Luke Cage Appreciation 2020

[dkrook]

I agree.

Part of the appeal for me about Luke Cage is that he is one of the everyman type superheroes. His perspective is often that of the average guy on the street which even carries over into the big events he pops up in.

Cage took on the 'for-profit prison industrial complex' in his short solo run a couple years back. Ta-Nehisi Coates did a similar thing with Captain America and Von Strucker's prison storyline.

I would be surprised if some writer hasn't probably pitched a Black Live Matter storyline to Marvel given this years current events.

I definitely understand where and others are saying, but my thought is not many seem to know how to incorporate this major aspect of Luke into narrative. So much so that it started to negatively impact him as a hero. The Thunderbolts is exactly the vibe I was thinking about, and how is the role that much different if he was an agent of SHIELD running his own group. At least working as leader on Thunderbolts Luke was give a higher profile then just going after street crime and getting sass talked to by his wife/lady.

[Jabare]

I never saw that story where Luke beat up Doom, but I loved the pics Jabare! Thanks for posting them.

I always liked Luke. His personality was catchy, fun and serious all wrapped up. Plus, I loved all of his old expressions too!



"Sweet Christmas!"

you can't get current Luke without classic Powerman

Yeah, that is why Cage increased in strength. Many fans just think Marvel upgraded him.

Did the second treatment enhance his durabilty?

Just how strong was Luke orginally? I have seen 1 ton, 3 tons and 10 tons. Currently, some say Luke is CL 25 while others say Cl 50. Isn't Cl 25 more accurate?

For classic cage I'd rank him around the 15 ton range.

You could argue the second treatment kind of boosted everything. Depends, if you are going by handbooks or showings. In the 90s, he had some feats that arguably put him in a higher stat class. Then with Bendis in the 2000s and subsequent showings in the 2010s he was written as a mid-tier or higher.

He went from Spider-Man level to maybe a little stronger to beating the likes of Rhino and Venom. Casually lifting semi-trucks, thunder claps, brawling with the Thing. Going toe to toe with Proxima Midnight. If you want to be a stickler about it, you'd argue he's overperforming his stat book ranking, but I think it served to better his character for major events and team books like Avengers. I won't get into stat drift but we've seen it with other characters over the years like Spider-Man and some other street levelers. Tomorrow or this weekend I'll post some scans from some of the fights I mentioned.

[dkrook]

you can't get current Luke without classic Powerman



For classic cage I'd rank him around the 15 ton range.

You could argue the second treatment kind of boosted everything. Depends, if you are going by handbooks or showings. In the 90s, he had some feats that arguably put him in a higher stat class. Then with Bendis in the 2000s and subsequent showings in the 2010s he was written as a mid-tier or higher.

He went from Spider-Man level to maybe a little stronger to beating the likes of Rhino and Venom. Casually lifting semi-trucks, thunder claps, brawling with the Thing. Going toe to toe with Proxima Midnight. If you want to be a stickler about it, you'd argue he's overperforming his stat book ranking, but I think it served to better his character for major events and team books like Avengers. I won't get into stat drift but we've seen it with other characters over the years like Spider-Man and some other street levelers. Tomorrow or this weekend I'll post some scans from some of the fights I mentioned.

I was of the mind that he was knocking at The Thing levels of strength, if not durability now. Almost as if there was slow creep upward for his body to kind stabilize at current state. Kind of around 75 ton press level. Just going by feats at least.

[Jabare]

Yeah going by feats of the last 10 to 15 years you could easily make the case he's around Thing level. I mean from the 2010s to now with the Thunderclap feat and his Thunderbolts feats. Not to mention the Proxima Midnight fight. They were causing mini earth quakes causing Spider-Man to freak out.

This is from Mighty Avengers- Al Ewings run



I forget where this is from. It was probably written in the last 6 or 9 years tho, despite the classic appearance. Maybe this came out around the time Cage was getting a Netflix show



Personally I don't think Marve really relies on stat books anymore anyway, they prefer to give their writters more freedom over the years

[Jabare]

Also, you all should check out Luke Cage in Thunderbolts 147. He goes HAM in that one. How did things end with that team again? I liked that dynamic. Cage leads his suicide squad with Man-thing, Juggernaut, Moonstone, Crossbones, and a few others.

The 2000s and the early 2010s saw a resurgence of Luke Cage in Marvel. He changed a little bit due to Jessica Jones in the baby. Then, he was an Avenger, but not just any Avenger. Cage was essentially the leader for a few years after Cap died. All this ultimately lead to his increased mainstream popularity and that Netflix show.

Now that I think about it, Bendis and a few other authors did include street-level characters in the major events and team books a lot more.

[Prof.Chaos]

83DBA538-283B-417A-8D33-1940BEEDD309.jpg

Hi all! Haven’t gotten around to posting much as much as a I hoped but been a longtime lurking fan and big collector of Marvel licensed shirts from the 90s! I just recently got this gem in but couldn’t place where its from. Figured this thread was the best place to start! Thanks and Happy Holidays all!

[Phoenixx9]

Welcome Prof Chaos! Happy Holidays!