8) Diamondback
The addition of Willis Stryker AKA Diamondback is perhaps the one big contentious point of Luke Cage’s debut run. While Cottonmouth, Mariah and the police all after him, Luke had enough on his plate without chucking in his ultimate nemesis, as well. On reflection, he probably should have been saved until season two.
He also suffers from having cliches heaped on him. As Luke’s best friend gone bad and his secret evil brother and the secret mastermind in the background, Diamondback is every supervillain trope rolled into one. As such, he feels more like a contrived way to up the stakes for the second half of the season than part of the natural progression of the narrative.
That’s not to say that it’s not enjoyable to watch this very unpredictable character at work. Erik LaRay Harvey also brilliantly plays him like a mad preacher, what with his penchant for quoting bible verse.