Mike Colter Officially Cast as Marvel's Luke Cage

There have been primarily two African-American superheroes fans have been wanting to see hit the big screen for Marvel, and neither was the Falcon. The first was Black Panther, who we know will be played by Chadwick Boseman. The second was Luke Cage aka Power Man. While it's unclear when or if Cage will ever make his way into the big leagues, we know he's got a Netflix series coming up, and now we also know he'll be played by Mike Colter.

After his name surfaced as the frontrunner some weeks back, Colter has been officially cast as Luke Cage. The character will first appear in the series AKA Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter. He'll then move on to his own 13-episode series sometime afterward. Cage and Jones are an item in the Marvel Universe (they even have a kid together), and it looks like they'll be attached at the hip here, too.

"During the course of an investigation in New York City, private investigator Jessica Jones encounters the enigmatic Luke Cage – a man whose past has secrets that will dramatically alter Jessica in ways she could never have imagined."

AKA Jessica Jones follows an ex-superhero with who gave up her crime-fighting career after a tragic incident. Now she works as a private detective solving crimes involving other heroes.

Colter can be seen now as Jameson Locke in the Microsoft original series, Halo: Nightfall. It will be interesting to see if his character makes the leap to The Avengers considering the clamor from fans who want to see it happen. AKA Jessica Jones will premiere some time in 2015 following the Daredevil series, which just debuted some new images of star, Charlie Cox, which you can see below. There is also a series following Luke Cage's best friend and partner, Iron Fist. 

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First Images from Marvel's 'Daredevil' Netflix Series; Plus Rosario Dawson's Character Revealed!

This being New York Comic-Con weekend, now was a good time for Marvel to show off some of the projects that have been kept under wraps. One of those is Daredevil, the first of five Netflix series they'll be debuting on the streaming network. Today they revealed the first look at Charlie Cox as the "man without fear" and his look, at least initially, is clearly inspired by the character's most famous storyline.

The two images show Daredevil in the black, ninja-style outfit he wore in Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.'s Daredevil: Man without Fear series. It';s expected that the classic red outfit will appear at some point. The other shows us Daredevil in his alter ego of law attorney Matt Murdock, red shades and all.  Plus, some new cast members were revealed as well as confirmation of Rosario Dawson's character, which many thought would be Elektra. I never did, but I was still way off. Dawson will be playing Claire Temple, who will go on to become Night Nurse. As the name suggests, Night Nurse was someone who provided medical aid to the city's superheroes, usually for free. She's become something of a cult favorite over the years, possibly because of her soap opera-esque origins in the 1960s comic, Linda Carter, Student Nurse. Not sure why they decided to change her name for the TV series, though. What this tells me is that she won't be the same Night Nurse fans of the character are familiar with.

Other additions to the cast include Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel) as Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin who will be played by Vincent D'Onofio; Bob Gunton is Jim Owlsley better known as The Owl; and Vondie Curtis Hall will play reporter Ben Urich. If anybody complains about an African-American playing Urich I'll scream.

Steven Knight serves as showrunner and exec-producer alongside Drew Goddard, with Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson also part of the main cast. Daredevil should premiere on Netflix in 2015.

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Charlie Cox Confirmed as 'Daredevil' in Marvel's Netflix Series

Over the weekend there was a good deal of Marvel craziness going on, and not all of it had to do with Edgar Wright jetting Ant-Man. On the same day word came down that Drew Goddard had left the upcoming Daredevil series developing for Netflix, only his departure was far more amicable than Wright's. And so it was only hours later that the capable Steven S. DeKnight had come aboard as showrunner, and now he's got his "Man without Fear".

Charlie Cox, best known for Stardust and HBO's Boardwalk Empire, has been cast as Matt Murdock in the 13-episode Daredevil series. Marvel has also released a synopsis for the show that will be followed by Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and culminating in The Defenders.

Blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock fights against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the super hero Daredevil in modern day Hell's Kitchen, New York City.

Cox has the look to play Murdock, and his Boardwalk Empire experience should have him ready for what should be a street-level noir detective series. Filming is due to begin this summer for release on Netflix in 2015.

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'Les Miserables' Star Samantha Barks Joins 'Dracula' with Luke Evans

Vampire movies aren't going away any time soon, but there does seem to be an effort to make them interesting and thrilling again, and more than just fodder for teen romance movies. After kicking around in various stages of development for years, a film based on the origin of king vamp Dracula finally took a big step forward when Luke Evans came aboard, and now the latest addition if Samantha Barks, coming off her breakthrough performance in Les Miserables.

Barks is set to play Baba Yaga, which is a powerful witch from Eastern European folklore. Others joining the already announced duo of Dominic Cooper and Sarah Gadon are Art Parkinson (Game of Thrones) as Dracula's son, Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire) in an unknown role, and Icelandic actor Thor Kristjansson as a slave boy who grows into an assassin for the Ottoman Empire.

With Gary Shore directing, the film will chronicle how Transylvanian prince Vlad became Dracula by risking eternal damnation to save his family from a Turkish army's onslaught. Dracula hits theaters on August 8th 2014. [THR]

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