WATCH: Mariah Dillard Rules Harlem in ‘Luke Cage’ Trailer

By Sameer Rao Jun 13, 2018

After facing the ire of "Luke Cage‘s" titular hero in the first season of the Netflix/Marvel series, Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard, "The Lion King" reboot) is now looking to solidify her political grip on Harlem. And, as she says in a trailer that Netflix published yesterday (June 12), no man, no matter how bulletproof, will stand in her way. 

"You don’t need to be bulletproof to be a superhero," she tells series newcomer Tilda Johnson (Gabrielle Dennis, "Insecure"). "Black women have always had superpowers. Turn pain into progress. Harlem doesn’t need a hero. It needs a queen." 

The new trailer pits Dillard against Harlem’s latest supervillain, Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir, "Quarry"), to the sound of The Fugees’ "Ready or Not." The stand-off pushes her into a tense alliance with Cage (Mike Colter, "Girls Trip"), whom she derisively calls "my dark chocolate Boy Scout." 

See if her scheming pays off when "Luke Cage" premieres on June 22.