He spent years with the tough bikers of Sons Of Anarchy as Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz, so Theo Rossi should fit right in with the hard-bitten world of Hell’s Kitchen that has being cooked up by the likes of Daredevil and the incoming Jessica Jones on Netflix. He’s been cast in Luke Cage alongside a familiar face from the Marvel universe.
According to Deadline, Rossi will play Shades, who in the comics was a fellow inmate of Cage’s (Mike Colter) at Seagate Prison. After he escaped, he became a hoodlum for hire, and at one point acquired optic blasters (think Cyclops-style laser beams) that gave him an advantage in his criminal deeds. Whether he’ll have that, or some take on it, is something we’ll have to wait and see. In related Cage news, Simone Missick has scored a role reportedly bringing to life Misty Knight, a former NYPD cop who lost her arm in the line of duty. After receiving a new bionic limb from none other than Tony Stark, she starts a detective agency and helps Luke out occasionally. We doubt Robert Downey Jr. will be showing up for a Stark cameo (or even if she’ll have the arm), but you never know with Marvel…
Cage, of course, got his own superpowers from an experimental procedure while in the slammer, where he was languishing for a crime he didn’t commit. In Cage’s case, the result was supposed to produce immunity to all illness, but he emerged from the operation with steel-tough, bulletproof skin, super-dense muscle, and massively enhanced strength and stamina. He agreed to be messed with in exchange for parole, but ended up getting out through a jailbreak anyway, and became a hero for hire.
And – spoiler alert in case you don’t want to know, though the connection seems destined for all four of the Marvel/Netflix shows – Rosario Dawson will show up as Claire Temple, following on from appearances in both Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
They join a cast that already includes Colter and Alfre Woodard, who is playing a political powerhouse with more secretive criminal plans. With Cheo Hodari Coker in charge, the show is starting to shoot now and will be on the streaming service next year. Rossi, meanwhile, has worked on indie pic Low Riders and is shooting horror mystery When The Bough Breaks.