Luke Cage and the Defenders: Brother in A Strange Land

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Distinction: how to keep a character voice familiar anywhere, as seen in Luke Cage & The Defenders
Luke Cage and the Defenders: Brother in A Strange Land


“I couldn’t hear the woman’s heartbeat...no way to judge whether she was lying. None of my hyper-senses can tell me what to do.”

“I gotta be some kind of blamed fool, swallowin’ this dude’s rap. But when he started droppin’ names like ‘Nighthawk’ an’ ‘Doc Strange’--yeah, this is the address, all right. I dunno...he came on mighty convincin’ once he got rollin’, and since I didn’t have no plan o’ my own for dealin’ with---
Before you tap that shoulder, sugar- identify yourself.”

“Sticks hurt red man- but not Hulk!”

“I shall take my magic cloak of levitation and follow, no matter where the trail may lead!”

“This is ridiculous! Here I am, putting up one of the greatest fights of my star-studded career, and there’s no one around to applaud!”

“If you know me as well as you apparently think you do—you should know I don’t give in. And nothing you can do-none of your traps or streams of paste- can make me!”

“I don’t care what ya say, Medusa---! I’ve had it with waitin’--I’m comin’ through!”

“It works on the same principle as my psi-amplifier...with it, I can pinpoint a particular brain-wave pattern, and thus...hold it. The machine’s giving me a positive feedback! That can only mean---”

“By the stars of Asgard---I’ve arrived too late! His body stands rigid! His brain has already activated the Destroyer!”

Do you recognize the lines from these Marvel characters? The way they each speak marks their distinction as personalities. Wherever they appeared, the classic Marvel heroes could be picked out by their words as much as by their iconic designs. No, it wasn’t always subtle, but comic books were written with broad, bold strokes of characterization, and even if you read their counterparts across the years, within a particular title, you should not only recognize them, but distinguish them. The way they think, at their best, identifies them: how they act, how they speak- it’s characterization. When they act and speak distinctly, it’s good characterization. When characters who’ve been around a while reveal a level to their behavior that you don’t see often- or ever before- and it fits the ongoing story of who they are? That, my friend, is great characterization. The job of a terrific story is to unlock levels of characterization in an entertaining, engaging plot.

By the way, the above quotes are Daredevil, Power Man, then Hulk, from Defenders #24 by Steve Gerber; Dr. Strange, then Spider-Man, from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 by Stan Lee; the Human Torch, the Thing, and Mr. Fantastic from Fantastic Four #148 by Gerry Conway; and mighty Thor, from Journey Into Mystery #119, also by Stan Lee.
If you’ve read Marvel for just a little while- you probably recognized each character, without a single drawing or any context. Not every panel or even every page will be like that, but especially within one issue, you should be able to tell them apart!
Steve Gerber does it with a single panel: “Eyes of Oshtur!” “By the Hadean Chimes!” “Great Scott!” “Sweet Sister!” How fun, right? That’s Clea, Daimon Hellstrom, Bruce Banner, and of course, Luke Cage.
If Marvel Netflix’s new series The Defenders gets it right, you’ll know Luke Cage, Danny Rand, Matt Murdock, and Jessica Jones all by their lines, by their characterization. From what I saw in the Free Comic Book Day preview of The Defenders- in the back of All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, which I was charged for after Free Comic Book Day by my local shop-good luck with that. But whether The Defenders will be your first Netflix Marvel experience or your fifth, your motivation to tune in probably rests with knowing and liking at least one character, and however exciting the hype about putting them together, they’d best get your favorite right! You might be watching to see all four of them; you may watch it because you like even one of them, or you might be introduced to any of them. Any appearance is an opportunity to meet and latch onto a character you might follow for life!
But the story’s got to serve the character, and the character needs a distinct identity.

Guest appearances in comics were often meant to boost smaller stars into the sights of bigger audiences; the principle works across sports, movies, music concerts, and so on. For characters, first they should suit the story, and then achieve building a shared world’s texture. So if that’s the case, let’s take one of Marvel’s wonderful outsiders and experience his guest shot as if HE were the draw. For this article, he is, in fact, the reason I pull out Defenders #24 & 25, followed closely by the fact this is his first team-up with Daredevil- the first instance in which they’re loosely-affiliated Defenders.
Will his guest spot thrill or spill? Let’s go back to the days Luke Cage was still a new Marvel.

Defenders #24 “...In The Jaws Of The Serpent!”

In his first Defenders turn written by Len Wein, Luke appears as a friendly neighborhood hero-for-hire, functioning alongside like any superhero in a superhero story, albeit, of course, for pay. But when the Defenders end up in over their heads- surprisingly- against the racist Sons of the Serpent militant faction, it’s going to get personal.
One reason this story works so well for me: it starts in Luke’s world. As described in the introductory caption, strung above the captive DR. Strange, Valkyrie, Nighthawk, and previous guest Yellowjacket: “It began with the rescue of a young woman and her infant from a rat-infested tenement.” More than any of the other guest stars, all of whom were previous Defenders for a single adventure of their own, the Sons of the Serpent threat against the urban poor- specifically, against minorities young and old-hits right where Luke’s adventures naturally occur in this era. This is also part of why Luke never makes much money as a Hero For Hire until he teams up with Jeryn Hogarth in Power Man & Iron Fist #54: he helps people who need help! (Even when he’s hired by J. Jonah Jameson in his early Amazing Spider-Man #123 appearance, the story ends with the cash literally stuffed in JJJ’s mouth! Ha!) So this Defenders story starts as a ready-made Blaxploitation confrontation, laser-toting super-villain style. He’s introduced in-character just like he’s in his own book: answering the phone in his 42nd street office, and as is often the case, while he’s not interested in taking a case. Fortunately, this time that’s because he’s deeply concerned already with the Sons of the Serpent broadcast on TV, worried about where they’ll strike. Like Daredevil- and like they’ll be in TV’s Defenders- he’s ready to go into action to protect local people.

I don’t know where else to mention it, but Daimon Hellstrom, as the self-proclaimed Son of Satan, is a sort of son of the serpent himself, mythologically-speaking, as well as a previous Defenders ally Clea thinks to recruit. It’s cool to see how this cast might’ve clicked in Steve Gerber’s mind. Despite the inducements of my creator-owner artistic partner, I really don’t think heroes should be disposable cyphers pushed through a plot- it’s a combination of contrasting distinct personalities and tactics as well as powers, even if you only plan to show them together for a few issues. I also think everyone should have their own arc, so long as you don’t crowd out the best possible story. Here, this is why Luke’s role in these last two parts of a four-parter is especially meaningful.
But in that process, when I first cherry-picked Luke’s lines, I first questioned whether my writing hero Steve G.’s depiction was forced, or resonant. There’s an accent of racial commentary, always present with early Luke Cage, but it’s heightened in this context by the overtly racist enemies. Socially-conscious comics stories were still a fairly recent innovation, with results ranging from cringe-worthy to brilliant. You realize each character is meant to be distinct, not interchangeable- that’s the Marvel Way! But Angry Black Man is not the only definition for Luke in the hands of a great character writer, which Gerber certainly was. Luke’s much more than a stereotype- that’s why he’s more popular than ever, today! Yet his comic book version always bore a type of street-flavored patter, and part of why we loved him was the Muhammed Ali-type humorous lines punctuating his knowing reflection of urban life. It’s hard to get right and can bear an inauthentic ring, a verbal cudgel in the service of trying to achieve that very distinction of character voice I cited at the top. I think adapting him as actor Mike Colton required more naturalism; he’s more than a set of mannerisms. To be a TV drama star, Luke had to seem like a realistic man in a world of characters talking like real people.

Nowadays, while there were stirrings from the racist militias around election time, anything like The Sons of The Serpent would probably be web trolls, often passing memes of a world they could only hope comes true. Appropriately, they hijack the media-in those years, television-to deliver their hate message, in a mock Presidential Address format that coldly plays on Gerber’s strength as a satirist. It’s an act of imagination to those born after wards to go back to 1975, when systematic white oppression had only begun to release its institutional hold- to return to a time when societally-accepted racism held a more ominous possibility of dialing back a clock that had not moved far at all from segregation- only a century past legal slavery! For some people, it may well have seemed the genie of Tolerance could be put back in the bottle. How sad: the effort to do so is at a new visible peak today.

While White Nationalism has gained a much more visible presence than any other time in my life-some would say, it’s personified within our nation’s West Wing personnel- there’s a tired cynicism under-cutting it all along that makes its failure seem inevitable- because how will a positive argument work? It would be a lot harder to write a convincing story now about racists openly coming out to incite riots. (Oh my God, and then three days after I wrote this, Charlottesville, Virginia hosted an ugly conflagration in Emancipation Park! I had to share openly the blindness of my optimism. It wouldn’t be harder-it’d be timely, with a brutal underlying reality at its inception. This article’s stumbled into an intersection with the zeitgeist.) Gerber’s going to go one step further in establishing his twist- a step that will kind of make Luke’s presence more integral, if not to say, politically correct imaging.

Carefully playing on the heroes’ weaknesses, again arrived at by unique contrasts, Gerber sets up a pretty plausible threat; none of them have powers, but the Serpents put the heroes in enough danger to warrant the three recruits. Even then, Daredevil goes down, while Valkyrie hangs on a burning crucifix (upside down) and the Hulk thrashes about blinded. Both Hulk and DD, as noted, are taken down by attacks that would not have worked if used on the heroes, reversed! (Dr. Strange was knocked out- he’s just a man, beneath the spells; Val was taken down by a laser but also, by her magic vulnerability against fighting women; Yellowjacket twisted his ankle landing while the Hulk used his own fire-fighting strategy, a mighty hand clap of wind, falling to blows after rescuing two kids.)
I haven't said so, but Sal Buscema does an always-reliable job laying out a clear story, and his inker's got him looking pretty nice here. Steve always enjoyed working with Story Teller SAl.

If I were reading as a Luke Cage fan-in this case, I am-I’d be impressed at how he’s presented tactically. AS noted, he was recruited by Bruce Banner by the phone- also a cool use of Dr. Banner, though a call like that from the Hulk would’ve been hilarious. Clea’s summons also unveils the tactics by which Son of Satan and Daredevil weigh their own skepticism: Daimon senses no deceit, intuitively, and deduces a message from Clea suggests Dr. Strange is incapacitated. Daredevil hears a voice but senses “no body” there, so he can’t use a heartbeat to detect truth or trap!
Now, when Daredevil arrives just behind Luke Cage, as occurs at the end of the quote at the top, he’s startled by Luke’s awareness, honed by the sometimes unpleasant surprises on a 1970s New York City street, that Cage isn’t alone. Cage introduces himself in a way that underscores who he is professionally and personally. Matt knows him by reputation to do good things and likes his straightforward demeanor immediately.

Then we get a funny introduction of them both to the hell stallion-driven chariot arrival of Son of Satan, which aptly portrays the fire and fury that makes Daimon distinct among superheroes.
DD: Good Lord! What on Earth---?
Luke: Wrong both times, man---nothin’ I ever seen on Earth looked like that—and the Good Lord it definitely AIN’T!

Daredevil’s senses detect his “two heartbeats” indicating his strange powers, a metaphor and indicator for Daimon’s dual nature. Tactics come into play again when Daimon uses his limited hypnotism powers on a captured Serpent-but his mind contains programmed blocks. Luke then gets tough- maybe ‘five big black hairy knuckles’ can get somewhere. Then Elena, the rescued lady, dashes in to announce frantically that her savior Valkyrie’s about to be murdered on another interrupted broadcast. Once again, dialogue makes distinctions- Hellstrom tells Daredevil he suspect Dr. Banner “would likely understand the technical aspects of it. I do not. Regular guy Jack Norriss sees what’s happening first, declares his affirmed mistrust of them all, and rushes to the location. Daredevil’s senses are our viewpoint for the heroes’ reactions, including Banner’s transformation to the Hulk. (Now we’ve got another future TV star- Marvel’s first success there, their only one for years!) Whisked away on Hellstrom’s chariot, into a level of unusual weirdness, Cage and Son of Satan vanish in the middle of the rescue party- who are ironically felled by the Serpents’ tactics.

All these powerful beings are assembled, but the problems are caused, down the line, by every day people who’ve simply taken a turn into moral darkness. The attitudes of “the man on the street” will become the deciding factor- realistically, they do not all serve as mouthpieces for social liberalism, but they’re depicted as outraged by what they know to be unfair and barbaric. But that all goes down in the next issue.

“The Serpent Sheds Its Skin” (Defenders #25)

Cage can only take Hellstrom’s word where they are: we know Clea’s Crystal of Agamotta literally contains their essence as she transports them to the captive Defenders. Luke’s exchange with Kyle about dreams, grey prison walls and shrinks during their rescue quickly distinguishes them- they will be paired in this episode, with similar reactions, yet, a contrast in their lives, if not the heaviness of their hearts. While searching for a way out of the undersea hideout, without his wings, Kyle will discover he’s indirectly responsible for the entire fiasco, through his business handler, Pennyworth. Cage’s knowledge of the Big Apple gives him the lead, while Nighthawk goes to extract a hollow justice.
Cage reacts with anger to a class-based oppression he’s always known- but Richmond realizes, for all his super-heroics as Nighthawk, had he paid close attention to his books, he might’ve prevented much more harm! Pennyworth’s words are an indictment of the damage created along with the blind aggregation of wealth. Luke’s incensed to discover the fact that baffled Kyle almost as much as realizing his money’s behind the Serpents: Pennyworth himself is black- and he feels no kinship based on the color of his skin, only bigotry and loathing. It positively blows Luke’s mind- to say nothing of his cool! When you think about it, Kyle beating up his black employee would’ve made some uncomfortable optics compared to handing it over to Cage.
It’s not that Luke’s naive enough to believe race makes people good or bad, but compared to the power in his hands and the cynicism in Pennyworth’s use of it, he’s nearly blinded by a killing rage. It seemed a natural fit, as though it were the intended purpose for choosing Cage for this story.

In Defenders non-team tradition, Power Man departs, only to be paired again with the bizarreness of Dr. Strange’s powers and milieu and Nighthawk’s checkbook diplomacy, during a several issue run climaxing in the social-satire-rich King Size Defenders annual.

The most promising team-up, however, puts Luke searching the streets alongside Red Guardian’s Broadway social commentary. The Communist superhero’s exchanges with Power Man are the best, whether discussing street crime or altruism. Each time under Gerber, Luke’s handled exceptionally well, in part because he’s distinct, with an outsider’s thoughts- as a former prisoner, as a fugitive from justice, and as a minority.

Chris Claremont’s said that Archie Goodwin took a sure bet that pairing Power Man with Iron Fist would not lose followers of both their struggling books- by that title’s ending in 1986, he finally had a team able to dig beneath his signature bluster to affirm his humanity, even comment on how he puts on a persona to take advantage of people’s expectations, while maintaining a soulful depth and concern for others. He and contrasting, other-worldly, wealthy Danny Rand will remain forever linked in the minds of fans.

The Defenders pairing will be the root of Luke’s ongoing guest appearances alongside Spider-Man and a three issue run replacing Ben Grimm in the Fantastic Four (#168-170), and his gritty background will make him a natural choice to become involved with Marvel Max character Jessica Jones. One day, Marvel will take his A-list potential as a distinguishable character with a following that survived the 80’s purge of 70’s fad characters, and Luke Cage will even lead a team of Avengers- the highest profile gig a Marvel hero could then get! He would also join Marvel’s all-black team of superheroes, The Crew that come to the aid of Wakanda and its king, T’Challa, the Black Panther. As for the ongoing search for a modernized but distinct Cage voice, he’s continued evolving from flirtations with caricature to reluctant hero and family guy in the new Power Man and Iron Fist revival.

The hip hop-flavored Netflix depiction of his adventures fits right in with what Luke always represented- now how will those differing strains be kept unique? The tv Defenders share common neighborhoods and problems, along with overlaps such as the martial arts fury of The Hand from Daredevil’s stories, the love interest began between Luke and Jessica in her Season One- nurse Claire Temple’s been an important connecting supporting player. There’s contrast in the production styles, if more naturalism in the characters’ depictions. I write this from the anticipatory side, with this welcome look at Luke’s roots as a team player- ever proudly striving, skeptical but full of heart- beneath his steel skin and unbelievable strength (oh yeah, that’s his power, if I haven’t mentioned it), his own man.