Mark Anthony’s Hero of The Month

I have decided to add a little more than just my opinion every other week. Every week I will give a you something of the month. This week is “Hero of the Month.” I’m going to start with one of my personal favorites Luke “Power Man” Cage.

Luke Cage is the perfect example of a character with potential and held down due to bad timing and a bad idea. Luke Cage began as, well, a stereotype. He was essentially pimping out his muscle. Even when he worked with the Fantastic Four, he was being paid to do so. Not just to be a hero. In 2001, writer Brian Michael Bendis wrote a comic called Alias. No, it is not based off of Jennifer Garner’s character. It was about a former hero named Jessica Jones who quit being a hero to become a private investigator. She ends up getting herself into all sorts of shenanigans and one of them included a drunken night of sex with Luke Cage. I’m thinking this was just Bendis adding him adding him just because he needed a character no one cared about. Later on, we start to see a completely different side of Luke Cage in Alias. A more sentimental side. He helped Jessica Jones through a lot of her problems and was there for her during a major turning point in her life. Not just the beat ’em up and take their money Luke Cage Thus beginning a new start for the former Hero for Hire.

New Avengers #1 (which came out in 2005) when is Luke Cage started to come into his own. I had no clue why Brian Michael Bendis put him on the team. I honestly thought it was because they needed a black character. Again was proven wrong. it was all part of the plan. During the Marvel Civil War (Which I will talk about in a future article) Luke Cage took a big stand and stood his ground when everything was against him. New Avengers #22 was Cage’s defining moment as a character and it was written to near perfection. Faced with signing up for a law he didn’t agree with or arrest, Luke Cage chose to sit at home and live his life. He was immediately sought after as soon as the clock struck midnight. Luke Cage fought for what he believed in until HE said the war was over. He led a renegade group of Avengers to protect the world the way they thought was right and never once did he give up on his morals. After all was said and done, Luke Cage won his battle and got to the one thing he wanted to do while all the battles were fought. He got to walk in the park with his daughter and his wife.

What makes Luke Cage special is he isn’t afraid to stand up for those smaller than him or afraid to stand up tall and proud for what he believes is right. Every hero may do it, but not like Cage does. Some flip flop, Cage doesn’t shake. For that, I give him the hero of the month.