Database: Roster: Luke Cage

Carl Lucas

The man now known as Luke Cage grew up in Harlem with his friend Willy Stryker, who spent their childhood committing petty crimes. They grew apart with age, and the love of Reva Connors finally split any salvagable freindship they may have had left. Stryker framed Cage for drug dealing and he was sentenced to Seagate Prison. From prison, Cage learned of Reva's death (an "accident" intended for Stryker) and vowed revenge. His short temper made him unruly and his chances of parole quickly diminished.

A physiologist from Stark International, Dr. Noah Bernstein was developing a treatment to enhance cellular regeneration and prevent aging and disease. He came to Seagate for test subjects. After Luke was coerced into the project, a corrupt guard tampered with equipment in an attempt to kill Cage. The results turned out to be quite the reverse and gave Luke superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin. Luke escaped with his new-found powers and headed back to New York.

After he was reward for foiling a robbery attempt, Cage sold himself as a super-powered mercenary. Slow business picked up after hooking up with Nightwing Restorations and he opened Heroes For Hire with Iron Fist. It was during this time the Reed Richards employed Cage to replace the Thing after he had temporarily lost his powers. Ben was quite upset until he found that Cage was only to be a replacement until Reed could finish building his Thing exoskeleton for him.

Cage has teamed up with Iron Fist and Nightwing Restorations on several occasions since that time and later worked with Jim Hammond's new Heroes for Hire. While his fierce stubborness continued to put him at odds with his teammates, he did side with them in resigning once the company changed ownership.

He returned to freelance body-guarding and investigating for a time and struck up a relationship with Jessica Jones. Shortly after she became pregnant, he was offered an Avengers membership, and accepted so that he might have a more regular, steady income.

Luke Cage's Chronology