Cottonmouth Rules The New 'Luke Cage' Teaser

Netflix's Luke Cage has so far been proving to be one of Marvel's coolest superhero franchises, with its '90s hip-hop flare and chill bulletproof protagonist. Luke Cage is so cool that even the villains he combats are cool. In an extended Luke Cage teaser we get a look at Cottonmouth, Cage's drug lord nemesis played by Mahershala Ali. Yeah, it seems he's super evil, but he also has a really interesting Biggie Smalls (AKA The Notorious B.I.G) photo in his lair, so he's also undoubtedly pretty cool.

The clip is so simple. In it Cottonmouth, or Cornell as some people call him, is messing with a person he has tied in a chair — not unlike a cat playing with a mouse. He asks simply, "Do you like my Biggie photo?" and then launches into a low-key art lesson about how the crown is what draws the eye to the photo because "everybody wants to be the king." Somehow, he manages to make it so the crown in the image behind him looks to be resting on his head before brutally beating the man tied to the chair. It's definitely spooky, but there's also something that's impressive about Cottonmouth's composure.

Luke Cage, which will be available on Netflix on Sept. 30, is more than the story of a cool dude who happens to be bulletproof, battle urban drug lords, and hang out with Jessica Jones on her show. The official description of the show says,

After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) becomes a fugitive trying to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But he is soon pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city – forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.

But it seems Cage isn't the only conflicted one

In a Deadline interview, Ali describes how his character isn't really a "bad guy," saying, "you start seeing somebody who will do anything to protect what he has, and can justify that because he is so threatened by the introduction of this new person [Luke Cage] in Harlem, who is learning to take everything away from him." It's going to be so exciting to see how Ali pulls off the humanity of being a villain.

Hopefully we'll get a healthy helping of more teasers and trailers in the upcoming days before the show's premiere at the end of September. Any little glimpse of the world Netflix and Marvel are creating together is much appreciated.

Images: Netflix US & Canada/Youtube; Giphy