Luke Cage

Luke Cage, born Carl Lucas and often called Power Man, is a Marvel Comics superhero. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972).

Although the first African-American character to star in an eponymous comic book series was Dell Comics' western hero Lobo, Cage was the first African-American superhero to do so.

A streetwise youth, Cage was sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. He underwent an experimental procedure that granted him titanium-hard skin and superhuman strength. Cleared of his crime, he became a “hero for hire,” although, as a plot device, Cage was always forced by conscience not to take any money for his deeds. Later, he took a business partner, the martial arts hero Iron Fist, and the two became one of the better-known superhero duos of the 1980s.

Cage was a groundbreaking but controversial hero. He was Marvel's entry into the 1970s blaxploitation trend and sported a stereotypically streetwise tongue, including the catch phrase "Sweet Christmas!" Later revivals, which portrayed him as thuggish, were also criticized. Still, some portrayals of Cage are popular with black comic book fans.

Recently, Cage has been featured in the Brian Michael Bendis-written series Alias, The Pulse, Daredevil and New Avengers.

History

Born and raised in Harlem, Carl Lucas spent his youth in a gang called the Bloods. With his friend Willis Stryker, he fought the rival gang the Diablos and committed petty thefts, often on behalf of deformed crimelord Sonny Caputo, a.k.a. Hammer. In and out of juvenile homes throughout his teens, Lucas dreamed of becoming a major New York racketeer until he finally realized how his actions were hurting his family; he sought to better himself as an adult, finding legitimate employment. Meanwhile, Stryker rose through the ranks of crime, but the two men remained friends. When Stryker's activities angered the Maggia (a.k.a. the Syndicate), he was badly beaten in a mob hit, saved only by Lucas's intervention. When Stryker's girlfriend, Reva Connors, broke up with him in fear of his violent work, she sought solace from Lucas. Convinced that Lucas was responsible for the breakup, Stryker planted heroin in Lucas's apartment and tipped off the police. Lucas was arrested and sent to prison; contact with his family was sparse due to the resentment of his brother James, Jr., who intercepted Lucas's letters to their father James and eventually led each to believe the other was dead.

In prison, Lucas was consumed by rage over Stryker's betrayal and his father's supposed death, engaging in frequent brawls and escape attempts. Eventually transferred to Seagate Prison off the coast of Georgia, he became the favorite target of sadistic guard Albert "Billy Bob" Rackham, whose brutality ultimately led to a demotion that he blamed on Lucas. Later, research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein recruited Lucas as a volunteer for experimental cell regeneration based on a variant of the Super-Soldier process he had previously used to empower Warhawk. Burstein immersed Lucas in an electrical field conducted by an organic chemical compound; when he left Lucas unattended, Rackham misused the experiment's controls, hoping to maim or kill Lucas. Lucas's treatment was accelerated past its intent, inducing body-wide enhancement that gave him superhuman strength and durability. He used his new power to escape Seagate and made his way back to New York, where a chance encounter with criminals inspired him to use his new powers for profit.

Adopting the alias Luke Cage and donning a distinctive costume, he launched a career as a Hero for Hire, helping anyone who could meet his price. He soon established an office in Times Square's Gem Theater, where he befriended film student D.W. Griffith. Burstein, aware of his friend's innocence, also relocated to New York and opened a medical clinic, assisted by Dr. Claire Temple, whom Cage began dating. Although Cage would have been content to battle strictly conventional criminals, he soon learned that New York was hardly the place to do so. Stryker himself had become a Maggia agent as Diamondback and died battling Cage. Subsequent opponents included Gideon Mace, an embittered veteran seeking a U.S. takeover who would become a frequent foe; Chemistro (Curtis Carr), whose Alchemy Gun would be a weapon later used by others, including his own brother after Curtis reformed; and Discus, Stiletto, Shades, and Commanche, all criminals with ties to Cage's prison days who would face him repeatedly over the years.

Although Cage seemed to have little in common with most of New York's other superhumans, an ill-conceived attempt to collect a fee from a reneging Doctor Doom led him to befriend the Fantastic Four. He was subsequently hired by Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson to capture Spider-Man, the wisecracking adventurer who doubled as Jameson's personal demon, but Cage came to sympathize with Spider-Man and forcibly returned Jameson's deposit, earning a place on the publisher's lengthy list of superhuman personas non grata. Cage also befriended Jessica Jones, a.k.a. Jewel, a young woman whose super-strength and unconventional style matched his own. During a mission in which Orville Smythe duped him into stealing an experimental starsuit from Stark International, Cage followed the example of his new peers and took the codename of Power Man.

Shortly afterward, Cage began associating with the loose-knit super-team known as the Defenders, alongside whom he fought the super-strong Wrecking Crew and the racist subversives known as the Sons of the Serpent. When the Thing temporarily lost his superhuman powers, Cage was hired to replace him in the Fantastic Four, but his tenure proved brief after the Puppet Master took control of him to fight his new teammates. Meanwhile, Cage continued in solo action against an odd assortment of villains, including the maddened professional wrestler X the Marvel, the uninspired Maggia agent Mister Fish, mobsters Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton and Ray "Piranha" Jones, the racist Wildfire, the vengeance-seeking Mangler and Spear (whose brother had died under Dr. Burstein's treatment), rival crimelords Baron and Big Brother, the obsessive Goldbug, and Zzzax the Living Dynamo.

Called to assist the Defenders against the Plantman, Cage began to complain that his participation in their group was interfering with his paying work. Wealthy Defenders member Nighthawk solved this problem by placing Cage on retainer, giving Luke a steady paycheck for his Defenders activities. For some time thereafter, Cage served as a core member of the Defenders alongside the likes of Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie, Nighthawk and the Red Guardian (Dr. Tania Belinskya). Together, they defeated minor threats including the Eel and the Porcupine, and major menaces such as the Headmen, Nebulon, Egghead's Emissaries Of Evil and the Red Rajah; but Cage felt out of place in the often-bizarre exploits of the Defenders and eventually resigned. He believed he was unsuited to teamwork, little realizing how wrong he would be proven months later.

Having obtained proof of Cage's innocence in his original drug charges, the criminal Bushmaster abducted Burstein and Temple, using their safety and the hope of acquittal to blackmail Cage into abducting detective Misty Knight, who had humiliated Bushmaster in an earlier encounter. Cage's efforts led to a fight with Knight's boyfriend, the martial artist Iron Fist, a native of the extra-dimensional city of K'un-Lun and still a newcomer to Earth society; however, upon learning of Cage's situation, Iron Fist and Knight helped him defeat Bushmaster and rescue his friends. In the course of the encounter, Bushmaster forced Burstein to mutate him as he had Cage, but was nonetheless defeated and soon became paralyzed by the process. Cleared of criminal charges, Cage briefly worked for Knight's detective agency Nightwing Restorations but soon elected to join Iron Fist in a two-man team, Heroes for Hire, founded by attorney Jeryn Hogarth and staffed by administrative wunderkind Jennie Royce. Although the streetwise Cage and the unworldly Iron Fist seemed to have little in common, they soon became the best of friends; however, Cage's relationship with Claire Temple proved less durable, and he instead began dating model Harmony Young.

Cage and Iron Fist achieved great success with Heroes for Hire, earning an international reputation and fighting a wide variety of criminals, including the genius Nightshade, the international crimelord Montenegro, Sabretooth and the Constrictor, Warhawk, and the druglord Goldeneye. They had several struggles involving the nations of Halwan and Murkatesh, including incarnations of Scimitar and the Black Tiger. They occasionally worked alongside fellow street-level heroes such as Spider-Man, Daredevil and Moon Knight, but rarely participated in the larger-scale crises that occupied the likes of the FF and the Avengers; however, their adventures took occasional turns toward the extraterrestrial or the extra-dimensional, areas which held little appeal for the down-to-earth Cage. Their partnership's downfall began when the mysterious government agency S.M.I.L.E. manipulated Cage and Iron Fist into the employment of Consolidated Conglomerates, Inc.; during their first CCI assignment, Iron Fist contracted radiation poisoning. Cage took him to K'un-Lun for treatment. While there, Iron Fist was, unknown to Cage, replaced by a doppelganger of the plantlike H'ylthri race, K'un-Lun's ancient enemies. Soon after their return to the outside world, the doppelganger was destroyed, pummeled by the alien Super-Skrull, as a result of a bizarre scheme engineered by Iron Fist's archenemy, Master Khan. Cage was blamed for the apparent murder of Iron Fist.

A fugitive again, Cage broke contact with his New York friends and relocated to Chicago; but, with Hogarth's help, he was cleared of criminal charges when the real Iron Fist turned up alive. Wanting a new start, Cage abandoned his Power Man guise and began operating out of Chicago as the plainclothes Luke Cage, Hero for Hire; he made arrangements with the Chicago Spectator for exclusive reports of his adventures and frequently worked with detective Dakota North. He soon attracted the interest of the refined assassin Hardcore, an employee of Cruz Bushmaster, son of the very villain whose defeat had cleared Cage's name the first time. Cage learned that Cruz, following in his father's extortion footsteps, had abducted Noah Burstein's wife Emma to force the scientist to re-create the process that had empowered Cage, regardless of how many test subjects suffered in the process. Cruz underwent the procedure himself, but the elder Bushmaster drained the power from his son, reversing his near-catatonia and declaring himself the Power Master; however, Cage teamed with Iron Fist to thwart their plans, freeing the Bursteins while the Bushmasters apparently perished.

While Cage tried to locate his surviving family members with the aid of Dakota North, his brother kept moving his father around to keep Cage away from them. James, Jr. was eventually recruited by the criminal Corporation, whose power-enhancing scientist Doctor Karl Malus mutated him into the superhuman Coldfire. As Coldfire, James, Jr. hoped to be a match for his super-powerful brother, whom he regarded as a threat, and he used his hatred of Cage as a focus for his energy powers. Though James, Jr. worked with the Corporation quite willingly, Malus had James, Sr. held hostage as extra insurance of Coldfire's cooperation. When Cage learned the Corporation was apparently holding his family, he invaded their headquarters and battled Coldfire; however, the brothers ultimately joined forces to rescue their father from Malus, and Coldfire apparently sacrificed himself to destroy the Corporation's headquarters.

A few months later, Cage investigated the murder of Harmony Young and fought her killer, the demon Darklove, alongside Ghost Rider. Not long afterward, the mystic Doctor Druid recruited Cage to serve in his Secret Defenders against the sorcerer Malachi. Cage returned to New York and, deciding his heart was no longer in superheroics, became co-owner of the Gem Theater with his friend D.W. Griffith. Even an invitation from Iron Fist to join a new and expanded Heroes for Hire failed to interest him; yet when the would-be world conqueror called the Master tried to recruit Cage as a spy within Iron Fist's team, destroying Cage's theater in the process, a curious Cage played along. Cage joined Heroes for Hire and served with them for some time while reporting to the Master. Cage himself even began to sympathize with the more benevolent aspects of the Master's goals, and the Master and Cage seemed to become genuinely fond of each other; but in the end, Cage could neither betray his best friend Iron Fist nor reconcile himself to the tremendous loss of life the Master's plans of conquest would entail, and he ultimately helped Heroes for Hire destroy the Master of the World's plans. Cage remained with the group thereafter, and dated a fellow member, the She-Hulk. When the Stark-Fujikawa corporation bought out Heroes for Hire, Cage and Ant-Man were fired because of their prison records, and the rest of the team quit in protest.

Cage, bitten by the hero bug once more, continued to share adventures with Iron Fist and other heroes. Briefly resuming his Power Man identity, he was hired by Moon Knight to join an unnamed team of street-level New York vigilantes, offered referred to by fans as the "Marvel Knights"; but mere days after he joined, the group dissolved following clashes with the forces of Tombstone and Fu Manchu. Deciding that a return to basics was in order, he re-established his Hero for Hire activities, intervening in a gang war between Tombstone and Hammerhead, and soon learned that, despite his international fame, he was almost forgotten on the streets where he had originally made his reputation. He invested his money in a bar and set about ridding his immediate neighborhood of criminal elements, deciding that the business of world-saving was best left to others.

After a one-night stand with a drunken Jessica Jones, now a private investigator, Cage's life was briefly thrown into disarray by Jones's reaction to the fling; but the two made peace while working as bodyguards for Matt Murdock, whose public denial of his Daredevil costumed identity cost him a bit of Cage's respect. Shortly afterward, Cage extended emotional support to Jones when she was forced to revisit past abuses by the villainous Purple Man, and Cage's feelings for her grew. When Jones revealed that she was pregnant from their tryst, she and Cage moved in together. Soon afterward, Jones became a superhuman consultant with the Daily Bugle, where Jameson's ire at Cage has by no means dwindled over the years. Cage was recently recruited into a new incarnation of the Avengers, New York's premiere super-team; but whether this venture into teamwork, perhaps the farthest from his roots yet, will fare any better than usual remains to be seen. He and Jessica are now the parents of an unnamed daughter and have gotten married.

Relaunch

Cage returned in the comic book industry's "boom period" in the early 1990s, when he starred in the short-lived series Cage, and later resurfaced as one of the principal players of the new Heroes for Hire series. A later revival in the form of a miniseries also called Cage, written by Brian Azzarello in 2001, featured a controversial "mature readers" version of Cage under Marvel's MAX imprint, in which Cage displayed a thuggish persona that many fans considered stereotyped and possibly racist.

The Bendis Influence

Cage was then brought back into prominence by writer Brian Michael Bendis, who made Cage a major supporting character in the Marvel MAX series Alias, and then a cast member of the new series The Pulse, both of which featured retired superheroine Jessica Jones, who recently gave birth to Cage's child.

As part of Bendis' effort to give depth to Cage's characterization, he has carefully depicted Luke as a womanizer, implying that the Hero for Hire has been involved with a significant number of the unmarried female superheroes in the Marvel Universe. This notion is perhaps best captured in Black Panther #11 (February 2006), which was actually written by Reginald Hudlin. After an attack by the Hand results in the destruction of the couch in his apartment, Luke exclaims, "Do you know how many good times I had on that couch? I HAD THE BLACK CAT ON THAT COUCH!" However, since committing to Jessica Jones in Alias #28, Luke has been completely faithful, and the two were married in New Avengers Annual #1

Additionally, he was present at the breakout at the supervillain prison 'The Raft', and became a founding member of the reformed Avengers team under Bendis' pen. Bendis also featured Cage prominently in Daredevil as a friend and ally of Matt Murdock.

Ultimate Marvel

A different version of Luke Cage appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe as a member of the Defenders. In this universe, the Defenders consist of several people who want to be superheroes but have no useful superpowers. This version of Cage does not possess superhuman strength or any other apparent powers. He also has a different personality than the canonical Cage.

Powers and abilities

Luke Cage possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and resistance to injury as a result of his participation in dangerous (and highly controversial) experiments while in prison, and his power has seemingly increased by an order of magnitude since his original transformation. Cage could originally lift about 3 tons but, over the years (and due to several more experiments on him) his strength has increased to the 25 ton range.

This same experiment has fortified the various tissues of Cage's body, granting him a high degree of resistance to injury. Cage's skin is harder than titanium and can resist high caliber bullets, puncture wounds, corrosives, and extreme temperatures and pressures without sustaining damage. Even though Cage is practically invulnerable to conventional weaponry, it is possible to injure him with adamantium weapons. The same experiment that granted him his great strength and durability, has also slightly increased his ability to heal. As a side-effect of the fortified tissue of his body, the density of that tissue is greater than an ordinary human. The only drawback to such an ability is that when he does sustain serious injury, medical care is difficult given doctors' inability to get past his hardened skin as in the Secret War limited series.

Luke Cage is an exceptional street fighter and was a gifted athlete before he became superhumanly endowed. He is also an experienced detective and can speak several languages.

In their first meeting in Amazing Spider-Man #123 (August 1973), Cage and Spider-Man were depicted as being roughly equal in physical strength. However, due to subsequent experimentation, it is now presumed that Cage is measurably stronger than the webslinger.

Key issues featuring Luke Cage

Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972) - Origin and first appearance of Luke Cage; introduction of Noah Burstein, Reva Connors, Shades, Comanche, and Willis Stryker (Diamondback)
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #2 (August 1972) - Introduction of Claire Temple and D.W. Griffith; death of Diamondback
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #8-9 (April-May 1973) - Cage travels to Latveria and encounters Doctor Doom; first meeting with the Fantastic Four (Reed, Ben, Johnny & Medusa)
Amazing Spider-Man #123 (August 1973) - First meeting between Cage and Spider-Man
Power Man #17 (February 1974) - Luke meets Iron Man and later assumes the code name "Power Man"
Power Man #21 (October 1974) - Luke battles Erik Josten (Atlas of the Thunderbolts) for the use of the Power Man name
Defenders #17 (November 1974) - Cage's first encounter with the Defenders
Fantastic Four #168-170 (March-May 1976) - Cage is hired by Reed Richards as a temporary replacement for Ben Grimm in the Fantastic Four
Power Man #48-50 (December 1977-April 1978) - Cage's first encounter with Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Misty Knight & Colleen Wing; first appearance of Bushmaster; Cage is cleared of all pending criminal charges and becomes partners with Iron Fist
Power Man & Iron Fist #75 (November 1981) - Luke accompanies Danny to K'un-Lun
Daredevil #178 / Power Man & Iron Fist #77 (January 1982) - Cage & Iron Fist meet Daredevil
Power Man & Iron Fist #125 (September 1986) - In a plot later revealed to have been masterminded by Master Khan, a H'ylthri doppleganger of Iron Fist is killed by the Super-Skrull; Cage becomes a fugitive, having been framed for Iron Fist's apparent murder; last issue of Power Man & Iron Fist
Punisher #60-62 (February-April 1992) - Cage teams with a disguised Punisher (who has been medically altered to appear African-American); first appearance of Luke's new costume; "Power Man" code name is dropped; prelude to the Cage series
Cage (Vol. 1) #1 (April 1992) - First appearance of Hardcore
Cage (Vol. 1) #5-8 (August-November 1992) - "The Evil and the Cure"
Cage (Vol. 1) #12 (March 1993) - Cage & Iron Fist share a tense and bitter reunion; first appearance together in 6½ years
Icon #13 (May 1994) - "It's Always Christmas" - Milestone Comics introduces the character "Buck Wild, Mercenary Man", a parody/tribute to the 1970s characterization of Luke Cage
Heroes for Hire #1 (July 1997) - Iron Fist recruits Cage for the new Heroes for Hire, run by Jim Hammond (the original Human Torch from World War II)
Heroes for Hire #17 (November 1998) - Luke and the She-Hulk go out on a date; first mention of Luke's mastery of multiple languages; first hint of future depiction of Luke as a womanizer
Marvel Knights (Vol. 1) #11-15 (May-September 2001) - Luke is associated with an unnamed team of street-level New York vigilantes, including Daredevil, Moon Knight, Dagger, Shang-Chi, and the Black Widow.
Alias #1 (November 2001) - First appearance of Jessica Jones; Luke and Jessica have a one-night stand; Luke has abandoned his costume and wears regular street clothes from this point forward
Cage (Vol. 2) #1-5 (March-July 2002) - Marvel MAX miniseries by Brian Azzarello; Cage battles Tombstone; Cage is depicted with a thuggish persona (which many fans denounce as stereotypical and perhaps racist)
Alias #28 (January 2004) - Jessica tells Luke that she is pregnant with his baby; the two officially become a couple
Daredevil #56 (March 2004) - Cage and several other heroes confront Daredevil about his self-appointed status as the new Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen
The Pulse #5 (November 2004) - The Green Goblin attacks the pregnant Jessica Jones; Cage retaliates and defeats the Goblin, permanently exposing the villain's true identity as Norman Osborn in the process
New Avengers #3 (March 2005) - In the wake of a massive supervillain prison break at The Raft, Cage joins the Avengers
Ultimates 2 #6 (July 2005) - First appearance of the Ultimate Universe version of Power Man, a non-powered, would-be superhero and member of the Defenders (a non-powered, would-be superhero team)
House of M #2-7 (August-November 2005) - In an altered reality where mutants dominate humans, Luke Cage is the Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen
Black Panther #10 (January 2006) - "First" meeting between Cage and the Black Panther; retelling/retconning of Cage's origin
Black Panther #10-13 (January-April 2006) - "Two the Hard Way": Cage accompanies the Black Panther on his search for a bride, encountering the Falcon, Shang-Chi, Blade, Brother Voodoo and Monica Rambeau along the way
The Pulse #13 (March 2006) - Jessica Jones gives birth to a girl; Luke proposes to Jessica
The Pulse #14 (April 2006) - First meeting between Luke and Jessica is recounted in flashback; Jessica tells her newborn baby that she will marry Luke
New Avengers Annual #1 (2006) - Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are married (Stan Lee performs the ceremony)

Trivia

Luke Cage is a proud man, not given to hero worship. The only man he has ever truly idolized is T'Challa, the Black Panther.

Film student D.W. Griffith shares the same name as the legendary film director. Although the real Griffith's 1915 film The Birth of a Nation is considered a milestone in cinematic history, its depiction of the events surrounding Reconstruction and the origin of the Ku Klux Klan are now widely considered to be both inaccurate and racist. It is baffling that a character in a comic book about an African-American superhero would be named after Griffith.

American actor Nicolas Cage, born Nicholas Coppola, took his stage name from Luke Cage in order to prevent being immediately associated with his famous movie director uncle, Francis Ford Coppola.
Marvel is expected to release the Luke Cage movie in 2006 with Tyrese Gibson as the title character.

External links

Luke Cage - Marvel Database Project
Moon Stomper: Powerman

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