Luke Cage | Trivia

A list of trivia related to Luke Cage.

References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Movies

• Battle of New York from The Avengers is mentioned several times in the first season. D.W. Griffith is also shown selling DVDs of the battle on the street of Harlem.
• In Moment of Truth, D.W. Griffith mentions the original members of the Avengers: Tony Stark, Hulk, Thor and Captain America.
  • Captain America was also mentioned by Cottonmouth in Manifest.
  • Hulk was also mentioned in All Souled Out.
  • Thor's hammer Mjølnir was mentioned by Rafael Scarfe in Who's Gonna Take the Weight?.
• Stokes Crime Family is shown selling Hammer Industries' weapons to the criminal groups of Harlem. Cottonmouth also mentioned Justin Hammer himself in the Moment of Truth.
• The Judas Bullet was created by Hammer Industries from salvaged Chitauri technology from the Battle of New York.

One-Shots

• Seagate Penitentiary where Luke Cage was serving his sentence appeared previously in Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King. Also, in Seagate was imprisoned Justin Hammer what was referenced in Step in the Arena by Reva Connors who dismissed the rumors of "millionaires in the dungeon" of Seagate Prison to the inmates.

The Defenders Saga

• Claire Temple, Turk Barrett and Benjamin Donovan makes their second appearances in a TV series, the first being Daredevil.
• Foggy Nelson makes his third appearances in a TV series, the first being Daredevil and the second being Jessica Jones.

Daredevil

• Daredevil is mentioned in Just to Get a Rep, Manifest, You Know My Steez, Soul Brother #1, Straighten It Out and The Main Ingredient.
• Wilson Fisk is mentioned in the episode Moment of Truth.
• Karen Page is mentioned in the episode The Creator.
• Claire Temple tells her mother Soledad about the Attack on Metro-General Hospital by the Hand.
• In DWYCK, Domingo Colon agreed to organize a meeting between the gang leaders of Harlem, but points out that the Chinese group will not take part of that since they have "other business downtown". This is a reference to the Hand faction led by Madame Gao.
• In Soliloquy of Chaos, Luke Cage threw Turk Barrett at a dumpster from Hudson Rubbish & Disposal.

Jessica Jones

• The conflict between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage in Delaney Hall, while he was under Kilgrave's mind control, is referred by both Pop and Claire Temple.
• In Take It Personal, Mariah Dillard referred to a woman who snapped the neck of the man who was mind-controlling her in her speech against super-humans.
• Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz represents Luke Cage in All Souled Out.

Iron Fist

• At the end of You Know My Steez, Claire Temple collects the phone number of Colleen Wing's Chikara Dojo from a leaflet.
• In The Main Ingredient, Turk Barrett refers to Danny Rand's confrontations with Madame Gao.

Cloak & Dagger

• Brigid O'Reilly is mentioned in the episode If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right.

References to the Marvel Comics

• Characters from the Marvel Comics adapted into the show as main cast:
  • Cornell Stokes/Cottonmouth, Mariah Stokes Dillard, Misty Knight, Hernan Alvarez/Shades and Willis Stryker/Diamondback in the first season.
  • John McIver/Bushmaster and Tilda Johnson in the second season.
• Other characters derived from the comics:
  • Rafael Scarfe, Noah Burstein, D.W. Griffith, Comanche, Albert Rackham, Etta Lucas and James Lucas in the first season.
  • Rosalie Carbone, Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton, Raymond "Piranha" Jones and Mortimer Norris/Mr. Fish in the second season.

Luke Cage

Power Man

• Pop refers to Cage with many nicknames, including "Power Man". In the comics, this was the superhero alias of Cage for many years.
• When Pop asked Cage where he came from, Cage first answer was Chicago, before he admitted that he was from Savannah. In the comics, Cage moved to Chicago for a while to escape from his past criminal records.
• In Moment of Truth, Cage says that he doesn't curse and he has no needs of Pop's Swear Jar. Cage has also the habit of not using profanities in the comics, usually replacing them with nonsensical words like "Sweet Christmas" or "Fiddle-Faddle".
• In Moment of Truth, Cage helps Candace Miller carrying a bottle of Ace of Spades to Cottonmouth in Harlem's Paradise. In the comics, "Ace of Spades" was one of the many aliases of Cage.

Misty Knight

• In Take It Personal, Knight is shot three times in the left arm by Diamondback, and according to Claire Temple she could have lost her limb. In the comics, Knight lost her left arm in an explosion, having it replaced with a cybernetic prosthesis that was given her by Tony Stark. In the series, Knight's arm was designed by Rand Enterprises instead of Stark Industries.
• In You Know My Steez, when she saw tailing Shades in Harlem's Paradise, Knight's outfit is very close to her comic-book counterpart.

Claire Temple

• In Take It Personal, Noah Burstein asks Temple to start working with him because he was impressed by his medical and scientific skill, but she bitterly declined. In the comics, Temple was Burstein's assistant at the Storefront Clinic for many years.
• In Now You're Mine, when she is held hostage in Harlem's Paradise, Sugar refers to Claire as the "Night Nurse".

Shades

• In the series, Shades birth name is "Hernan Alvarez". While his comic-book counterpart didn't have any official name revealed, he had a son named Victor Hernan Alvarez from a woman he married before he was sent to Seagate Prison.

Diamondback

• The Hammer Industries Power Suit worn by Stryker by the end of Soliloquy of Chaos closely resemble his common outfit in the comics.
• While in the comics Diamondback uses a set of explosive knives to kill his adversaries, these are replaced in the series by the Judas Bullets.

Nightshade

• The name of the healing plant, Nightshade, is a reference to Tilda Johnson's alias in the comics.

Timely Comics

• In Blowin' Up the Spot, a "Timely Trash" dumpster can be seen in the alley where Diamondback takes Misty Knight under gunpoint. The crest and the font of the sign are a reference to Timely Comics, the comic-book imprint that preceded Atlas Comics and later Marvel Comics.

References to Pop Culture

• In Step in the Arena, Reva Connors dismissed the rumors of strange events occurring in Seagate Penitentiary.
• In Moment of Truth, Pop references Star Wars franchise. He mentions the Jedi mind trick when talking about trying to get the Harlem youth from joining gangs.
• In You Know My Steez, Bobby Fish calls Diamondback a "pimp-stormtrooper", referencing Star Wars.
• In I Get Physical, Luke Cage and Misty Knight mentions Sarah Connor from Terminator franchise and Ellen Ripley from Alien franchise.

Episodes Titles

• The title of episode 1.01, Moment of Truth, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.02, Code of the Streets, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.03, Who's Gonna Take the Weight?, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.04, Step in the Arena, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.05, Just to Get a Rep, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.06, Suckas Need Bodyguards, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.07, Manifest, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.08, Blowin' Up the Spot, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.09, DWYCK, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.10, Take It Personal, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.11, Now You're Mine, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.12, Soliloquy of Chaos, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 1.13, You Know My Steez, is a reference to the Gang Starr song.
• The title of episode 2.01, Soul Brother #1, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.02, Straighten It Out, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.03, Wig Out, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.04, I Get Physical, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.05, All Souled Out, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.06, The Basement, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.07, On and On, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.08, If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.09, For Pete's Sake, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.10, The Main Ingredient, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.11, The Creator, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.12, Can't Front on Me, is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.
• The title of episode 2.13, They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.), is a reference to the Pete Rock & CL Smooth song.