I'm a harlem born and bred scriptwriter and novelist. I'm sharing this with you because it would be a dream come true to actually pen a Luke Cage or Panther script...And because well its really good. Enjoy!
CUT TO: NYC HARLEM. NIGHT. The cloaked panther jet lands
across from the offices of Luke Cage Private Investigator. CUT TO: INTERIOR.
Cage wearing the GOLD SHIRT AND BLUE
PANTS notices sounds walks to window and witnesses Panther and Storm appear out
of thin air in seriously handsome and stylish clothes.
CAGE
(Whistling)
Sweeeeeeeet
Christmas. That’s a woman.
(Sits down at his
desk)
They here
for somebody else.
(Agitated and
shuffling papers)
Now why you tell that lie?
(Getting up and
walking to the window again-back to door)
I don’t care what they say I’m not doing it.
ANGLE ON DOOR. Panther and Storm walk in.
PANTHER
Mr….
CAGE
(Agitated and without
turning around)
You asking or telling?
PANTHER
Do you
greet everyone so enthusiastically?
CAGE
You tell
me…
STORM
We are here
for you…You are in business are you not?
CAGE
Again. You
asking or you telling?
PANTHER
Perhaps he
is not the man we seek…
CAGE
And now we
understand the question. Are you asking or telling?
PANTHER
(Turning)
I believe
we may go. This is beneath us.
STORM
(Stopping the
Panther)
Why does it
matter…
CAGE
Where I’m from…You come to a man’s
home. You ask questions and don’t talk like you telling somebody where to put
they furniture.
STORM
He’s a
king. He really can’t help it.
CAGE
Ain’t no
kings round here.
CLOSE ON CAGE. His eyes narrow as he focuses on the street.
He suddenly takes his very nice shirt off.
CAGE
(Opening the
window, grabbing a heavy chain off the
floor and throwing it over his shoulder)
I knew I
shouldn’t have worn a good shirt.
CAGE jumps out of the window and lands heavily as asphalt
crumbles. He quickly walks into the street and punches an on coming car
stopping it. Men jump out shooting at Cage.
CAGE
Damit. Now
yall know dat ISH stings!
ANGLE ON bullet flying to cage which ricochets and hits gas
tank creating an explosion which flies Cage for some distance. ANGLE ON Storm
and Panther watching from the window.
STORM
Do you
think we should…
PANTHER
This is
useful…
ANGLE ON CAGE RISING AS IF TO WALK THROUGH THE FLAMES. His
pants are in tatters, boots half blown off. He walks to his chain and picks it
up.
STORM
PANTHER
(v.o.)
Every man
needs help…
TIGHT ON CAGE GRIMACE.
CAGE
(Calmly)
Yall mothasuckers gon’ make me
curse.
PANTHER
(v.o.)
Perhaps but it is when a man needs
help most that he finds what kind of man is.
CAGE
Now yall
know I done tole you that Harlem is mine. You ain’t welcome here.
Cage throws the chain and drops two of them. The other two
run more than they shoot.
CAGE
Oh, don’t MAKE me run. Worse than
fat dunking donuts eating pigs when I gotta do t hat…
PANTHER takes off his trench and takes off his hat revealing
the Panther costume and drops out the window landing cat like on one of the
cars. He quickly bounds the distance and makes short work of the two remaining
men. He carries them back to Cage.
PANTHER
(As storm floats down
to them)
I believe
you need help.
CAGE
I was just tryna put it together. I
hate running. It might not look like much But I’m eleven times denser than the
normal..
STORM
What do you
weigh?
CAGE
Kinda
difficult to weigh myself..but anywhere between 450 and 500…
(As Storm looks at
his tattered close)
Also kinda
hard to keep clothes in this profession. Keepin’ these thugs of my streets.
STORM
That
profession would be…
CAGE
Private
eye…but I’m more…
PANTHER
I see…
CAGE
Mighty neighborly of you to help me
with my streets…but about your help…I don’t work for free.
PANTHER
The world
is in danger. The ancestors have sent me…This is not about a cost.
CAGE
Look here. I’m a private eye. I got
bills. As for free and the world in danger? You see that big building downtown
with the big A on it? They do free cause
they got a billionaire wit’ a B backing them. And bout your ancestors dey ain’t
pullin’ no weight round here…
PANTHER
Perhaps I
was wrong, Ororo. Let us go…
STORM
No. If he’s supposed to join us…who
is to say it wasn’t as a paid member…And there’s no fee you can’t pay as the
richest man on earth…
PANTHER
It is not
the fee, but the principle. Let us go…again I say.
STORM
How much do
you need…
CAGE
Well is it
super power cats we ballin’ against…
PANTHER
We would
not need were they not so.
STORM
(As Cage whispers in
Storm’s ear)
He can pay
it now let’s go
PANTHER
(Turning to go men
still over his shoulder)
How much am
I paying…
CAGE
Well are
you the richest man in the world or not?
PANTHER
What is at
stake makes me so but I would still like to know.
STORM
Don’t be
cheap. Millions mean nothing…
PANTHER
Millions?
STORM
(Looking Cage up and
down)
And we’ll
even throw in a life time supply of indestructible outfits…
CAGE
And boots?
PANTHER
How much am
I paying him…
CAGE
(As he and Ororo
begin to float over him)
You ain’t
missin’ a couple mill King…
PANTHER
A COUPLE
MILLION?!
CAGE
(Laughing)
You can put
them down Bruh…
(Looking up at Storm
who flies ahead of him)
Can we do
that bright Yellow shirt…I like yellow. And the chain…We do a fancy chain?
PANTHER
(Putting down the
brothers)
All of that
I’m sure it is just these millions…exactly how many.
STORM
Ten
exactly….
PANTHER
(Punching one of the
waking men)
Ten…Are you
not a hero?
CAGE
I’m a
working man. A private eye.
(to Storm)
He doesn’t
listen good does he? Must be part of the whole King thing….
STORM
No he never
has…some how I think that was pre natal…
CAGE
Sweeeet
Christams how do you put up with it?
PANTHER
(Jumping and bounding
out in front of them toward the jet)
Putting up with…
STORM
(Laughing)
Haven’t had
to and thankfully so…Mister….
CAGE
Cage. Lucas
Cage…But folks round her call me…
CLOSE ON PANTHER as he opens the jet.
PANTHER
Power Man.
And, by the ancestors, thankfully so. We will need every ounce of it.
STORM
(As she floats
through the cabin)
Home now?
PANTHER
The
ancestors have one last stop for us…
Awesome sun. Love it!!
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