Cage
Power Man II
Carl Lucas
Legally changed to Luke Cage
Alias
Mark Lucas
Adventurer
Crime Fighter
Hero for Hire
Experimental regenerative chemical granting superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility and durability.
Bushmaster
Chemistro
Diamondback I
Alias
Avengers Vol. 4
Cage Vol. 1 & 2
Defenders Vol. 1
Fantastic Four Vol. 1
Heroes for Hire
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire
Power Man
Power Man and Iron Fist
The Pulse
Running with his childhood friend Willis Stryker on the mean streets of Harlem, Carl Lucas would eventually take a different path toward honest work, while Stryker would find his fortune in crime. The friendship would end in betrayal over the affections of a woman and result in Lucas being framed and incarcerated for drug possession by his friend.
While in prison, the woman that was the focus of their dissolved friendship would be the victim of a mob hit intended for Stryker. Lucas grief for his lost love would result in violent outburst and transference to a maximum security facility located on Seagate island also known as "Little Alcatraz." Life was exceptionally hard at Seagate where he was repeatedly taunted and beaten by two racist correctional officers. A progressive warden eventually took over the prison, firing Lucas' tormentors, who vowed revenge for their humiliation.
While at Seagate, Dr. Noah Burstein, a research physiologist looking to perform experiments for a chemical method to promote human cell regeneration on prison volunteers. Burstein took an interest in Lucas, who was exceptionally well built and healthy. While conducting the experiment, which involved submerging the test subject in an organic liquid charged by an electric field, one of Lucas' former prison guards sought his revenge. Relieving the guard on duty, the humiliated guard ignorantly operated the experiment's controls in hopes of killing or maiming Lucas. Instead the sabotage backfired and induced a mutagenic enhancement resulting in superhuman strength.
Lucas escaped the island prison and made his way back to New York where he would be inspired to become a hero for hire after receiving a cash reward from a diner owner for foiling a robbery. He assumed the identity of Luke Cage and printed business cards which he would hand out to onlookers, after defeating the mob's collection men. Eventually evidence would come to light that would acquit Cage of the crime he was imprisoned for, allowing him to become a legitimate businessman righting wrongs as a Hero for Hire.
