Luke Cage: 10 Facts About Shades MCU Fans Forgot About

Appearing in a total of 23 episodes, Shades was one of the best villains in the MCU series Luke Cage before it was pulled off from Netflix. Shades was portrayed by Theo Rossi who is best known for portraying the gangster/biker Juice in Sons of Anarchy.

Shades earned the name due to his preference for wearing sunglasses at all times. Though he was smart and skilled in combat, he preferred to work under other villains such as Cottonmouth, Albert Rackham, Diamondback, and Mariah Dillard. Here are a couple of things fans might have forgotten about him.

10 His Legal Name

Shades’ legal name as revealed in Luke Cage is Hernan Enrique Salazar Alvarez. Interestingly, his legal name has never been mentioned in the comics. Only his son’s name Victor Alvarez is mentioned in the comics. The two are estranged because Shades cheated on his mother.

The decision to name Shades as Hernan Alvarez must have been a reference to his son’s name in the comics. His name was first revealed while he was being booked as a new inmate.

9 His Sexuality

Shades is bisexual. He dated Rivals member and former Seagate Prison inmate Comanche. In the second season of Luke Cage, it was revealed that Shades and Comanche had a thing while behind bars. However, things between them ended tragically.

Shades killed Comanche because he was ratting against the Mariah Stokes’ crime syndicate to the NYPD against Mariah Stokes’ crime syndicate. Shades also had a relationship with Mariah Dilalrd (Black Mariah).

8 Weapon Of Choice

Shades had a go-to-weapon which was the Kimber Warrior M1911 semi-automatic pistol. The gangster always carried it with him in every mission he took part in.

Shades can be seen holding the pistol on several occasions. The most notable moment is when he holds it while chasing Misty Knight right inside Harlem’s Paradise. He finds Knight and tries to threaten her but Claire manages to disarm him.

7 Skilled Marksman

Shades is as good a gunslinger as a character in a Spaghetti Western. Throughout the series run, he proved to be very accurate with shots. He never missed and neither did he fail to kill if he wanted to.

The gangster managed to shoot Candace Miller, Zip, and Arturo Rey III at the center of the head. And when Bushmaster confronted him, he fired a bullet to his left eye. This is impressive given the fact that Bushmaster had the Quicksilver kind of superhuman speed that could have enabled him to dodge the bullet.

6 He Had A Conscience

Despite his ruthlessness, Shades had a heart too. He neither believed in killing innocent people nor using extreme violence when there was no need for it.

For example, he was ready to wait patiently until Chico Diaz was done getting his haircut at Pop’s Barber Shop before attacking him so that no innocent people would be killed. He also showed remorse over Pop’s death and apologized to Cottonmouth.

5 He Was One Of The First People To Know About Luke’s Powers

One of the first people to know about Luke’s s strength was Diamondback. He was part of the reason why Luke was behind bars in the first place.

Shades also came to discover Luke’s strength while in prison. He was tasked with organizing fights by one of the prison guards. And when he was sent to test how skilled Luke was, he realized that no knife would go through Luke’s body.

4 His Calmness

A bomb could drop next to Shades and he wouldn’t even flinch. The villain was super calm at all times. When Shades’ boss Cottonmouth fell from the window before being sent to the afterlife by Dillard, Shades didn’t even seem bothered by the gruesome turn of events.

At that very moment, he began plotting his next move. He aligned himself with Dillard so that the two could continue the work that Cottonmouth left. Shades was often calm during many other killings too. He would move to the next activity within seconds.

3 He Was Never Intimidated By Law Enforcement

In the episode titled “Soliloquy Of Chaos,” Deputy Chief of New York City Police Department Pricilla Ridely interrogated Shades. When threatened with 25 years in jail, Shades pretended that he was willing to rat out everyone by claiming that he knew exactly what happened.

Ridley then pressed him to the name the person who masterminded the club incident only for shades to say: “He goes by…lawyer. You need me to spell it?” Brilliant!

2 Loyalty To Mariah Dillard

Season One’s villains were very expendable. Everyone was dropping dead and it looked like Dillard would face the same fate too. Cottonmouth also lasted half a season despite being portrayed by one of the best actors in the business while Diamondback just got smashed to a pulp.

It almost felt like the writers hated the funny-name villains. When Dillard was arrested for murder, Shades managed to track down the only witness to her crime and kill her. Despite her cold-heartedness, he felt like he loved her too much to lose her.

1 He Had No Interest In Being A Boss

Maybe it’s a lack of ambition or staying in the comfort zone but Shades never really wanted to be the big boss He had a couple of opportunities to be one but he passed them up. Such a shame really because he had all the qualities of a charismatic villain.

At the end of the first season, he partnered up with Dillard instead of taking everything for himself as a true villain would. Or perhaps he simply understood the dangers of being a boss, given that most bosses never made it out alive in the end.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1213 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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