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What Is Luke Cages' Origin Story? The Marvel Hero Has A Complicated Beginning

by Zakiya Jamal

Although Jessica Jones was amazing in it's own right, one of the highlights of the show was Luke Cage. He's hot, a smooth talker, has a pretty decent sense of morality, and is kind of bad ass. So when Netflix announced he was getting his own show fans couldn't help but be excited but one has to wonder who really is Luke Cage? What's Luke Cages' origin story? Thankfully we have comic books to answer that question.

Luke's real name is Carl Lucas and he was born and raised in Harlem. When he was young he was involved in a gang called the Rivals with his friend, Willis Stryker. Getting involved in fights with rival gangs and committing petty crimes, Luke's dream was to become a New York racketeer until he decided to turn his life around for his family's sake. While Luke decided to leave his life of crime behind, his friend Stryker continued to rise in the ranks of crime, but the two remained friends, until Stryker's girlfriend, Reva Connors, broke up with him because of his violent work. When Reva looked to Luke for comfort, Stryker believed Luke was the reason they broke up and planted heroin in Luke's apartment and then tipped off the police. Talk about betrayal.

It was in prison that Luke was given his powers. A research scientist, Dr. Noah Burstein, recruited Lucas as a volunteer for his experimental cell regeneration. However, when Burstein immersed Luke in an electrical field for the experiment, leaving Luke unattended, one of the guards who blamed Luke for his demotion, messed with the experiment's controls in an attempt to kill Luke. Rather than kill him Luke's treatment was accelerated, giving him his superhuman strength and durability. Using his new powers he was able to escape jail and start his journey as a hero and the rest is history.

It's unclear just how much of this origin story will be used in the new Netflix show, but one part that's already been included is Luke's relationship with Jessica Jones. Their bond over their shared strength and abilities is what first brought them together in both Jessica Jones and the comic books. Although in the comic books their one night stand led to a kid, the one night stand still occurred in the show, just with a different outcome. It's most likely that Luke Cage will pull from the comics but it won't be exactly the same, and that's okay because it keeps things exciting so no one knows what to expect.

To see how much of the comic books makes it into the new show make sure to check out Luke Cage when it premieres on Netflix on Sept. 30 at midnight PST.