Blowin’ Up the Spot renews the emphasis on Luke Cage as a blaxploitation superhero, to an extent not seen since Step in the Arena.
Cornell Stokes was shuffled off the stage at the end of Manifest to make room for Willis Stryker. Stryker has lurked at the edge of Luke Cage‘s narrative since Moment of Truth, nominally represented by the mysterious gangster known as “Shades.” Stryker has been a mysterious and ominous presence, a business associate of Cornell’s with designs upon Harlem. His name is whispered in conversations, the characters sharing some unspoken understanding of who he is and what he does in a way that evokes the way criminals spoke of Wilson Fisk in the early episodes of Daredevil.
However, Blowin’ Up the Spot wastes no time in establishing Stryker as a new antagonist for Luke Cage. The character was teased in the closing minutes of Manifest, offering Luke “one Judas for another.” He is very much front and centre in Blowin’ Up the Spot. The episode’s teaser closes on the image of Stryker dressed in a bulletproof vest, standing beside a humvee and carrying a grenade launcher. There is no ambiguity there, no subtlety. Stryker has arrived in force, and is ready to take centre stage.
After all, Luke Cage is a superhero story. And every superhero story needs a super villain.
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