You Won’t Believe Why This Marvel Star Is Dodging Avengers Movies
As Marvel barrels toward Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, Luke Cage star Mike Colter is tapping out of the apocalypse — with a hilariously relatable reason for keeping Harlem’s hero out of universe-ending brawls.
Luke Cage in an Avengers movie sounds awesome in theory… right up until you remember what Thanos did to Hulk. Mike Colter hasn’t forgotten either, and he’s got zero interest in watching Harlem’s Hero get rag-dolled in a cosmic dogpile as Marvel steers toward Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Colter’s stance: keep Luke street-level
During a Q&A at Edmonton Expo, Colter made it pretty clear he’d rather keep Luke Cage doing what he does best: protecting the block, not the multiverse. He pointed to the start of Avengers: Infinity War, when Hulk face-planted against Thanos, as Exhibit A for why Luke shouldn’t be anywhere near a purple space tyrant or, say, Doctor Doom.
'Did you see what they did to Hulk? Come on, man. If they’re gonna do that to Hulk, they’d have Thanos absolutely wipe the floor with Luke.'
The moment was captured in a clip shared by Agents of Fandom on September 20, 2025. And yes, he specifically name-checked universe-enders like Thanos and Doctor Doom — with the inside baseball note here being that Doctor Doom is the role Robert Downey Jr. has been rumored to slip into for the big endgame. Wild, I know.
Where Luke Cage has been (and where he might be headed)
- Crossovers so far: Luke’s teamed up with Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) as part of The Defenders.
- Last on screen: Luke Cage wrapped Season 2 back in 2018 on Netflix. That’s the last time we’ve seen Colter in the MCU sandbox.
- Rumors of a comeback: The buzz says Marvel wants Colter back, most likely folded into Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. Colter isn’t biting on speculation; at Edmonton Expo he joked that people keep asking even though there are 'no signs' — and then deadpanned that it’s not like Marvel has, you know, recently revived any of the old Netflix shows.
- Born Again Season 2 setup: Matt Murdock is assembling an army to take on Mayor Kingpin and his Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Ritter is already confirmed to return as Jessica Jones, so it wouldn’t be shocking if Daredevil phones the rest of the team.
- Big-picture MCU: Marvel is marching toward Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, with Secret Wars set for December 2027.
- Want a refresher: Luke Cage is streaming on Disney+ if you want to revisit the bulletproof brawler while we all wait to see if Marvel actually calls Colter back in.
The read-between-the-lines part
Colter’s not anti-Avengers; he’s anti-setting-Luke-up-to-get-outclassed by cosmic gods. Honestly, fair. Cage is built for gritty, ground-level stories — corrupt politicians, dirty cops, gangsters with fancy toys — not Infinity Stone rumbles. If the MCU wants him back, give him a fight he can win without needing a space wizard in his corner.