Luke Cage

Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. in 1972, he was the first African-American superhero by Marvel Comics to be the main character in his own series. Stories featuring Luke Cage often relate to issues of race and class. His origin invokes criticism of police brutality and the prison system in the United States, and his 1970s stories focus on his efforts to support himself as a businessman. His creators were initially inspired by Blaxploitation cinema and subsequently by the Black Power movement. The character was intensely masculine and sexualized in his 20th century appearances, but these aspects were tempered as Cage's focus shifted to his life as a husband and father.

Cage was introduced in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972). His series was renamed Power Man with issue #17 (1974) and then Power Man and Iron Fist with issue #50 (1978), when Iron Fist became his costar. The series ended after issue #125 (1986), and he then briefly starred in the series Cage (1992). The character was generally neglected and received little commercial success or broad popularity in the 1990s.

However, writer Brian Michael Bendis redesigned Cage for Alias (2001), and the character then appeared in another series titled Cage (2002) under the Max imprint. In 2004, Bendis incorporated Cage into the Avengers. He wrote Cage as a main character in New Avengers (2004–2010), The Pulse (2004), The Mighty Avengers (2013–2015), and The Defenders (2017–2018). Other series featuring Luke Cage have been published, such as Luke Cage: Noir (2009), a new volume of Power Man and Iron Fist (2016), the comedic series CAGE! (2016), and Luke Cage: Gang War (2023).

In his origin story, Carl Lucas gained superhuman strength and unbreakable skin after being the subject of an experiment while in prison. Having been falsely imprisoned, he uses his powers to escape and starts a business as the Hero for Hire under the name Luke Cage. In appearances over the following decades, he teams up with Iron Fist and clears his name. He marries Jessica Jones and they have a daughter together while Cage joins the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, and the Defenders. Cage runs in the New York mayoral election against Wilson Fisk and is elected mayor. Along with Iron Fist and Jessica Jones, Cage's supporting characters include his friend David Griffith and the doctor Claire Temple. His archenemy is Diamondback, a career criminal and Cage's friend-turned-enemy who caused him to be wrongfully arrested. Other recurring villains faced by Cage include Black Mariah, Cockroach Hamilton, Comanche, Cottonmouth, Gideon Mace, and Shades.

Mike Colter portrayed Luke Cage in Jessica Jones (2015; 2019), Luke Cage (2016-2018), and The Defenders (2017) in Marvel's Netflix television series within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Publication history

Creation

Luke Cage was created by Archie Goodwin, John Romita Sr., Roy Thomas, and George Tuska. Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee wanted to create a character based on the Blaxploitation subgenre of action films popular in the 1970s. The films, such as Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972), were the inspiration for Luke Cage. Lee worked with Thomas on the initial premise of a hero who asks payment for his work. Thomas attributed many of the creative decisions to Lee.

When developing Cage's abilities, Thomas was inspired by the Philip Wylie novel Gladiator (1930). In the novel, the character Hugo Danner discovers he is bulletproof after examining where he is struck by machine gun fire during World War I. Dan Hagen of Back Issue! compared Cage's origin to The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, to which Thomas said that the book may have had "a conscious or subconscious effect" on Lee or Goodwin.

Romita created Cage's initial design, and Tuska became the series' main artist. Goodwin wrote the first stories featuring Luke Cage. Billy Graham, the only Black artist working at Marvel at the time, was also brought on to ensure that Tuska's "African-American characters looked African-American". It was determined that he would at some point take over as artist for the character.

Marvel had previously created two Black superheroes: Black Panther and Falcon. However, Luke Cage was the first of Marvel's African-American characters to lead his own series. He was developed during a period of increasing racial diversity in comic books and popular media more broadly. American society at the time was undergoing a shift in racial attitudes, and calls for social justice and against racism were increasing. The character was distinct from other superheroes because he lived in poverty and struggled with practical affairs like supporting himself and starting a business. During internal deliberations, Marvel determined that Cage had the best marketing potential of their properties.

1970s

Cage was introduced in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, in 1972. The series alternated between its continuing plot of Cage trying to support himself and address problems in his personal life, alongside secondary plots each issue in which Cage completed a job as a hero for hire. Goodwin wrote the first four issues before Steve Englehart became the writer. Tuska was the series' artist, but Graham worked as inker and frequently shared responsibilities with Tuska as penciler. Englehart and Tuska came into conflict while working on Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. Englehart wrote subplots for the series, only for Tuska to disregard them and say "I didn't feel like drawing that". In issue #8 (1973), Luke Cage is described with the racial slur schvartze. According to Englehart, he was not aware it was a slur and was tricked into adding it by Tuska. Englehart printed an apology in issue #11.

Marvel made a stronger push toward representation of Black characters in 1973. Reframing the character, the company announced that "much of Cage's jivin' slang will be eliminated". Cage made an appearance outside of his own series when he fought with Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #123 (1973). The issue was illustrated by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr. Graham became the main artist for Luke Cage beginning with issue #13 (1973). The character and the series were renamed "Power Man" in issue #17 (1974). The name was inspired by the Black power movement, and according to Thomas the change was made in an attempt to increase sales. Cage appeared in The Defenders #17–19 (1974–1975), which had him fight the Defenders before they work together to stop the Wrecking Crew.

Power Man did not have a dedicated writer in the issues after Englehart's departure, so several writers briefly contributed. Tuska remained active as an artist for the series at this time. Don McGregor eventually requested writing duties for Power Man, and he worked on issues #28 and #30–35. A production problem prevented him from writing issue #29, leaving issue #28's cliffhanger open as an alternate story was featured in issue #29. McGregor made various additions to the character during his brief run, including several of Cage's classic villains. McGregor glamorized Cage's ability to persevere through suffering. The series went through several artists at this time. Cage also co-starred in Fantastic Four #168 (1976), when Roy Thomas used him to briefly replace the Thing as a member of the Fantastic Four. Marv Wolfman became Cage's writer after issue #36 (1976). Power Man was accompanied by an annual edition the same year, created by Chris Claremont. The duo of Claremont and John Byrne were then made artists for the series, continuing a period of collaborations between the two.

The martial arts superhero Iron Fist joined the series as a co-star in issue #48 (1978), and the series was renamed Power Man and Iron Fist with issue #50 (1978). They were grouped together after neither character proved popular enough to support his own series. Jo Duffy, a fan of both characters, was appointed as its writer at her request beginning with issue #56. Cage's innocence was proven in this story arc, and he was no longer written as an escaped convict. To elevate Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Duffy and artist Trevor Von Eeden began with a story in which the characters encountered the X-Men and the Living Monolith before returning them to more mundane environments.