Netflix's new 'Luke Cage' show makes a big change in how the superhero gets his powers

Kirsten Acuna

Sep 30, 2016, 14:13 IST

Myles Aronowitz/Netflix

Warning: There are huge spoilers if you have not watched "Luke Cage" through episode four.

Netflix's next Marvel show "Luke Cage" is finally available to stream and it answers one of the biggest questions fans have been waiting to learn about the extra strong, bulletproof hero - how did Cage get his powers?

In the comics, he gets his powers after volunteering to be part of an experiment with Dr. Noah Burstein in exchange for parole from prison. Cage gets into a machine made possible by Stark Industries (you know, the company owned by Tony Stark/Iron Man) that stimulates human cell regeneration and is supposed to make him immune to diseases and possibly aging.

Marvel

Images are from issue #1 of Luke Cage's "Hero for Hire."

Marvel

The entire experiment goes awry when a prison guard, Albert Rackham, steps in and sets the machine into overdrive in an attempt to possibly kill Cage. His plan backfires as Cage comes out with superhuman strength and an incredible resistance to bodily harm.

Marvel

While Cage ultimately is still in prison and undergoes an experiment on the series, the show takes a bit of a departure from the comics' origin story during a series of flashbacks in the fourth episode.

On the show, the corrupt guard Rackham forces Cage into an underground fight club. When Cage decides he wants to expose Rackham's misdeeds two inmates are sent to kill Cage.

Netflix

When things aren't going Rackham's way, he has two inmates pay Cage a visit.

On the verge of death, Dr. Burstein is brought in as a solution to save Cage using an experimental treatment that should regenerate his cells faster.

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This looks a lot more friendly than Cage's dip in the Stark-approved machine.

Marvel

Sure, it's still an experiment, but this is more of a do-or-die situation and Dr. Burstein doesn't come across as a mad scientist running kooky prison experiments.

Like in the 1972 comic "Luke Cage, Hero for Hire," it's ultimately Rackham who comes in and causes the experiment to be altered.

Marvel

Not cool, Rackham. Not cool.

This time around though, Rackham's tampering results in an explosion that kills both Dr. Burstein and Rackham.

In both the comics and the show, Cage uses his powers to literally punch his way out of prison and become a fugitive. The only difference is that in the comics, prison guards are hunting Cage down. On the show, Cage escapes without anyone being the wiser. In fact, he's believed to have died.