‘Luke Cage’ Season 2 Gets Premiere Date, New Trailer (VIDEO)

The first season of Netflix and Marvel's Luke Cage started off incredibly well with future Oscar winner Mahershala Ali playing Cottonmouth, a rather nuanced villain and some rather subtly interesting social commentary. Then halfway through they killed off Ali's character and replaced him with a literal cartoon villain in the form of Erik LaRay Harvey's Diamondback, and they replaced the subtle social commentary with a "beat you over the head, do you get it yet?" style.

It's a schizophrenic season at best, but it's made better by the core trio of leads: Mike Colter's Luke Cage, Simone Missick's Misty Knight, and Alfre Woodard's crooked Mariah Dillard. Thankfully, the former two will be back for this second season, which Netflix has officially announced to drop in its entirety on June 22.

While certainly not as good as Daredevil, Luke Cage is still a formidable addition to Marvel's television lineup, and I think Luke will be better served by a second season then he was by his role in The Defenders. I'm hoping they decided to kill of Diamondback, because that character just needs to go if they have any hope of grounding the series again. Fingers crossed. We'll find out for sure on June 22.