Luke Cage Noir is a series by Marvel Comics, set in the Marvel Noir Universe. Luke Cage Noir is written by Mike Benson and Adam Glass with art by Shawn Martinbrough.
A lot can change in ten years. And rarely for the better. Local legend Luke Cage, invincible, unstoppable, unflappable, finds that out the hard way when he returns to the mean streets of Prohibition-era Harlem after ten years in Riker’s Island. All he wants is to be back in the loving arms of his woman, but certain powerful men have different plans for Cage. Willis Stryker, Cage’s childhood friend turned Godfather of Harlem, wants him on his crew, and under his thumb. And wealthy white socialite Randall Banticoff, whose wife is now very dead, murdered in a Harlem alley, wants Cage to investigate her death. Cage is about to learn that coming home is never easy and to survive he might just have to kill a whole lot of people.
Luke Cage Noir provides examples of:
- Adaptational Wimp: Luke Cage is a regular human, with his famous feat of surviving being shot being much more mundane as opposed to being superhuman.
- Boomerang Bigot: Randall Banticoff is in fact a light-skinned black man, who is able to convincingly pass as white and uses that to further his Social Climber goals. He murdered Daisy after she became pregnant, cutting out their unborn child to ensure that his true heritage would remain hidden. Even while dying, he still throws racist insults at Luke.
- Detective Patsy: Randall Banticoff does this to Luke Cage, hiring Cage to investigate his wife's murder while arranging for him to take the rap for the crime — and die before a trial could potentially expose it as a frame job.
- Dirty Cops: Officer Rachman and Tombstone, corrupt cops working for Randall Banticoff. Tombstone, in particular, was a gangster before (and after) he became a cop.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Luke examines a body for clues after being hired to investigate a murder. "The black and blue marks around her neck meant she was choked — which is usually personal. Though I did once choke a cellmate because he ate my peanut butter."
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: We never see it in action so much as get it spelled out for us. Josephine tells Cage that there isn't a lot to like about a creep like Tombstone... but he was always a mama's boy.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Played for Drama. Luke Cage is known in his neighborhood as 'Power Man', and no one dares cross him because he once took two bullets to the chest and didn't flinch. It's only in the last issue that he reveals the truth: The bullets had hit a bible that was on his chest, and that was why he survived. Luke ends up living up to his fame by managing to tank two bullets for real with sheer Heroic Willpower, but then keels over and dies. His body falls off into the water and vanishes, ensuring the legend of Power Man lives on.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Cage describes being black in early 1930s New York as akin to this. "We're everywhere... yet no one ever sees us. It's like bein' invisible."
- Pocket Protector: Unlike his mainline counterpart he's not really invulnerable, people just think he is because he survived being shot in the chest, which turned out to be the result of the bullets lodging in a flask he was carrying.
- Red Baron: Luke Cage received the name "Power-Man" after taking two bullets in the chest and getting up as if nothing had happened.
