Characters / MCU: Luke Cage

Main Character Index > Heroic Organizations > Defenders & Their Allies (Matt Murdock | Jessica Jones | Luke Cage | Danny Rand | Frank Castle | Karen Page | Elektra Natchios)

---

Luke Cage

"You can't fix me. I'm unbreakable."

Birth Name: Carl Lucas

Species: Enhanced human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): US Marine Corps (formerly), Savannah Police Department (formerly), Luke's (formerly), Pop's Barber Shop (formerly), Harlem's Paradise, Defenders

Portrayed By: Mike Colter, Clifton Cutrary (teen), David Austin (young)

Voiced By: Orlando Alfaro [Jessica Jones (2015)], Cristóbal Areite [Luke Cage (2016)] (Latin-America Chilean Spanish dub), Alfonso Vallés (European Spanish dub), Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Jessica Jones | Luke Cage | The Defenders

"This city is supposed to represent our hopes and dreams. You have to fight for what's right every single day."

A former sheriff's deputy from Georgia who was framed for murder and sent to prison. While there a sabotaged experiment resulted in him gaining Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerable skin. Once he escaped from prison he tried to live quietly and anonymously in New York City, but after an explosion takes his entire livelihood, Luke finds himself using his abilities to become the unlikely protector of Harlem.

---

A-E

• Abusive Parents: Read between the lines a bit and it becomes clear that his father was a complete asshole. Hence Luke has some serious rage issues related to his old man. When said old man shows up in the second season of Luke's show, we see that the abusive patriarch hasn't really learned his lesson.
• Achilles' Heel:
  • His skin may be impenetrable, but enough concussive force can still cause internal injuries, which are then extremely difficult to treat. Likewise, if something does happen to pierce his skin, it's next to impossible to dig it out.
  • Also, unbreakable skin doesn't help against intoxicating substances. Luke is just as susceptible to paralysis-inducing substances as a normal person would be.
  • Due to the fact that he is generally invulnerable to nearly everything, Luke tends to be very overconfident. When somebody does actually come up with something that can hurt him, Luke ends up trying to tank it like everything else and thus is a sitting duck.
• Adaptational Badass: In the comics, Luke Cage's combat experience began and ended with street-fighting and gang warfare. Only later, after his partnership with Iron Fist, did he receive any training—and only informally. In this story, Luke Cage trained with Willis Stryker in boxing at a very young age, then received combat training in the military, and then further honed his skills in an underground fighting ring. By the time he got his powers, he was already capable of brutally beating ordinary men in one-on-one combat.
• Adaptational Job Change: He's ex-military and an ex-deputy sheriff.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • This Luke is much more of a nice guy than he was in the comics, who was largely Only in It for the Money with his "Heroes For Hire" ideology. In fact, an early review (and Cottonmouth within the series itself) compared him to Captain America, The Paragon of the MCU.
  • Speaking of Heroes for Hire, ironically he refuses offers of money from the people he saved.
• Adaptation Personality Change: He's considerably more composed and philosophical than his Hot-Blooded counterpart in the comics.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the comics, he and Iron Fist are Heterosexual Life-Partners who've headlined their own series together and often serve as Those Two Guys of the Marvel Universe. Here, they don't even meet until The Defenders (2017) and they have a fight. Even afterward, they still aren't portrayed the way they are in the comics. This does seem to be changing with the second season of his show, where the two bond when Danny shows up at Claire's behest to help him with his inner turmoil.
• Afro Asskicker: He had an afro when he was in Seagate, and he was a total badass already.
• Almighty Janitor: He begins his own show sweeping the floor of a barbershop and washing dishes at a club. But when push comes to shove, he becomes an Implacable Man.
• AM/FM Characterization: He's a huge fan of Wu-Tang Clan and squees when he meets Method Man.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: The man has bulletproof skin, has been shot with bullets made of alien metals, has fought a cult of ninjas led by evil immortals, dated a woman with superhuman abilities, took legal counsel from a "blind ninja", and is pals with a dude who can make his fist glow and punch out walls... and yet he refuses to believe that dragons might be real. Danny calls him out on this. One must assume he didn't see the dragon bones while fighting the Hand under Midland Circle (though, to be fair, the place wasn't exactly full-on light).
• Badass Biker: Owns a Harley with a deep, sexy roar that could match his. The helmets are just for show, of course.
• Badass Boast:
  Civilian girl: Don't you need a gun?
  Luke: I am the gun.
• Badass Bookworm: Is incredibly well read. When not quoting books he's kicking ass.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Luke occasionally kicks ass while wearing a very well tailored suit courtesy of Dapper Dan. At the end of Season 2, after Mariah leaves him Harlem's Paradise, he's seeing sporting another tailored suit from another tailored suit more in line with his darker portrayal from the comics.
• Bald Head of Toughness: Luke Cage has Super-Strength and is Made of Iron after an experiment on cell regeneration he was a test subject for was sabotaged.
• Barehanded Blade Block: He does this during his fight with Elektra.
• Bash Brothers: With Danny, post Defenders, even improvising coordinated maneuvers with Luke's strength and Danny's chi powered strikes.
• Battle Couple: With Jessica in her own show until he finds out she killed Reva while under Kilgrave's mind control.
• Beard of Sorrow: During his time in prison in the flashbacks, and the reason Shades didn't recognize him in the barber shop.
• Berserk Button: He absolutely detests the word "nigga" as he feels it is an insult to his ancestors and heroes, and doesn't even make an exception when other black people uses it. Say it, and prepare for a "The Reason You Suck" Speech at best, an ass-kicking at worst. He also hates being called by his real name "Carl Lucas", which sent him into an Unstoppable Rage when the scientist who gave him his powers repeatedly referred to him as such.
• The Big Guy: Standing at 6'3" with a Nigh-Invulnerable body and enhanced strength, Cage is a force to be reckoned with. Even the super-strong Jessica has to resort to a point blank shotgun blast to defeat him, and it only knocks him unconscious.
• Big Guy Rodeo: Commonly attempted on him by the random mooks he faces. He often promptly and hilariously tosses them away.
• Blaxploitation: Averted. The character was originally subject to this, but they removed it for the MCU. In fact, Mike Coulter was assured that the story was going for a "modern version" of the character before he took the role.
• Blessed with Suck: Sure his impenetrable skin protects him from harm, but it also prevents him from getting an injection that can save his life, and it's not just his skin, almost all his soft tissue is similarly invulnerable. This makes trying to remove shrapnel an absolute bitch. As of Season 2, even with supposedly better invulnerability a powerful enough blast from a specialized shotgun to the shoulder was enough to dislocate it.
• Boxing Lessons for Superman: Danny gives some to Luke in Season 2, teaching Luke to control his anger so he can keep his Super-Strength refined.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Under Kilgrave's control he gets used as muscle.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: As strong and tough as he is, Luke can also be very compassionate.
• Bullet Proof Human Shield: Luke's first move is usually to let his enemies fire at him until it sinks in that guns don't work on him. Whenever there are innocent people or not-so indestructible allies like the other Defenders around, he is usually the first to jump in-front of the ensuing gunfire.
• Cain and Abel: Is the Abel to Diamondback's Cain, albeit unknowingly at first.
• The Cape: Pretty much the noblest of all of the Defenders, showing the most concern with how the consequences of their actions could potentially affect civilians.
• Celebrity Superhero: While he isn't exactly at the same celebrity level as the Avengers, he could probably be seen as the biggest star among the Defenders: He is a local hero for the residents of Harlem and has a lot of fans in the black community, to the point he has his own merch. He also saves the rapper Method Man who wrote an in-universe song for him, making him a much more well-known public figure.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • As in the comics, he's partial to the phrase "Sweet Christmas."
    • First, after a particularly good round of sex with Jess.
    • Later, after discovering a secret pot farm filled with millions of dollars of the plants.
  • He says "do what you gotta do" several times to Jessica across her series.
  • He adopts Pop's line "forward, always" and cites it as a Survival Mantra.
• Character Check: While in the comics, Luke Cage does not curse, this part was abandoned in Jessica Jones. However, the trait returns in Luke Cage's own series.
• Chick Magnet: Aside from Reva, he slept with Jessica and Misty, was called "fine" by a witness watching him in action (beating up criminals), and ends up in a relationship with Claire at the end of Season 1 of his own series.
• Cherry Tapping: Since he can't punch fools without breaking them in half, Luke just smacks and taps mooks on the head and that takes them down for the count.
• Clothing Damage: His skin's bulletproof, but not his clothing. After a couple of Domingo's guys try shooting at him to no effect:
  Luke: I'm about sick of always having to buy new clothes.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Much like Jessica Jones, his comic superhero name Power Man is introduced as a gag when Pop jokingly calls him by it. However, after Pop's death, he begins to embrace it — he still only calls himself Luke Cage, but on a couple of occasions when people compare him to Iron Man he responds: "It's Power Man." Then again, "Luke Cage" technically is his codename as his real name was "Carl Lucas" before he changed it to adopt a new identity after escaping prison.
• Comically Invincible Hero: Almost every fight he gets into is laughably one-sided given he's Nigh-Invulnerable. Even knowing he's bulletproof, thugs will always try to shoot him. The question isn't if Luke will beat the mooks but how badly they will get humiliated, and if they're lucky Luke will let them off with a warning after mangling their guns.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: One could even pity the fools that have to deal with him. Nothing short of Jessica, Judas bullets, Danny's Iron Fist technique, Elektra Natchios or Bushmaster can make him look like he's even trying.
• Cursed with Awesome: He's super strong, bulletproof, and nigh indestructible... but if something does manage to hurt him, the injuries require extensive, traumatic, and utterly horrific methods to treat. There's also the fact he stated he didn't ask for his powers and dislikes all the attention that comes with it.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Diamondback had him framed for a crime he did not commit, had him forced into an underground fighting ring, had him subjected to human experimentation that killed every other subject, and since then, he's been on the run, living under an assumed name. He's also in denial about the fact that his preacher father had an illegitimate son.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's pretty dry too.
• Death Glare: His default expression around Kilgrave, suggesting Kilgrave's power is only just stopping Luke from decapitating him on the spot.
  Kilgrave: Tell me what you want. Quickly!
  Luke: To kill you.
• Destructo-Nookie: Several times with Jessica and later on with Claire.
• Did Not Think This Through: The biggest and perhaps defining flaw Luke has is that he seldom, if ever, thinks his actions or their consequences through beyond the next move he's going to make. He bankrupts criminals... not anticipating that they'll attempt to immediately try to make their money back by taking it out on the neighborhood. He tries everything to try to remove local underworld powers... not anticipating that other gangsters, perhaps more brutal ones, will try to fill their place. He openly dares criminals to try to do anything about him... not anticipating that they might try sneakier ways of getting to him, like threatening people he loves or bystanders. He stands in front of Cockroach, who's wielding a very large and strange multi-barreled shotgun that Luke has never seen, and despite the fact that Cockroach got this gun specifically in response to Luke's presence and Luke's past experience with an ordinary shotgun almost killing him, he lets the gangster shoot him as a show of bravado and then has the nerve to be surprised that the gun has an effect on him. During his show's second season this gets lampshaded and put down to the emotional, mental, and physical turmoil Luke is under at that time, but it's really something of a longstanding pattern.
• Does Not Like Guns: He seizes every chance he gets to bend a gun in half.
• Does Not Like Spam: Luke hates coffee, which makes things awkward in a city as coffee-crazy as New York. Nonetheless, he offers coffee as a pickup line to Misty and Claire. It only worked on Misty.
• Dope Slap: Luke generally holds back the brunt of his strength on ordinary people, so his move of choice is basically a nonchalant bitchslap. It usually results in some unfortunate punk going face-first into a wall.
• The Dreaded: It doesn't take long for criminals to learn to run when he shows up.
  Shades: You need to ignore Luke Cage.
  Cottonmouth: How can I? All he needs to do is SHOW UP, and they all scatter like roaches when the lights turn on!
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: At the start of the second season, Luke is having fun being popular in Harlem. This bites him in the ass when he gets knocked on it by Bushmaster. He also learns that he's got zero cred outside of Harlem (especially in Crown Heights, where Bushmaster's based). He then gets fed up with the gang war and starts to show all the gangsters that he's been playing nice... and starts hurting them.
• Emergency Transformation: He was dying from being jumped by Shades and Comanche when he was placed in the machine that gave him his powers.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Twice actually, although the first time fits much more: Before getting sent to prison and becoming Luke Cage, he was a U.S. Marine (specifically Force Recon). He then was a sheriff's deputy when he got arrested and thrown in Seagate, but presumably his Marines training was far superior to his police training. Once in Seagate, he engages fairly often in boxing and conditioning.
• Expansion Pack Past: Introduced as an ex-con turned bartender. His solo series reveals that he was the son of a preacher man from Savannah, Georgia, that he was a Marine, and specifically a Force Recon Marine and then a sheriff before he ended up in prison.
• Eye Scream: When a point-blank shotgun blast causes a buildup of fluid in his skull, his impenetrable skin means Claire has to drain it through his eye, with Jessica desperately trying to hold his head steady during a seizure.

F-N

• Fighting Fingerprint: How Shades finally ends up recognizing Luke.
• Fighting from the Inside: Spends a good chunk of his time under Kilgrave's control doing this, from staring daggers at him to hobbling his fighting style while attacking Jessica.
• Forgiveness: Luke parts with Jessica on shaky terms in Jessica Jones due to her role in Reva's death. While Luke learns that Jessica was being controlled at the time by Kilgrave, the wounds are still too fresh for the two to reasonably continue their relationship. It's not until his own series that Luke finally learns of Reva's true nature, and was able to finally let go the past. By the time Luke and Jessica meet again in The Defenders, they're back to being on friendly terms. It goes on in his series when his dad returns.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: In the Defenders, he's Phlegmatic.
• Frame-Up: How he ended up in prison.
• Good Versus Good: Luke and Danny have a brief scuffle the first time they encounter each other in the streets. It takes Claire to get them to see they're on the same side.
• Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Downplayed. Luke was raised by a strict father who frowned upon harsh language, and Luke in turn avoids using it, and was the biggest enforcer of the swear jar in Pop's barbershop. He adopted phrases such as his infamous "Sweet Christmas" from his father instead of cursing. On the rare occasion he does swear they tend to be big moments. He's noticeably much looser with his language throughout season 2.
• Healing Factor: The original procedure he went under was designed to accelerate tissue regrowth in its subjects; as a result, his body heals at an accelerated rate. During the experiment, all of the injuries and physical damages that he had were healed to perfect condition, leaving his body without scars, within moments.
  • He also healed from two gunshot wounds inflicted by the Judas Bullet without retaining scars in a matter of hours, though he needed the shrapnel from the bullets removed beforehand.
  • In a few hours, he completely recovered from brain hemorrhage and cerebral edema, caused by a shotgun blast against his chin that Jessica Jones used to knock him out, while Claire Temple had to drain cerebrospinal fluid from his eye while he had a seizure and noted that moving him could kill him to Jessica Jones.
  • Although he needed the help of Tilda Johnson, he was able to heal his internal injuries after getting knocked down by Bushmaster, a man of great superhuman strength and fighting ability.
• Heroic Willpower: Downplayed example. Luke is the only person who shows any shred of resistance after initially falling under Kilgrave's influence. He briefly hesitates to follow the first orders Kilgrave gives him, gives Kilgrave a Death Glare and snarks at him instead of fawning over him as most of his victims do, and when Jessica tries to do the I Know You're in There Somewhere, Cage briefly stops, then tells her that he can't push Kilgrave out before he continues attacking her. This happens several times. He also completely changes his fighting style, winding up for huge, easily-avoidable haymakers when earlier fights had shown him using quick, economic moves to disable opponents. Granted, he's fighting Jessica Jones, who has some level of super-durability, but not nearly enough to shrug off Luke's normal attacks.
  Jessica: Please, stop.
  Luke: Do what you gotta do.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Before he was framed, he had no idea whatsoever that Willis Stryker resented him so badly that he would eventually ruin his life. He also didn't know that Reva was a willing participant in everything that went on at Seagate, and pleaded with her to escape before she got dragged into his problems. The former incident led to him having trust issues after escaping, and the latter incident made him realize it was time to move on with his life.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Luke with Jessica. And Luke with Claire. And Luke with Misty. Honestly, Mike Colter is just huge, even relatively tall women would look tiny next to his 6'3", 230 lb frame.
• Human Weapon: He was put through an experimental Super-Soldier procedure which gave him bulletproof skin and Super-Strength.
• Humble Hero: Refuses to take payment for his heroic actions (ironic, given that his comic title was "Hero for Hire"), even telling one of the people he saved that he cannot take cash from them because he owes them money.
• Hunk: Walking beefcake, with chiseled abs and pecs, babyface looks, and a deep, husky voice.
• Hypocrite: In The Defenders, despite rightly calling Danny out on not using his resources better in his war against the Hand, Luke does come off as a hypocrite in several other respects. He claims that Danny started their fight during the altercation in the alleyway with Cole, when it was Luke that initiated the violence. Luke claims Danny looked like he was going to murder Cole, despite Danny having done nothing excessively violent to a guy who was just caught destroying bodies with acid, which makes Cole an accessory to Mass Murder (You would think an exsheriff deputy like Cage would know that, so whatthehellhero). He calls out Danny for attacking the "lower rung" members of the Hand, using violence and intimidation against them, despite the fact that Luke frequently employed similar tactics to Cottonmouth and Diamondback's criminal groups. In essence, Luke criticizes Danny for behaving exactly like Luke does, solely because Luke personally knew the criminal Danny caught in the act of committing a crime.
• Hypocritical Humor: He calls the Hand and their ability to bring the dead back to life insane and difficult to believe. Danny points out that this is coming from a man who's bulletproof.
• Iconic Outfit: Luke always wears XXL hoodies with the hood up to keep a low profile. However, the police quickly catch on and put an APB out for large black men in hoodies, which causes a series of mistaken identifications. His hoodies are often riddled with bullet holes, which become a symbol and cultural icon for the citizens of Harlem, who, inspired by Method Man making a song about his own encounter with Luke, start wearing hoodies to show solidarity to Luke and piss off the cops even further.
• Ideal Hero: Luke is as close as Netflix MCU gets to one. He's extremely righteous, never wishing to stray into anything remotely unlawful like having an affair, tries to avoid swearing, refuses to be paid for his heroics, and initially disliked violence and only went to it as a last resort. Season 2 starts to see him slip from some of this: he's willing to broker deals with crime lords to help keep the peace in Harlem, extorts an admittedly very crooked business man for money to settle a lawsuit out of court, comes to use far more brutal means of taking down foes up to and including brief acts of torture, and treats yet more crime lords to the VIP section of the club Mariah leaves him in the season finale.
• Immune to Bullets: Deconstructed. While Luke has impervious skin, and as such most bullets harmlessly bounce off him, the force of a point blank shotgun blast can cause major internal injuries which are then difficult to treat. If something actually manages to get inside (say, a bullet made with Chitauri metal), his powers actually make it difficult for it to be removed and make the foreign object more dangerous (his Healing Factor inadvertently pushes the foreign matter in deeper, bringing it closer and closer to his internal organs).
• Implacable Man: Comes with the territory with being a bulletproof man.
• In a Single Bound: He's able to leap great heights and distances due to the superhuman strength in his legs. He measured 24 feet in attempting the broad jump, 11 feet longer than the world record. This also allowed him to jump several feet in the air over a bar stand while he shielded Misty Knight from gunfire, and to also jump onto the car of Piranha Jones' kidnappers from far away.
• In the Hood: Usually seen wearing a hoodie. More often than not with bullet holes.
• Innocently Insensitive: As a child, he used to use the phrase "I'm a Lucas" to explain to Willis why he needed to fight and defend his reputation. He had no idea that Willis is his half-brother, and resents the fact that his last name is "Stryker" because he was The Unfavorite.
• In Prison with the Rogues: Inverted. Here Luke was incarcerated in Seagate prison before his superhero career and houses with Shades, a criminal who would go on to become one of his most notorious rogues when they are both released.
• Just Got Out of Jail: He's introduced in The Defenders getting out of Seagate thanks to Foggy providing a stellar legal defense.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": He has a Fanboy moment when he meets Method Man after stopping a convenience store robbery. "P.L.O. Style" was his jam back in the day.
• Large and in Charge: He becomes the new leader of Harlem's Paradise in Season 2 and his 6'3" stature just makes him even more imposing.
• LEGO Genetics: The cinematic universe's explanation for his powers is that he was infused with sea snail DNA.
• Lightning Bruiser: His 40 yard dash is 3.72 seconds. NFL Combine's record is 4.2 and the unofficial is 4.13. Add his super strength and he is practically a freight train.
• Logical Weakness: It's discussed in reference to his powerset. While he can't be killed with brute force, he still needs to breathe and thus could be dealt with in other ways. In addition, if something is strong enough to penetrate his skin or cause internal damage, it's next-to-impossible to treat the injury thanks to his otherwise-unbreakable skin.
• The Lost Lenore: Jessica's last act before escaping Kilgrave was to kill his wife. Naturally, she isn't inclined to let him know about this. Luke is understandably pissed off to learn what really happened, and breaks off all communication with Jessica afterward.
• Love Interest: He's Jessica's only romantic prospect in the series. There's Ruben, technically, but he never had a shot with a Hunk like Luke around. After that fling doesn't work out, he becomes Claire's second romantic prospect, after her fling with Matt petered out.
• Loving a Shadow: Luke when he learns that Reva was not the woman he thought she was. Although she did fall in love with him sincerely later, he is shaken by the fact that the woman who used to give him hope in prison was, in fact, working with his tormentors all along and knew everything that they were up to.
• Mighty Glacier: He's incredibly strong and virtually indestructible, but he's not nearly as acrobatic or quick on his feet as his fellow Defenders. His running speed, however, is slightly beyond human limits.
• Military Superhero: Luke was in the Marines before becoming the protector of Harlem.
• Mr. Fanservice: Has quite a few shirtless scenes throughout the first season of Jessica Jones, usually before (and after) sex with Jessica. In his own series, while being treated for bullet wounds, he's naked apart from some strategically placed medical equipment. The opening credits to his series have shots of Harlem and important names projected onto his naked torso. To highlight how strong he is.
• Mythology Gag: A number of references are made to his comic counterpart.
  • Luke's very first on-screen appearance had him in a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, the colors of his original comic book costume.
  • Of course, his iconic catchphrase, "Sweet Christmas!" shows up.
  • The restraints he was in during the experiment that granted him his powers resemble the tiara and bracelets he used to wear in the comics. Once he breaks out of Seagate, he steals some clothes off a washing line which are his classic yellow shirt and blue pants to go with the tiara and bracelets.
  • The suit he's shown wearing as the new owner of Harlem's Paradise in the season two finale is reminiscent of how he appears◊ in the 2016 — 2017 Power Man & Iron Fist comics.
• New Jobs As The Plot Demands: Luke has had an assortment of jobs over the course of his life. He used to be in the Marines (as the alternative to a jail sentence), then he was a cop. After escaping Seagate, he became a Hell's Kitchen bartender. After the Kilgrave debacle, Luke moves on to be a hair sweeper at Pop's Barbershop as well as a dishwasher at Harlem's Paradise.
• Nice Guy: Make no mistake, Luke doesn't suffer fools. But all the same, he's drawn to helping people against his better judgment. He is also impeccably polite and respectful and does his best not to upset others.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Thanks to his invulnerable skin, Luke has been completely unfazed by trying to cut into his own abdomen with a circular saw, being attacked by a pack of guard dogs, being hit by a bus, being shot with handguns, and being lit on fire. Even being shot in the head with a shotgun at point-blank range only causes a serious concussion rather than blowing his head clean off. Aside from this the only things capable of harming him are: Judas bullets, Danny's Iron Fist technique, and certain intoxicating substances.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: He spends the first two episodes of his show refusing all attempts to get him to be a hero, but is finally driven to it by Pop's death. He ends the episode by invoking Crispus Attucks, the highly renowned first black American hero whose name is now adorning Mariah's stashhouse, declaring he'll now be taking his place in that legacy.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: While Luke isn't exactly a "normal" person, his situation in relation to the wider MCU is this. He's a street level hero with Super-Strength, Nigh-Invulnerability, a Healing Factor, and Ideal Illness Immunity. He's so far above regular mooks and even typical mobsters/gangsters that they have no chance against him. Goes even further in season 2 when he's found to have become even stronger.
• No-Sell:
  • When Luke arrives to break up Zip's gang shaking down Genghis Connie's, Amos attempts to put him down with a solid right hook, which is apparently something he's famous for. Luke doesn't even react to the impact; which ends with Amos breaking his right hand.
  • In his first encounter with Danny, Danny throws a flurry of punches at Luke that don't do anything, and even when Danny hits Luke with blows that would normally cause joints to automatically fold up or collapse, Luke has no reaction at all. This continues until Danny summons the Iron Fist to give Luke a right hook to the face that sends Luke flying.
    Danny: [After multiple blows fail to even get a reaction from Luke] What are you made of?!
  • With a select few exceptions (a point-blank shotgun blast to the chin, special Judas bullets, and the enhanced punches thrown by Diamondback's Powered Armor or blows from superhumans like Jessica Jones or Danny's Iron Fist), everything is this to him.
• Not Wearing Tights: He doesn't wear anything even remotely resembling a costume. Justified since he doesn't wear one in the comics either. He does briefly and accidentally don a combination of accessories that resemble his original costume. He quickly gets rid of it because he looks like a fool.
• N-Word Privileges: Defied, a quick way to infuriate him is to use the N word because he still associates the word with racism, regardless of who uses it. The only times he says the word himself is when he's berating someone else for using it.

O-Y

• Old Shame: In-universe, his canonical 70's outfit revolves around this, but not only this extends to the overall silly look, but also condones a plot recalling from his old prison ID: Tiara.
• Only Sane Man: Luke is the only Defender whose flaws didn't cause a riff in some major way and his own individual arguments with them were caused by their own flaws rather than his (Matt's secretive tendencies (although he came to an understanding around Matt wanting to keep his identity secret... then everyone called him out again for not bringing up his involvement with Elektra) Danny's impulsiveness, and Jessica Jones being Jessica Jones.)
• Outside-Context Problem: Neither Cottonmouth nor Mariah had any idea that Luke Cage existed, let alone what he could do, until he simply appeared one day and caused all of their plans to come crashing down. In fact, Luke Cage not even being a native of Harlem makes the two criminals even more angry, because to them he's just an outsider.
  • It also becomes clear the Hand aren't really properly equipped to deal with someone who is every bit as durable as they are strong, in contrast to the Iron Fist. In almost every fight he has involving the Hand he's barely shown breaking a sweat as they desperately try to bring him down, and while at first it seems like the Fingers would be able to match him, he later takes one down - offscreen no less! - with no visible sign of injury or fatigue. Only the absolute strongest of the Hand such as Madame Gao or Elektra are able to get him on the backfoot.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Swearing isn't really his thing — it's even further enforced in Pop's Barbershop, where the old man keeps a "swear jar" whenever somebody uses a profanity. That said, it really sticks out where Luke finally snaps and calls Jessica a "piece of shit" when he learns she killed his wife, albeit under Kilgrave's power.
  • Also swears when Pops' barbershop is riddled with bullets. As the old man lays dying, he frantically screams "Someone call a goddamn ambulance!" Pops uses one of his last breaths to remind him to put money in the swear jar.
• Primary-Color Champion: His signature outfit consists of a yellow t-shirt and blue pants.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Downplayed Trope but this is his season 2's storyline in a nut shell. The stress of heroes work without pay and the celebrity status that comes with it contributed to his anger issue. This led to him alienating his allies, isolating himself and taking more drastic measures in dealing with gangs in Harlem. This culminated in him turning Harlem into a Protectorate by making deals with criminal groups and overseeing his "kingdom" from Harlem Paradise, the Evil Lair of the Stokes.
• Really Gets Around: He probably has more named romantic partners than any of the other characters: Reva, Gina, Jessica, Misty, and Claire.
• Samaritan Syndrome: Despite repeatedly saying that he's not a hero, Luke always finds a way to get himself involved in saving people's lives.
• Scary Black Man: He wasn't a pushover before he gained his powers. After he did, well, Sweet Christmas. Funnily enough, in Jessica Jones (2015) whenever he tries to invoke the trope it fails.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After realizing any attempt he made to attack Kilgrave would just put others in danger, Luke moves from Hell's Kitchen to Harlem, since Pop is one of Reva's people. He later prepares to run when Cottonmouth tries to blackmail him, but is persuaded by Claire to stay and help the public.
• Semper Fi: Two brief bits of dialogue reveal he was a Marine, specifically a Force Recon Marine.
• Shooting Superman: Zigzagged. Just as Cottonmouth says, he simply has to show up and criminals start running. Other times it's played straight, either because they haven't heard of him (like Domingo's guys), get startled, or are just plain stupid (like Zip).
  • A fourth reason comes up when Luke lampshades this at the start of season two:
  Luke: Really, guys?
  Hoodlum: He's gotta know we tried, man!
• Smug Super: Though he's been knocked down and almost outright skilled enough to know otherwise, Luke is overwhelmingly confident in his ability to tank damage since he lives in a part of New York where he is the strongest and toughest meta human on the block. The inciting incident of his show's second season has a video of him being soundly thrashed and beaten by a barehanded John "Bushmaster" Mclver go viral, shaking the Harlem community's faith in his ability to protect him.
• So Last Season: Judas bullets end up in this category, as the treatment he went through to recover from the one that nearly killed him ended up increasing his Super-Toughness even further. Come season 2, and getting shot with a Judas bullet at close range doesn't even break his skin.
• Special Person, Normal Name: Cottonmouth even notes how Carl Lucas is "a square-ass name, man. Oh, if my mama named me that, I'd change my name to Luke Cage, too."
• Stone Wall: Typically uses his powers in this role, shielding civilians from gunfire with his own body. Becomes even more pronounced when he fights alongside the Defenders who are more agile but less impervious to harm.
• Super Hero Origin: Experimentation during his prison years was what granted Luke his bullet proof skin.
• Super-Speed: He can run at speeds exceeding that of the finest human athlete. He was able to complete the forty-meter sprint in 3.72 seconds (24 mph), which is faster than Usain Bolt's record and Jessica Jones' mile time of under four minutes (over 15 mph). He was also shown capable of running fast enough to intercept a speeding vehicle to save Claire and Scarfe. Todd Bowles referred to Cage's performance as one of the best workouts he had ever seen, with John Epps describing Cage's speed as "world-class", which made him a great candidate for playing football, as he "could blow through an offensive line like a pile of leaves."
• Super-Strength: During a fight in his bar where multiple opponents attacked him, he effortlessly tossed them aside and overpowered them with one arm. Using just his fists, Cage is able to punch and dent the auto body of motor vehicles. He is also able to match Jessica Jones in strength, managing to push her back when she attempted to subdue him during his fight with her while he was under the influence of Kilgrave and when she attempted to hold him back from killing Charles Wallace. His strength allows him to easily rag doll, lift, drag and send normal humans flying. He can break bones with a swift kick, punch through solid brick walls, break guns in his hands with ease, knock a person unconscious with a slap to the head, kick down almost any door, bend metal bars and lift massive concrete blocks and heavy machineries, such as washing machines and refrigerators. When he and the Defenders were escaping from the NYPD, Cage was able to bend a metal bar to prevent a door from being opened. In a battle with the Stylers, he kicked a car with enough force to send one of the Jamaican criminals flying upon impact. He was also capable of containing the explosion of a M67 grenade in his hands.
• Super-Toughness: He has extremely durable skin, and his nigh-limitless resilience is enough to withstand using his strength to easily break stone and metal without injury. He is virtually impervious to all forms of physical harm, injury or pain and has nigh-indestructible and impenetrable anatomy, with a tensile strength greater than 2 gigapascals. The durability of his cells can be likened to those found on abalone shells, due to their structure and superelasticity. He demonstrates this durability to Jessica Jones by using a circular saw against his own stomach, and he survived both being stabbed in the neck and being shot with a shotgun, neither of which could break his skin. A doctor's drill began to smoke when drilling against his skin.
  • His skin is also fire resistant, as demonstrated by his being able to withstand a point-blank explosion in his bar and not feel a thing when he emerged while on fire. He was also able to withstand a point-blank explosion from an M67 grenade in both of his hands, remaining unharmed. Shots from handguns and machine guns at point-blank range caused Luke minor discomfort at times, which only managed to anger him while in combat. However, he has managed to tolerate the bullets as of late.
  • He has been shot point-blank with multiple high-caliber machine guns, with the bullets simply ricocheting off of his skin. He even had an entire building fall on top of him, fell from a height of over 30 feet and cracked the ground upon landing and had a car crash right into him, all of which left him unscathed. Having been shot at countless times, he has learned how to take advantage of the ricocheting bullets off his skin as a means of offense, to hit people with their own bullet.
• Team Dad: He's the conciliator in the Defenders. According to Mike Colter, “I’m the guy, the wisdom. If you want to make sure something works, run it up the flagpole.”
• Tell Me How You Fight: He has an extremely defensive fighting style, relying on his invulnerability to just let people break themselves upon him. He prefers quick and efficient counterattacks rather than making attacks himself.
• Terror Hero: Eventually relishes in this. After constantly wreaking havoc on Cottonmouth's men without suffering a scratch, the thugs on the street run the second they see him.
• That Man Is Dead: He no longer thinks of himself by his original name of Carl Lucas.
  "Carl Lucas died in Seagate."
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Even though Luke can tear people apart with his bare hands, and has been driven close to it several times (for many good reasons), he has never taken a life and is adamant in his desire not to do so.
• Token Minority: The one black member of the Defenders, since Matt, Jessica, and Danny are all Caucasian.
• Took a Level in Badass: The experiment he took at the end in season 1 upgrade his invulnerability to the point he can tank point blank Judas bullet.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: By Season 2 Luke developed serious anger issues, even in The Defenders he was the one that needed the most convincing to kill and was he most laidback of the group. By Season 2 he starts issuing threats and doesn't mind roughing up criminals beyond what is needed.
• Tragic Keepsake: He hangs on to Pop's swear jar after he is killed.
• Tranquil Fury: He rarely raises his voice or curses, even when it gets to the point where he wants to end whoever pissed him off.
• Two First Names: His birth name, Carl Lucas, is a straight example.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His fighting style is just what you'd expect from someone who mostly doesn't have to worry about getting hurt, just pure strength without any fancy moves. Flashbacks to before his powers shows that he could use finesse if he needed to, but holding back his strength so he doesn't kill someone takes most of his focus. That said, the fact that he was a member of the Marine Forces, as well as a successful amateur boxer since at least high school, indicates that he certainly knows how to fight.
  • However, when push comes to shove, i.e., when he encounters those with abilities that allows to fight with him on an even footing, or when he feels like it, he brings out his skills, though they are a bit rusty from disuse
    • We get our first hints of this during Luke's first fight in Cottonmouth's club against four mooks. He expertly counters every one of their attacks and they don't land a single hit
    • After getting beat up by Bushmaster through ambush, during their rematches Luke breaks out his grappling skills to even the ground before pummelling him with boxing moves.
    • Then there's also his fights with Black Sky and Diamondback.
• Working-Class Hero: He deals with street crime in Harlem.
• You Are in Command Now: A rare instance where the villain does so for the hero. After Mariah dies, she leaves Harlem's Paradise to Luke Cage in her will, effectively making him the new "King of Harlem".
• You Are the New Trend: Luke started a trend of the black community of Harlem wearing hoodies with bullet holes in them. Knowing the cops are after him, the civilians intentionally wore Luke's trademark outfit to annoy the cops and make it harder to find him.

---

"I am Harlem, and Harlem is me."