Luke Cage and the rest of Marvel Netflix series finally arrived on Disney+ last month. Despite Disney’s family-friendly branding, the former Netflix originals were added to the Disney+ library without any major changes to their mature and violent content. While the main content of the episodes is intact, some parts are removed, and Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker is pretty upset by one of them.
As pointed out in a recent report by Bounding Into Comics, Disney+ removed the in memoriam tribute to Reg E. Cathey from the Luke Cage series finale. Coker shared the report on Twitter and expressed his displeasure with the change.
“I mean, why do this? Reg E Cathey was part of the heart and soul of Season Two,” Coker tweeted. “We didn’t feel obligated to dedicate the season to him just because he died — we felt obligated because we loved him and he was a galvanizing force.”
What role did Reg E. Cathey play in Luke Cage?
Cathey played Luke Cage’s (Mike Colter) father, James Lucas, in season 2 of the series. He, however, died in February 2018, just a few months before the season’s debut on Netflix. The season was his final acting role.
How did fans react to the tribute removal?
Disney+ has yet to explain why Cathey’s tribute was removed from the episode, but one fan thinks it was accidental:
I kind of suspect that it was an accidental removal having to do with whatever it is they use to scrub the logos of Netflix. Or something to do with using an earlier copy. But they should restore it now that people are talking about it. Thank you thank you
— Drew✨🔥🇺🇦🏳️🌈🍥 (@DrewsClues) April 5, 2022
While it’s unclear whether the tribute’s removal was intentional, some fans already took to Twitter, commenting on how disrespectful the move is.
That’s awful disrespectful.
— Richard Alexander (@BritishMonkey92) April 5, 2022
Why even do this? It makes no sense, it’s not like it save that much time cutting it and it makes Disney look insensitive.
— Akela Cooper 😈 (@AkelaCooper) April 4, 2022
i think this is ridiculous and im glad youre standing up to this, this is inexcusable.
— commanderbravo2 (@commanderbravo2) April 5, 2022
There were also some people who found the move ironic on Disney’s part:
So, @Disney funded an anti-LGBTQ+ law, and now it’s removed memorials to a black man and a Jewish man. Hmm…
— Tom Calen (@TomCalen) April 5, 2022
Did Disney+ remove other in memoriam tributes from the Marvel Netflix series?
In the same report from Bounding Into Comics, it was revealed that the Disney+ also removed the tribute to Stan Lee from The Punisher finale. Interestingly, as of press time, the Stan Lee tribute at the end of Jessica Jones season 3 remains untouched.