Luke Cage

*"You can't burn me, you can't blast me, and you definitely can't break me. You wanna test me? Step up. I'm right here. I ain't going nowhere. You know where to find me. I am Harlem, and Harlem is me."*
―Luke Cage[src]**Carl Lucas** is the son of James Lucas as well as a childhood friend of Willis Stryker who, while he was still serving as a policeman from Savannah, Georgia, was wrongfully convicted for a crime that he did not commit and sent into Seagate Prison, where he met and fell in love with therapist Reva Connors who tried to make his time in jail easier. During his time inside prison, Lucas was then subjected to an experiment by Noah Burstein to save his life after Albert Rackham tried to kill him, leaving Lucas physically enhanced with superhuman strength and seemingly unbreakable skin. After he escaped from his prison, he changed his name to **Luke Cage** and then moved to New York City, marrying Connors who agreed to protect him, opening up a bar named *Luke's* and living in there until Connors' death seemingly due to a random bus crash.

One year later while he was trying to live quietly, Cage came across the private investigator Jessica Jones during her own investigation and started a new relationship with her. However, Cage was then forced to break up their relationship upon discovering that Jones was involved in the murder of his wife due to the influence of Kilgrave.

Following his encounter with Jones and Kilgrave, he then moved from Hell's Kitchen into Harlem in order to build a new life away from Jones, working for Pop. However, his own life became more complicated due to the actions of Cottonmouth, whose henchman Tone killed Pop in cold blood, which had started a war between the pair which only ended when Cottonmouth was discovered dead. Blamed for Cottonmouth's murder, Cage was forced to go on the run, hunted by the New York City Police Department as well as his former friend Willis Stryker, who had returned to tell Cage they were brothers before attempting to kill him. Eventually, Cage cleared his name and defeated Stryker but he was still arrested by the police to continue his original sentence at Seagate Penitentiary.

Being released early by Foggy Nelson, Cage finally returned back home in Harlem and to Claire Temple, only to then uncover all of the secret criminal activities of the Hand while Cage had been investigating the murder of Sean Miller and encountering the Iron Fist. Together with the aid of Jessica Jones and Daredevil, Cage then helped destroy the Hand to protect New York City, while seemingly losing Daredevil.

As Cage's popularity grew within Harlem following the defeat of Cottonmouth and Diamondback, he was forced to deal with the ever-rising threat of Mariah Dillard who had taken over the criminal empire from Harlem's Paradise and found herself targeted by Bushmaster, an enhanced criminal willing to kill innocents to destroy Dillard, while Cage also dealt with his struggling relationship with Claire Temple and the return of his father James Lucas. Cage eventually defeated Dillard and Bushmaster, causing Bushmaster to return to Jamaica without killing Dillard, while she was sent to prison. However, when Dillard was poisoned by her own daughter, Tilda Johnson, Cage was given Harlem's Paradise and became the new crime boss of Harlem, with the intention of protecting Harlem from crime by controlling it.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC101`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC201`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC102`
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC103`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC104`
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC105`
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC107`
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC108`
9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC109`
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC110`
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC111`
12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC112`
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC209`
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `TD108`
15. ↑ *Iron Fist: 1.07: Felling Tree with Roots*
16. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC202`
17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `TD105`
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC212`
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC205`
20. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC208`
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC213`
22. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `LC113`