In the most fragile period in America has experienced in decades, Luke Cage aims to display various ongoing and significant social issues to the audience at point blank range.

Similar to FX’s Atlanta, a dramedy created by Donald Glover with a similar focus on modern social issues such as police brutality, Luke Cage utilizes an all black cast to take the entertainment industry in a chokehold in perhaps what may be Netflix’s and Marvel’s boldest move yet.

Luke Cage is a tank. A black, bulletproof, super strong, well-read, unmasked vigilante who brandishes a black hoodie as he takes on injustice in both the inner city black community and within the justice system.

Essentially, he is the media icon Black Lives Matter and other pro-black social justice movements so desperately needed, and deserved.

Luke Cage’s symbolism is undeniable as he is the first black Marvel protagonist to have his own full feature show. This broke the standard set by Captain America: Civil War’s T’Challa, or Black Panther, a superhero famously and controversially based off of the Black Panther Party.

The show centers around Luke Cage’s life after the events of Netflix’s previous Marvel installment, Jessica Jones.

In Jessica Jones, Luke Cage is haunted by an event from his past, but the show provides little to no dimension to this character apart from his brooding nature, as well as hook-ups with the show’s main character, private detective Jessica Jones.

Luke Cage provides this dimension. The viewer is exposed to Cage’s wrongful imprisonment in his past and how it drastically changed his life, as well as his day to day experiences staying sane and keeping those he loves safe in a corrupt, crime-ridden inner city Harlem.

The show’s glory does not stop at Luke Cage himself. Mahershala Ali, most popularly known for his role as Remy Danton in Netflix’s House of Cards, plays the main antagonist.

Ali’s performance is as gripping and intimidating as that of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk in Daredevil. Ali’s character; Cornell Stokes, or Cottonmouth, will stop at absolutely nothing to crown himself king of Harlem and make his family royal.

Cottonmouth and his family’s thirst for power and inclination to kill anybody for the sake of family is akin to The Sopranos, a theme that has been ignored in popular television in recent years and makes for an interesting twist for a superhero show.

As well as themes of black endurance and social justice, the show does not hesitate to embrace the common vigilante theme of the protagonist questioning how valuable they truly are and whether they should stay and protect their city, or move on.

Luke Cage finds himself constantly struggling with this as it seems to him he is harming more than helping. As his presence is also intimidating to crime lords, essentially driving them to do insane things they would not normally do.

In addition to addressing social issues and breaking records in black entertainment, Marvel’s Luke Cage provides viewers with an insanely entertaining show to binge watch this fall, consisting of humorous, sad, empathetic, and bone-chilling moments alike.