Said conversation occurs a few episodes into Netflix’s latest entry into its Marvel superhero universe, and by that point the viewer is well-aware that the man is not exaggerating. Luke’s impenetrable skin deflects bullets like an M1 tank knocks away hail pellets, and his fists slam back just as hard. Standard superhero fare, except for the context.

Luke Cage eschews capes and masks, wearing hoodies instead. He doesn’t have any special weapons or vehicles, only his hands and his will. Luke also is an African American man living in the present day, meaning the nature of his existence holds special significance to viewers and popular culture.

That is not lost on series creator Cheo Hodari Coker and the drama’s star, Mike Colter. Even so, while “Luke Cage” was in production, Coker and Colter trained their focus upon making a series that celebrates Black culture and style via the adventures of an unforgettable African American superhero. The character dates back to 1972 and has undergone a number of updates since. Rarely has he felt more relevant, and important, than in his current incarnation.

Eventually Luke Cage will team up with Daredevil, Jessica Jones (whose series introduced the character) and Iron Fist for Netflix’s yet-to-be-scheduled “Defenders” miniseries, preceded by the release of “Iron Fist” on March 17, 2017.

Recently Salon spoke with Coker and Colter about what Luke Cage represents to viewers, as well as the heavy influence that music and culture played in creating the unique tone of the series, which premiered last Friday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It’s important that you’re doing a show like this, in light of the debate about the relationship between law enforcement and black men. Everything that we’ve been seeing in this past few years has been happening all along. And we’ll talk about that in a bit. But what really struck me about watching “Luke Cage” is how much this series depicts so many beautiful aspects of black life.

Cheo Hodari Coker: Well, I’ve said this before, I wanted to show how being at least culturally, unapologetically black didn’t mean that you had something to apologize for. We’re going to throw you deep into the cultural end of the pool. For example, when you’re entering “Goodfellas” or “Mean Streets,” Martin Scorsese is opening you up to a side of New York Italian life that you hadn’t seen before.

When you’re with Woody Allen at Elaine’s in “Manhattan” or, you know, Spike Lee, in terms of what he did with Brooklyn in “Do the Right Thing,” that’s another aspect of life.

At the same time also, because Marvel characters live in the real world, what is life like outside of Hell’s Kitchen? Harlem is such an incredible place because there’s so much history and so much culture, but at the same time you get such a mix of experiences. I very much wanted the character to live in that world.

I very much wanted people to kind of experience something that they might not have seen before but do it in a way that was more subtle than other approaches – something that was a lot more intricate. Because as much as this is going to be called a hip-hop series, I mean, we’ve got Nina Simone, you know? We’ve got Penny Jackson, Faith Evans.

You can see that music is in every aspect of the show, from that huge Biggie Smalls portrait in Cottonmouth’s office to just about everything else. There’s true visualization of all the music in the series.

Mike Colter: Don’t forget, we have some soul in there.

Coker: For me, everything starts musically. You know, Chuck D always called hip-hop black people’s CNN. I like showing how, as the music evolves, it also talks about or is systemic about what’s going on in the world.

We do it in a way where it’s in your face, but it never feels aggressive. People are going to re-watch these episodes. I think the more they re-watch them, they’re going to find so much different nuance.

Mike, here you’re playing a superhero who does not want to be seen, and his moral compass leads him to struggle with that idea. That’s not new. But it’s interesting [in] what moves his choice to act versus just remaining under the radar.

Colter: It couldn’t be more ideal that this superhero was averse to wanting to take the spotlight because I struggle with that in this business. You know, it’s nice to be recognized, but at the same time there are always consequences. You may get fame, but you lose anonymity. You lose a certain sense of who you are.

Luke is a smart guy. Luke is a thoughtful person who thinks about the big picture. For him, he knows where this leads, and he’s not certain that he wants to be there.

He doesn’t want to share the fact that he has this power. He’d rather not. He’d rather just get rid of the powers or just not let anybody know he has them. So he’s struggling and [it’s] not until his back is pushed against the wall that he says, “OK, I gotta do something, and I wish I had done something sooner because it’s cost me so much.”

Let’s circle back to the idea of this series representing a reflection or a distillation of what’s going on in our culture. Cheo, how much did that idea influence you when you were writing it? And Mike, how much did it play into your performance of it?

Coker: All right, so imagine a world where both H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man exist simultaneously. One is literally, Invisible Man — invisibility, superpowers. The other is what Ralph Ellison was using: race as a metaphor, in terms of how you can be a part of the fabric of this country, but —

Colter: Don’t matter.

Coker: — at the same time, you don’t matter. You’re not a part of everything. Really, this show, to a certain extent, does both. It’s because we’re not really a show that’s about cultural identity, but we deal with it. We’re not really just a superhero show, but we are about superheroes. I think a lot of what this is is that. It’s really more about, Why does anybody want to be a hero? Because it’s a thankless job. At the very least, that was always kind of the joke from the Luke Cage comics. He was always Luke Cage, hero for hire. That was the whole thing.