* "Where's my money, honey?" From issue #9 of Luke's first ongoing: Doctor Doom has left town to avoid paying Luke $200. Luke does what any self-respecting hero for hire would do in these circumstances: he breaks into the Baxter Building, punches the Thing, convinces Reed Richards to lend him a plane, flies to Latveria, gets caught up in a robot rebellion led by an alien, and beats up Doom until he gets his money, ''and'' helps quash the rebellion. Luke gets his $200 ''and Dr. Doom's respect''. Moral of the story: do ''not'' welch on Luke Cage.
* Shortly after Luke begins to use the name "Power Man" for business purposes, he's attacked by [[{{ComicBook/Thunderbolts}} Erik Josten]] -- occasional agent of the Red Skull and the Mandarin at the time, and the first one to bear the title -- furious that he might be trying to co-opt the legacy of "the man who beat the Avengers".[[note]]Power Man Vol. 1, #21[[/note]] After fighting him to a stalemate in the evacuated Gem Theater, Cage discovers a young girl hiding and tries to get her to safety as Josten throws a steel bar at the two of them; when Luke yells that he nearly could've killed her, Josten scoffs and claims "that little twerp don't matter". Furious, [[CurbStompBattle Cage promptly no-sells a curtain rod used as a battering ram against his chest, beats Josten to a pulp, and delivers a final knockout punch so hard it sends Erik careening out the doors onto the sidewalk]]. And ''then'', after all is said and done, he takes the kid out for ice cream. The narration says it best: Luke's more than earned his title.
-->'''Luke:''' ''(Grabbing Josten by the lapel)'' Before you go to sleep, little buttercup, I've got a few '''heavy''' words to lay on you. [[ChronicVillainy In the future, you may wish to take up this line of work again]]. Now, you can call yourself Spider-Man... you can call yourself the Invisible Woman... you can stick a flag in your navel and call yourself "The Spirit of '76"... but if you ever call yourself Power Man again... I will '''tattoo''' that name on your '''ribcage!''' ''(Turning to the crowd)'' Will one of you fine folks repeat that to the gentleman in the orange-and-brown suit when he wakes up?