Luke Cage

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**Luke Cage**, wrongly convicted and unjustly imprisoned, was altered in a failed prison experiment that gave him unbreakable skin and superhuman strength. With his street smarts, and unending determination to do what is right in honor of those who he has lost.

## Biography

### Experimentation

**Luke Cage** was subjected to an experiment which gave him superhuman strength and unbreakable skin. At some point, he also married a woman named Reva Connors, a security guard, and they owned a bar together in New York City. For some reason, Reva made certain Luke's name was not on the lease or tied to the bar in any way. Luke grieved for his wife after Reva supposedly died in a bus crash, unaware that she was actually killed by Jessica Jones, under the control of Kilgrave.

### Meeting Jessica Jones

Months later, Luke ran into Jessica Jones, who was essentially stalking him out of guilt for killing his wife. They started a sexual relationship, which continued after they learned of each other's secret abilities, but Jessica broke it off without telling Luke why.

A woman working for the Department of Transportation offered Luke evidence that his wife's death was not was it seemed in exchange for his help locating her brother. Luke recruited Jessica in the search, and eventually received information that the bus driver that night was drunk, and his family member in DOT covered it up. In a murderous rage, Luke tracked the driver down. Jessica was forced to confess her role in Reva's death to save the driver's life, leading Luke to break off all ties with her.

### Controlled by Kilgrave

Having learned about Kilgrave from Jessica, Luke tracked her to a meeting with the villain, and tried to kill him. Kilgrave managed to gain control of Luke first and, learning he and Jessica were lovers, ordered Luke to blow up his bar and do it while Jessica was watching. Kilgrave secretly maintained control of Luke after that, using him to keep tabs on Jessica until ordering him to kill her. Jessica was forced to fire a shotgun at Luke's head at point blank range to stop him.

Jessica tried to get Luke medical attention, but his unbreakable skin prevented the doctors at the hospital from helping. She enlisted the services of nurse Claire Temple and brought Luke back to her apartment to recuperate. Luke finally awakened after Jessica killed Kilgrave, but then disappeared.

## Powers and Abilities

**Burnstein Process:** Luke Cage possesses various superhuman physical attributes after undergoing an experiment designed to increases his body's cellular regeneration process.

* **Superhuman Strength:** After undergoing the original experiment, Cage's strength was increased to superhuman levels sufficient to lift approximately 3 tons. Over the years and due to further experiments, Cage's strength has increased substantially and is enough for him to lift 25 tons.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** Cage's muscles generate less fatigue toxins than the muscles of ordinary humans, granting him superhuman stamina. He can exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to affect him.
* **Superhuman Durability:** Luke Cage's skin is as hard as titanium steel and his muscle and bone tissues are considerably denser than the tissues of an ordinary human, granting him much greater resistance to physical injury than an ordinary human. He can withstand conventional handgun fire at a range of 4 feet and cannot be cut by any blade forged of conventional material, although in the event of required surgery his skin can be lacerated by an overpowered medical laser. He can withstand up to one-ton impacts or blasts of 150 pounds of TNT without serious injury, and is highly resistant to extreme temperatures and electrical shocks. His current level of durability enables him to withstand gun fire at point-blank range, and can withstand being lit on fire without suffering any serious or permanent injuries. He has withstood impacts from superhumans a good deal stronger than him, destructive energy attacks including electricity, and falls from great heights such as ninety story high skyscrapers.
* **Accelerated Healing Factor:** Despite his near invulnerability, it is possible for Cage to be hurt. If injured, he is capable of recovering from mild injuries in 1/3rd the time it would take an ordinary human.