Marvel’s “Luke Cage” may be “Soul Brother #1”, but he’s not the only black hero-for-hire this summer. In less than a month, Denzel Washington will reprise his role as “high-level paid government assassin” Robert McCall in “The Equalizer 2”: reuniting the Oscar winner with director Antonie Fuqua for their fourth collaboration. Based on the mid-1980s spy-detective CBS series that starred Edward Woodward, the film is a sequel to the 2014 hit that also reunites with Denzel with his “Flight” co-star Melissa Leo.
In case you may or may not know, the actress guest-starred on a 1985 episode of “The Equalizer” entitled “The Defector”, where McCall continued to defect from the “dirty business” of the Company to setting up his own business of helping the helpless: a murdered agent’s daughter, played by Leo, and a bullied teen.
He may “punish the guilty” like Marvel’s Frank Castle/the Punisher, but Robert McCall stands for something: protecting the innocent and serving justice as a knight in shining armor: a dark knight like Batman. He may be a different kind of driver like Frank Martin – aka The Transporter -, but McCall is out to enforce his own brand of law: especially when it comes to avenging the death of his close friend Susan.
Come July 20, “The Equalizer 2” will even the odds.