Luke Cage <WIP>
Luke Cage (a.k.a. Carl Lucas)
Luke Cage (born Carl Lucas) is an American metahuman, a founding member of the Defenders, and an ally of the Avengers.
After being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, Cage was subjected to secret human experimentation, which resulted in his developing superhuman abilities.
In 2016, he was part of the alliance which faced down Hela and her Worthy. He also worked with the Defenders to save New York City from the Hand, and took part in the final battle against Thanos.
He is sometimes called the Hero of Harlem due to the role he played in protecting his home borough from the criminal empires of Cottonmouth and Mariah Dillard.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Early Life
Luke Cage was born Carl Lucas, the son of baptist preacher James Lucas and his wife Etta, in Savanah in 1980.
As a child, he met and befriended Willis Stryker, who's mother worked for the church. After being mugged one evening as a teenager, he asked Stryker to teach him to box, so that he could defend himself, and he quickly became a skilled boxer, winning regional championships.
When he was 17, Stryker persuaded him to join him in stealing a car to go joyriding. They were quickly caught and arrested. Carl's father was able to use his reputation and possition in the community to persuade the judge to go easy on his son, but would not speak up for Stryker, who was over 18, and was tried as an adult and sent to prison.
As part of the deal his father had made with the judge, Carl was required to join the military as a form of community service. After graduating high school, he attended college on an armed forces schollarship, and recieving his undergraduate degree, enrolled in the U.S. Marine Corps.
After 12 years in the Corps, Marines must achieve the rank of Staff Sargeant or they will not be able to re-enlist. Carl chose to leave the Corps rather than take the promotion, and returned to Savanah, where he joined the Savanah Police Department.
Seagate Prison
Carl's race and strong moral core did not made him unpopular in the majority-white police force.
Willis Styker had grown to resent his former friend for returning to Savanah a decorated war hero, while Willis had been able to find employment due to his criminal record, and had eventually turned to crime to make a living. Carl's decision to join the police further deepened the rift between them.
When he decided to frame Carl for a crime, planting a large quantity of heroine in his apartment, Carl's police colleagues were happy to have a way to get rid of him, and he was arrested on suspicion of dealing class 1 narcotics, and eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison.
He was sent to Seagate Prison, a privately owned penitentiary in Georgia. While there, he met and developed a rapport with Reva Connors, the prison psychologist, who believed him to be innocent. They developed romantic feelings for one another, but were unable to act upon them due to the circumstances.
Unbeknownst to Carl, Seagate had been selected as a test site for Project Homegrown, a Super-Soldier programme, which was using prisoners as test subjects for combat-focussed experimental mutagens. When Carl uncovered proof of widespread corruption among the prison guards and administrators, he was assigned to the programme as a way of silencing him.
When a malfunction in the machinery used to administer the mutagens resulted in an explosion, incapacitating the guards, Cage discovered that he was now strong enough to punch through concrete without being hurt, and used this to escape, breaking through the outer wall of the prison and jumping into the sea below.
Reva Connors
Not knowing who else he could turn to, Carl contacted Reva Connors.
She provided him with clothes, and advised him that he should adopt a new identity. He chose the name Luke Cage, as a tribute to his father, who's favourite bible verse was Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.
Connors agreed to run away with him, and they travelled together to New York City, where she introduced him to Henry Havers, better known as Pop, an old friend of hers.
In order to better protect Luke's identity, he and Connors married only a few days after arriving in New York. However, after only nine days of marriage, Reva was killed in an apparent traffic accident. Believing her death was more than an accident, he investigating, finding instructions written in her handwriting to dig up something buried in the foundations of a building close to the place where she was killed, but on following the instructions, he found nothing.
Luke's Bar
Using the inheritence he recieved as Reva's legal husband, he leased a property in Hell's Kitchen, turning it into a bar which he named Luke's.
He eventually began a casual relationship with one of the regulars, Gina, not knowing that she was married.
Jessica Jones
Luke first encountered Jessica Jones when she was hired to surveille Gina by her husband. Not realising why she was outside Luke's, Luke invited her inside, and the two flirted, eventually ending up in bed. The next day, police questioned Luke about Jess, as she was under investigation for homocide. When Luke confronted Jess that evening about photos she had taken of the bar which the police had shown him, she admitted that she was there to spy on Gina, and he told her to leave.
As a result of what Jess had told him, Luke broke off his relationship with Gina.
Gina's husband, learning as the result of Jess's investigation that Gina had been sleeping with Luke, attacked Luke with a group of his friends. Seeing him being attacked, Jess jumped in to protect him, leading to them learning about one another's superpowers.
Excited at having found someone with whom they wouldn't have to constantly try to control their Super-Strength, they began a sexual relationship.
Jess told him some of the details of Killgrave and her powers, and his involvement in Hope Schlottman's death, although Luke was sceptical. After only a few days together, Jess ended their relationship out of fear for Luke's safety given she knew Killgrave was targetting her again.
The Purple Man
They reconnected when he hired Jess to locate a missing person, Antoine Grier, who he believed had information about the death of Reva Connors.
Jess's friend and neighbour Malcom Ducasse confronted Cage after seeing him leave Jess's apartment, wanting to know his intentions towards her. During the conversation, he revealed the full extent of the time Jess had spent with Killgrave, and the abuse she had suffered. Cage returned to her apartment, and apologised for not believing her previously about Schlottman's death, and they rekindled their relationship.
They succeeded in locating Grier, and he provided Luke with the file. Luke noticed that Jess was acting strangely, but opened the file, which revealed that the driver of the bus which hit Reva had been drunk at the wheel, and that he is still working as a bus driver.
Luke went looking for the driver, riding his bus to the end of the line and then confronting him when the other passengers had disembarked. The driver attempted to apologise, and assured Luke he had been sober since the accident, but Luke was overcome by emotion and physically attacked the driver.
Jess tracked him down, and realising Luke was about to kill an innocent man, revealed that she had been the one to kill Reva, while under Killgrave's mind control. Furious, Luke told Jess she was a piece of shit for not admitting the truth sooner, and walked away.
Luke later tracked Jess to a restaurant, but before he could speak to her, he saw Killgrave. Intending to kill him for what he had done to Jess and Reva, Luk confronted him, but was put under Killgrave's mental control.
In an attempt to hurt Jess, Killgrave ordered Luke to blow up Luke's Bar. On his orders, he filled the bar with accelerants, and called Jess to the bar before lighting the fuse, blowing up the bar. He would have died in the explosion, but thanks to his superpowers, and Jess dragging him from the flames, he survived, the blast seemingly breaking the control.
Jess took him back to her apartment to patch him up, and he insisted on joining her investigation into Killgrave.
They followed the trail left by Killgrave's parents to a ZALK laboratory. While investigating, Luke told Jess that he finally understood that she had truly had no choice in the things Killgrave forced her to do, and forgave her for her part in Reva's death.
Later, Jess gave him a USB stick that Reva had buried shortly before she died, which contained footage of experiments being carried out on children, including a young Killgrave.
Together they visited the last known location Killgrave had been seen. Shortly after they got there, Killgrave arrived. Jess tried to get Luke to leave, since he was vulnerable to Killgrave's powers, but Luke attacked her, revealing that he had been under Killgrave's control the entire time, and telling her that he would never forgive her for Reva's death.
Jess tried repeatedly to reason with Cage, or to restrain him peacefully, but he was too strong, and she was forced to fight him. They proved to be evenly matched, and Jess, realising she couldn't beat him, tried to escape. Outside the building they were confronted by a police officer, who Luke knocked out. Seeing no other option, Jess aimed the officer's gun at Luke, who broke Killgrave's control just long enough to tell her to take the shot, which she did.
Recovery
Luke was rushed to Metro General, where he was diagnosed with serious brain trauma and a possible edema. Claire Temple, an associate of Daredevil, was part of the team trying to treat him, but they were unable to administer an IV due to his impenetrable skin.
Realising he could not be in a public hospital without his powers being exposed, Jess persuaded Claire to help her take Luke back to Alias Investigations. There he began to have a seizure, and with no other options available, Jess held Luke still while Claire injected the necessary medecine through his eyeball.
When he finally awoke, after several hours of unconsciousness, Claire told him that Jess had killed Killgrave, and had been arrested. When Luke tried to get up to go help her, Claire pointed out that doing so would only result in his being arrested as well. Seeing there was nothing more he could do, Luke left.
Diamondback and Cotton Mouth
Section under constructionThe War of the Worthy
Section under constructionThe Defenders
Section under constructionMentoring Spider-Man
Section under constructionWar for Harlem
Section under constructionReuniting with Jessica Jones
Section under constructionBattle of Alkama Fields
Section under constructionRelationships
Species
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
1980 CE
38 Years old
Birthplace
Savanah, Georgia
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Harlem, New York City
Pronouns
He/Him
Gender
Male
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Related Plots
Ruled Locations
