The "Swear Jar" in Pop's Barbershop was actually included in the show for Prince. Writer and executive producer Cheo Hodari Coker was going to show Prince the first two episodes of the show and had hoped to convince Prince perform at Harlem's Paradise nightclub in the finale of Season 1. However, Prince's untimely death in 2016 quickly dashed those hopes.
Quentin Tarantino grew up collecting Luke Cage comics, and he wanted to make a film adaptation starring Laurence Fishburne after directing Reservoir Dogs (1992). He later explained, "What actually dissuaded me from doing it... was my comic geek friends talked me out of it... Because I had an idea that Larry Fishburne would've been the perfect guy to play Luke Cage... But all my friends were like, 'No, no, listen, it's got to be Wesley Snipes.' And I go, 'Look, I like Wesley Snipes, but Larry Fishburne is practically Marlon Brando. I think Fish is the man.' And they're like, 'Yeah, but he'd have to get in shape in a big way. Snipes is that way already!' And I go, 'Fuck that! That's not that important! Fuck you, you ruined the whole damn thing!'" He made Pulp Fiction (1994) instead.
Luke Cage was originally introduced in 1972 and was originally intended as a stereotype representing the rise of blaxploitation at the time with the releases of "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)" and "Shaft (1971)."
Luke Cage was never a policeman or military serviceman in the comic book versions. In the Netflix series it is mentioned that he was a former cop and that he served in Marine Force Recon, which is presumably created only for this live-action version of his character.
This is the first Marvel feature to use the n word, for which Cheo Hodari Coker had complete trust from Marvel regarding the use of the word in the show. The word is used casually in the series, while some characters, including Cage, prefer not to use it. Coker said the intent was never to use it "in a way where it's flippant. I used it from the standpoint of, if we were going to eavesdrop on a conversation with African-American people with nobody else around, when would this word be used and how would it get used."
Method Man: as himself. This is the second time a member of the hip-hop supergroup Wu-Tang Clan has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first was Ghostface Killah, who had a brief cameo in a deleted scene in Iron Man (2008).