Comanche and Candace Miller, the waitress from Harlem's Paradise used by Mariah in Season 1 to try to frame Luke Cage for the death of her cousin Cornell. If that weren't enough, the police "mysteriously" receive a coded ledger that will no doubt connect Shades to illegal gun sales. Still, Shades loved Mariah, and she apparently loved him, in her own way. After all, it's Hernan whom she sheds tears for in prison, not her daughter.

Tilda Johnson

Luke Cage Season 2

Ever suspicious of her estranged mother Mariah Dillard, Tilda Johnson (Gabrielle Dennis) still makes small steps toward reconciliation, setting up Mother's Touch in Harlem out of a desire to come "home." But with the revelations that Mariah murdered Cornell Stokes and that the late, great Dr. Jackson Dillard wasn't actually her father, and that she was never wanted by her mother, Tilda's heart is finally hardened. She feels sympathy for Bushmaster, whose family has been repeatedly, and horribly, wronged by the Stokes, but goes well beyond a moral obligation to render medical care when he's near death.

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Perhaps every bit as manipulative as her mother, she tells Bushmaster that Mariah murdered his dear uncle Anansi, and then provides him with everything he should need to exact vengeance: a secret entrance into Harlem's Paradise, and a concentrated dose of nightshade that very well may kill him, but will imbue him with the enhanced strength and stamina he'll need to fend off the gunmen, and Luke Cage, within. Although he fails, Mariah is nevertheless arrested for her crimes. But as she wages war from behind bars against virtually everyone who can testify against her, Tilda sets out to stop her mother once and for all, with a poison kiss.

However, much as she does Shades and Luke Cage, Mariah haunts Tilda from beyond the grave. Although she'd asked her daughter to check in on Harlem's Paradise, because "it's home," and talked of its legacy, in her will she only leaves Cornell's keyboard to Tilda. Despite the nature of their relationship, and Tilda's role in Mariah's death, the slight obviously stings. When Tilda reappears in the closing moments of the finale, to a Harlem's Paradise now owned by Luke Cage, it's no accident she more closely resembles her villainous comic book counterpart.

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Bushmaster

Bushmaster in Luke Cage Season 2

A relentless, brutal but, ultimately, sympathetic antagonist, John "Bushmaster" McIver (Mustafa Shakir) is single-minded in his mission to avenge the seemingly endless list of wrongs committed against his family by the Stokes, from the theft of his birthright -- half the profits from Bushmaster rum and Harlem's paradise -- to the murder of his uncle Anansi. No sacrifice is too great to kill Mariah Dillard, not even his own life.

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Yet, he falls short of his goal, even after taking a concentrated "super-shot" of nightshade that doubles his strength, at the potential cost of his body and mind. He's defeated in the final moments of the penultimate episode in a savage fight with Luke Cage, who refuses to kill him, providing an opportunity for Bushmaster to escape. Weak and possibly dying, he's treated by Tilda Johnson and hidden from Misty Knight in the back of her store. Even then, his thoughts are about Mariah. "She must burn," he tells Tilda, but it's clear he won't be the one to do it. That torch has been passed to Tilda, who pledges to give him some peace.

The last we see of Bushmaster, he's leaving New York City at night with his aunt to meet up with a ship in Delaware, which will carry Anansi's body back to Jamaica. Tilda gives them instructions to find a species of nightshade that grows in Nine Mile, Jamaica, to help treat Bushmaster, but the prognosis doesn't look promising. "Johnny finally got to the top of the hill," says the ever-faithful Sheldon (Kevin Mambo), echoing Bushmaster's often-repeated words. "Now, he can't even enjoy the view. It always seems like it's worth it, but it's not."

Misty Knight

Simone Missick in Luke Cage Season 2

After struggling early in the season with the loss of her arm, her place within the New York Police Department, and the lingering specter of her late, crooked partner Rafael Scarfe, Misty Knight (Simone Missick) seemingly gets everything she's wanted in the final two episodes: the apprehension, and subsequent death, of Mariah Dillard, the arrest of Shades Alvarez, justice for Candace Miller, and an uneasy peace in Harlem. But at what cost?

Now a rising star within the NYPD, tipped for promotion to commander of her precinct, Misty ends the season potentially at odds with Luke Cage once more. From his new perch at Harlem's Paradise, he views himself as a sheriff, enforcing the neighborhood's unwritten rules while Misty takes care of the written ones. But what about the law, she wonders. "Don't think I will hesitate to take you down if you start actin' a-fool," she warns, a faint smile across her face. If there were any doubts about where their relationship stands, Misty finds herself on the outside looking in as the door to Luke's new office closes so he can discuss business with his new aide, Sugar.

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Luke Cage

luke cage season 2

After spending the first season, and The Defenders, coming to terms with his role as hero, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) grapples with his darker urges as well as what it is Harlem really needs: a sheriff, a king or, as Mariah Dillard would have it, a queen. He ultimately settles on sheriff,  but from his new position within Harlem's Paradise, it certainly seems more like a dictator, as Misty Knight worries.

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Encouraged by Shades Alvarez, of all people, even before Mariah's death, to take control of Harlem before someone like Bushmaster or crime boss Rosalie Carbone can step into the void, Luke brokers a truce by placing a "lock box" around the neighborhood: If any rival organizations attempt to operate in Harlem, Luke will make Rosalie's life a living hell. The inheritance of Harlem's Paradise, which he initially rejects, makes his new role -- "Luke Corleone," in D.W. Griffith's assessment -- official. Although Luke insists he's the only one who can make Harlem great again, D.W. spies the flaw: "If you’re gonna be the boss of crime, then you’re a crime boss."

Convinced he can keep best keep watch over the neighborhood from Harlem's Paradise without being corrupted by the power, Luke ends the season isolated, and (literally) surrounded by those just waiting for him to make a misstep: crime lords Rosalie Carbone and Anibal Izqueda; Tilda Johnson; and the NYPD's Misty Knight and Priscilla Ridley.


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.