Luke Cage first came to be back in 1972; the creation of Archie Goodwin, George Tuska,
Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr, Cage was crafted during the time of Blaxploitation, a genre
in which black characters and communities were seen as heroes rather than sidekicks
or villains, but were heavily stereotyped nonetheless. Luke’s story begins with him
being convicted of a crime he did not commit, and after being imprisoned, he agrees to go
under an experimental procedure which ultimately gives him bullet proof skin; an aspect of
his character that still strongly resonates today, especially thanks to the timing of
his MCU debut and the political climate of the US. As a member of the Defenders, he’s
often been a character who comes through in a pinch, and would go on to join the New Avengers,
along with leading the Thunderbolts. So today, we’re taking a look at some of Luke’s
other appearances in the Marvel universe outside of Earth 616 with our list of the top 10 alternate
versions of Luke Cage. Let’s jump in!
10 Ultimate Marvel The Ultimates universe takes place on Earth
1610, and much like many of the other heroes and villains counterparts in the Ultimates
universe, Luke Cage is quite different from his 616 self. For starters, he’s never actually
referred to as Luke Cate; only as Power Man. And second, he initially doesn’t have powers.
He’s part of the Defenders as a non-super powered team member. The Defenders in this
universe are more concerned with earning fame rather than helping people. As Power Man puts
it so eloquently in the comic, Power Man ain’t no Hulk. Eventually, the character does get
powers thanks to Loki, who gifts the Defenders abilities in order to fight against and ambush
the Ultimates.
9 White Luke Cage – Earth 82820 This Luke Cage is described as a “white
man who donned a funky costume”. Yep. From What If issue 34 from 1982, white Luke Cage
appears in a story called What if Power Man Were White? And really, rather than it being
a story, it was a splash page that contain three other aesthetic what ifs, which also
included what if the hulk were yellow, what if the thing were blue, and what if the invisible
girl dyed her hair? Riveting stuff. Cage is also depicted shouting out the words Luke
Cage is a funky honky! In case you weren’t aware, honky is a racial slur for white people,
now considered to be quite derogatory.
8 A Babies vs X Babies Back in 2012, Marvel had a crossover event
called Avengers vs X-Men, in which the Phoenix Force’s incoming threat to Earth prompts
Captain America and Cyclops to get into a conflict; the Phoenix Force is coming for
Cyclops’ daughter Hope Summers, and Cap wants Cyclops to hand her over so she can
be placed into protective custody. Cyclops isn’t down for that, and all hell breaks
loose between the two groups. This is where the parody series, A-Babies vs X-Babies comes
in. It’s the same characters, but as young children, with the conflict being that Cyclops
has stolen Captain America’s favourite teddy, Bucky Bear. Baby Luke Cage is part of the
drama, and partakes in the fight, on the Avengers team.
7 Thor (Earth 88255) This is another What If story that Luke Cage
appears in, and funny enough, appears in the same What If comic as our previous number,
issue 34 from 1982. How does he differ from regular Thor? Well, for starters, he’s black.
And he has the powers of both Thor and Luke Cage from 616. As the story goes, Luke Cage
finds Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, and ends up taking over his persona, fighting off a group
of Asgardian criminals in the process, along with saying this line: “By the gleamin’
gates of funky Asgard, you suckers are gonna eat hammer!” Yeah, that sounds about right
for an early 80s version of Luke Cage. So much funk.
6 Power Girl (Earth 34828) And one more What If! Of course, this one
is also from the same issue, from a half page panel that questions What if Wonder Man were
a woman and Power Man were a girl? The whole gag with this one isn’t the gender swapping
as much as it is the name gags. In front of Power Girl, there’s a letter that reads
‘Dear Marvel, our lawyers advise you not to print this gag. With love, your distinguished
competitor. Distinguished competitor, DC. Get it?
5 Earth X Moving on to more substantial alternates now,
here we have a Luke Cage who isn’t just a superhero; he’s a cop for the New York
City Police Department. Sgt Cage has a slightly different backstory than the Earth 616 Cage,
not having any previous history with the Avengers, and never having married Jessica Jones. When
the world began to mutate on Earth 9997, many heroes switched career paths, some becoming
world leaders, others becoming members of law enforcement. Cage would go around trying
to recruit heroes, including the likes of a out-of-shape Peter Parker. He would aid
Captain America and other heroes in fighting off an invasion of Skrulls in New York, and
would later work with other super powered law enforcement to protect New York’s Human
Torch, which was a device used to help burn the Terrigen Mists out of Earth’s atmosphere.
4 House of M This alternate has a very different origin
story than his 616 counterpart. For starters, he grew up being bullied for being black.
This is how he forged a friendship with Willis Stryker, a neighbourhood kid and mutant who
was bullied for looking like a snake. The two ended up turning to crime as a way to
take out their anger and frustrations on the world. Cage was eventually sent for prison
for a murder her didn’t commit. Stryker would also set Cage up to be arrested after
planting drugs in his apartment, all because he wanted to win the attention of a girl who
was into Cage and not him. Anywho, while the Mutant-Human war was waging outside, the government
decided they needed more than Sentinels to fight back the mutants, and began running
experiments on prisoners. This included Cage, who then broke out of prison with his new
found powers. From there he ended up forming a crime syndicate in Hell’s Kitchen, which
he later adapts into the Human Resistance Movement, recruiting several human heroes
to join up, including the likes of Cloak, who sees Cage as a father figure. In addition
to this, Cage is the first person who Layla Miller awakens from the House of M reality.
3 MCU Luke Cage (Earth 199999) Netflix’s Luke Cage series may now be cancelled,
but the character’s first season, and existence in the MCU will likely live on. In the show,
we primarily see Cage asa fugitive attempting to rebuild his life in Harlem. He manages
to clear his name, and becomes a bit of a celebrity in Harlem. First introduced in the
Jessica Jones series, Jones ends up forming a bond with Cage at the bar he works at, and
its slowly revealed throughout the course of season 1 that she’s the one responsible
for the death of his wife. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled on October 19th of
2018 due to behind the scenes conflicts between Marvel and Netflix, with reports noting that
Marvel had no intention of reviving the series on Disney Plus’ streaming service, alongside
Iron Fist.
2 Marvel Zombies Earth 2149 is a reality that’s infected
by an alien virus that turns all of our favourite heroes and villains into zombies. As a member
of the Avengers, Luke is one of the first to become infected. One of his first moves
as a zombie is to attack and eat Silver Surfer, alongside other zombified characters, which
results in him gaining cosmic powers. By the end of the series, he also eats Galactus alongside
Iron Man, Giant Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man and the Hulk, making them the Galacti, a group
that travel around the universe devouring life on various planets. His story carries
over into Marvel Zombies 2, where he’s lost an arm, having transplanted an alien one to
his body, and his lover half has been replaced with a cybernetic body. He would later be
killed and eaten by other zombies.
1 Exiles - Power Fist (Earth 8545) Power Fist first made his debut in March of
2003 in Exiles issue 21 and is a mix between Luke Cage’s Power Man and his 616 best pal,
Iron Fist. At the time, this reality was over run by something called Vi-Locks; a network
of the Legacy Virus that didn’t just kill mutants, but wiped out hundreds of thousands
of people across the Earth in what was considered the biggest plague the world had ever seen.
Cage leads the Avengers, and was a part of assault against the Vi-Locks at the Vi-Lock
Mainframe, and managed to survive the various assaults against them. Later, he would exile
himself to another reality, moving to Quentin Quire’s reality to replace an alternate
version of himself who had died.
There we have it friends! Which of these Luke Cage alternates was your favorite? What other
ones did we not mention on our list that you love? Give us a shout in those comments below
and share your thoughts! If you dug this video, spread that love, hit that like button, and
be sure to subscribe to top 10 nerd for all of your alternate lists. If we haven’t done
one on your favourite hero or villain, suggest it below! In the meantime though, thanks for
watching friends! Catch you all in the next video.