Luke Cage (MCU)

"I'm 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

"You think I asked for any of this? I was framed, beaten and put in some tank like an exotic fish. Came out with abilities."

- Luke Cage

The child of renowned preacher James Lucas, Carl Lucas was raised in Savannah, Georgia, where he grew up alongside his best friend Willis Stryker. Unbeknownst to Carl, Willis was the bastard son of James, conceived in an affair with his secretary, and this knowledge led to him resenting Carl as he grew older. After being sent to jail for car theft while Carl was able to beat the sentence by joining the army, Willis snapped and turned towards a life of crime, eventually framing Carl, who was sent to Seagate Penitentiary, where he was forced to fight in the prison boxing ring and experimented on by a scientist working for unknown superiors. The experiment gave Carl superhuman strength and seemingly unbreakable skin, and with the help of his therapist/lover Reva Connors, he escaped Seagate.

After changing his name to Luke Cage and fleeing to New York City, Luke worked with Reva to discover the origins of his powers, but her death in an apparent bus accident left him distraught and forced him to start working as a bartender. One night shift led to a chance meeting with Jessica Jones, a private eye with superhuman strength, and the two struck up a relationship that ended after Luke discovered Jessica murdered Reva while under the control of the villain Kilgrave. Unable to forgive Jess but understanding of what happened, Luke moved out of Hell's Kitchen and back to Harlem, where he began working for Pop, the local barber and pillar of the community. Despite his best efforts, Luke ultimately clashed with the gangster Cottonmouth and his cousin, the councilwoman Mariah Dillard, after a drive-by shooter working for Cottonmouth accidentally killed Pop.

Luke's war with Cottonmouth abruptly ended after Mariah murdered Cottonmouth and framed Luke for it, forcing him to go on the run from both the police and Styrker, who had taken the name "Diamondback" and begun wielding "Judas bullets", the only weapon's capable of piercing Luke's skin. With the help of doctor Claire Temple, Luke was able to clear his name and defeat Stryker, but was still sent back to Seagate to complete his original sentence, though Foggy Nelson was able to secure his release. Returning to Harlem, Luke was drawn into the criminal activities of the group The Hand, bringing him into direct conflict with Danny Rand, the Iron Fist. Despite initial hostilities, Luke took a liking to Danny, and they teamed up with Daredevil and Jessica to defeat the Hand at the apparent cost of Daredevil's life.

Following his battle with the Hand, Luke became a local celebrity in Harlem, only to end up caught in the middle of a new war between Mariah, who had taken over Cottonmouth's criminal empire, and Bushmaster, a Jamaican gangster with a personal vendetta against Mariah's family and magic herbs that enabled him to match Luke physically. Pushed to his limit, Luke ended up driving away most of his friends and allies, but ultimately defeated Bushmaster, driving him out of Harlem, and imprisoning Mariah, who was murdered by her daughter Tilde. As a sign of respect, Mariah left Luke Harlem's Paradise, Cottonmouth's nightclub and a staple of Harlem. Realizing he had to fill the power vacuum before someone worse came along, Luke reluctantly became the new boss of Harlem, hoping to control criminal activities from the top.

Battle vs. Joseph Joestar and Caesar Zeppeli alongside Iron Fist (MCU) (by BeastMan14)
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