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The latest entry in Marvel's pantheon of movie and television superheroes is different from the rest.

"Luke Cage" is African American. And he's not a supporting character, he's at the center of the Netflix series, which begins streaming Friday.

But while "Luke Cage" is in the same universe as all of Marvel's TV shows and movies, it's in a different neighborhood. Iron Man, Captain America and Thor don't spend a lot of time in Harlem.

That there's finally a series like "Luke Cage," said star Mike Colter ("The Good Wife'), is "important in the landscape of television. It's important that we have positive images."

But he said he tried "not to think about it, because it's an overwhelming task to think that you have to carry this thing on your shoulders. Because we're just trying to tell a story."

Marvel fans/Netflix subscribers have met Luke before. He was introduced in "Jessica Jones."

As a result of a sabotaged experiment, Luke has super strength and unbreakable skin. So when bad guys shoot at him … seemingly thousands of times in the 13-episode first season … the bullets bounce off. And, when the bad guys run out of bullets, he uses his super strength to take care of them.

Luke sort of works with a cop, Misty Knight (Simone Missick), with whom he shares an attraction. Her partner, Scarfe (Frank Whaley), thinks Luke might be the cause of all the violence in Harlem, not the cure.

And the Big Bad Guy is Cottonmouth Stokes (Mahershala Ali), a fascinating villain.

The cast also includes Alfre Woodard, Theo Rossi, Sonia Braga — and Rosario Dawson appears as Claire Temple, the same character she played in "Jessica Jones" and "Daredevil."

The cast is great. The performances — particularly by Colter in the lead role — are better than the show, which sags in spots. It's solid, but not spectacular.

Contrary to what you might have read elsewhere, "Luke Cage" is not the first black superhero to headline a TV series. Fox aired "M.A.N.T.I.S." — about a paralyzed African-American scientist (Carl Lumbly) who built himself a superpowered exoskeleton to walk again and ended up using it to become a crime-fighter — during the 1994-95 TV season.

And in 2006, Spike aired the short-lived "Blade: The Series" (based on movies, which were based on the comic books), about an African-American vampire-human hybrid that starred Kirk Jones (aka Sticky Fingaz).

While those characters could, arguably, have been played by actors of any ethnicity, Luke Cage could not.

But "Luke Cage" is not crusading for racial equality.

"We're just trying to tell a unique story," Colter said. "And I think we've done so. … We have no agenda. But I'm proud that people do think he's a good superhero. And I hope that the black community can feel good about him as well."

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.