Is it just me, or are Luke's super powers a little unclear, and am I the only one who notices and cares that they seem to scale to whomever he is fighting?
In his origin and early days, as we have seen from storytimes, he gained impenetrable skin. But bullets still rightly bruised him, as there is more to a body than skin. Plus, punching through stone walls should still break bone and be beyond 'such and such pounds of muscle'. So, he seemingly always has a little super strength, but only when convenient.
In recent years, he has fought some pretty heavy hitters in Avengers titles and Civil War. People that really should be far above the paygrade of someone whose claim to fame is not getting stuck when you stab him. They certainly seem to have left impacts still doing deeper damage far behind, or else he would be long dead.
I liked that in Jessica Jones a shotgun blast didn't break the skin, but the force still fucked him up.
>>84227877
Power creep in comics is always ridiculous, especially when street level heroes get pushed onto teams and start getting forced to fight country/wold ending threads and cosmic shit.
Blame it on Bendis as usual.
![latest[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Q6cWoRv.jpg "latest[1].jpg")
Even in his own book, he slowly started developing Power Creep. In his early issues, he had to be careful with how he got hit by a random sedan, and later on he was able to ram down a moving truck. I even recall him early on pulling one of Hulk's "slap hands to knock an enemy down". That's not even counting the time he fought Spider-Man, and was seemingly able to match him blow for blow (and we all know how stupidly strong HE is).
But they firmly knew what tier he is in terms of power, as shown when he basically shit himself when he has to fight the Hulk, and when the Thing was able to freaking destroy him, and even nowadays he seemed to know full well that She-Hulk was out of his weight class.
On the other hand, that last example was Ewing writing, and when Bendis writes him, we get shit like pic related.I actually try to actively point out when Luke and Danny do things outside their previously established power levels, so we can sort of chart the power creep.
>>84228198
Hell, I forgot about that, and I read that recently catching up on everything Jessica Jones. Whelp, guess he has the wife outclassed in every respect except being able to fly. I always figured she might actually be a little bit physically stronger, as mid-tier strength and 'sort of flying' were her thing.
I'll have to track down those fights, as since his show is coming up, I'm checking out his stuff. I was surprised to find I actually really like Luke.
Oddly, I just can't bring myself to like Danny though. It might be first impressions, my introduction to him was his being at absolute cockend to Jessica in Pulse. Even reading the storytimes here, other stuff I've tracked down, and the new series hasn't helped. Hopefully seeing him on screen will change this; but at least his eventual show will have cameos from the other characters, and likely a lot of Luke.
Defenders is odd in that it's actually the only team I care about more than one or two characters on it.
>>84227877
BLACKED
>>84228497
Damn right.
>Such and such pounds of muscle
Three-hundred pound of muscle/man, as he likes to keep on mentioning.
>>84228555
Does that mean he "plowed" him more than once, and one time he cried, or he plowed" him once, and he cried?
>>84227877
>I liked that in Jessica Jones a shotgun blast didn't break the skin, but the force still fucked him up.
Me too
Luke Cage cold cocked She-Hulk and knocked her out in one punch. This being the same man that couldn't make a dent in Namor.
So, yeah. He's still hella strong but, you know, he's at the peak of "Street Level".
>>84230825
From that grin? Who knows, but that is a hell of a smirk.
>>84227968
Somebody needs to kill the baby when Bendis leaves the company
>>84232389
>Luke Cage cold cocked She-Hulk and knocked her out in one punch. This being the same man that couldn't make a dent in Namor.
That's consistent. Namor hands Hulk's ass to him when they fight in one of the first few issues of Avengers.
his power is proportional to how much money he is owed
>>84233276
Fuck. I want to read this now.
>>84232389
So Spider-Man caps Street Level while ascending into higher tiers, then it's Luke Cage, and then Iron Fist?
>>84233421
Spidey is only street level by choice. His so beyond that tier it's ridiculous.
>>84228198
By the time he first met Iron Fist, didn't he punch Danny through a building? The super strength started amping up pretty quick.
>>84233716
Danny punched him through a building in the first appearance iirc
>>84227877
You used to be able to take out the Hulk with knockout gas, or by breaking his neck. Then it took him day to recover from said broken neck. Now he's immune to everything and recovers from a broken neck in one panel. Power creep is real.
>>84228327
Give The Immortal Iron Fist a shot. One of the better comic stories out there dealing with these characters
>>84234143
My mistake. Still, that does show his durability had gone well beyond "tough skin" by that point.
>>84227877
Luke has actually undergone multiple variations of the "Power Man" treatments over the years, increasing in strength each time.
>>84233716
Through a wall, across the street, and into another building, with one punch. Luke walked it off.
>>84233332
http://desuarchive.org/co/thread/83019851/#83019851
>>84233332
Just the issue where he invades Latveria, or the preceding issue where he takes a job from Doom (he didn't know he was working for Doom at first) to find some rogue Doombots, and after he did it, he closed that Latverian embassy and flew back to Latveria just to avoid paying Luke his $200?
>>84227877
Every single cape character is like this
>>84235382
Please blame Peter David for that instead of abstracting it to 'power creep'
>>84237251
Power Creep's a concept that isn't just a thing i comic. It's in games too. Just compare modern Yu-Gi-Oh! to the ones from 20 years ago.
>>84237251
Not everyone wants to become a bitter sperg attributing every stray from 'muh personal canon' to one writer over a decade ago. Not everyone wants to be like you, PHG.
>>84237679
Hulk power creep and other things which damaged the character are specifically the fault of Peter David. I'm very sorry if you think things just happen in writing and cannot be attributed to individuals
>>84238869
>damaged the character
Hulk was never that great of a character to begin with, but that's neither here nor there.
My point was power creep is rarely isolated, especially in a universe such as Marvel's so pinning it to one writer is retarded.
>I'm very sorry if you think things just happen in writing and cannot be attributed to individuals
It most certainly can be, but not power creep.
Your notorious hatred of change borders on 'blue arms' tier when it comes to your animosity towards the progenitor but you're never cognizant of why the change happened or why (in some cases) it stuck and that's easily your most annoying quality. You're the archetypal comic book nerd.
>>84233671
This.
>>84233421
>Spiderman
>street level
He is way above street level. He is top tier avenger level when he has an opponent he can really let loose on.
>>84232903
That'll ruin the Jessica/Luke romance. Fuck that, there needs to be atleast one married couple in comics.
>>84240199
I remember my uncle tellin me about Spidey actually beatin the brakes off a Herald of galactus... Familiar to anyone?
>>84240479
PHG hates any instance of Luke past the 70s, especially the modernized post-Bendis interpretation of the character.
He thinks he should still be talking jive, living in squalor, and being cordial acquaintances at best to people other than Danny.
>>84240549
Yeah that rings a bell. I remember reading and the avengers find them after and tells spidey to back off. Ill see if I can find the scans.
>>84240682
Found em.
>>84240682
>>84240549
Yeah Firelord gets hostile on him, chases him around a bit, Spidey sorta panics and rabbit-punches him down.
Conveniently Firelord "forgot" that he's the equivalent of a living star, that he's faster than Spidey, or that he can use the power cosmic to put himself on Hulk-tier physical strength.
>>84240719
>>84240732
You are missing the page where Spidey beats him up, ironically.
>>84240479
Fuck Jessica. I'd rather see Luke with Claire Temple.
>>84240752
Yeah somehow that's the one I couldn't find. That is the comic I was thinking of though.
>>84240808
Onepiecespiderman.jpg
>>84240199
Haven't most of his rogues gone solo against the avengers?
Granted, some of that was proabably popularity power-boost, but people like Electro, Sandman, Hydro-man, Dr. Doom (who would put Spidey up against the wall before even Richards) and Spot (if he was a fighter instead of a bookish sort with top-shelf powers) are really powerful
>>84240844
Yeah he has some powerful rouges. I really like spot and kinda wish he was more popular. Then again I don't want a plebes tier pop-redo of his character.
>>84240782
Man, you really are a child of the 70's, huh? Not even Harmony Young, who he was with for longer, but Claire "Never relevant before Netflix" Temple?
>>84233276
That was the best storytime.
>>84240909
How many of the 90's tas villains didn't make it big in the comics?
I don't even know what happened to comic morbius and I don't remember the last time anyone gave a fuck about Hydro-man
>>84240983
Which one, it was storytimed three times that week?
Looking forward to the show?
>>84240549
That was just Firelord jobbing and Spider-man wanking.
>>84227877
>Luke Cage and power creep
Cypher will always be my go-to example of Power Creep. Shit went from mildly amusing to wall-bangingly retarded in a single run.
>>84240969
Harmony Young was an airhead and a bitch to Misty and Colleen. Claire could've been the Lois to Luke's Superman.
>>84241499
>Claire could've been the Lois to Luke's Superman.
Except she didn't want to.
>>84240995
It seems like most of them didn't really do much. I mean Hydro man was even pretty cool and I really like his power. But then again you also have people like hammerheads...
>>84241895
>mocking hammerhead
>>84242322
Does he have a power besides being hard-headed?
Like super-strength or overall super-toughness?
>>84242463
If I recall correctly he got wrecked in a fight and after that he had the upper half of his body enhanced with adamantium. It also gave him super strength, because, why the hell not have every superhero and villain have super strength.
>>84242577
Yeah that's got to be one of the most overused powers and all of comics. Though I can see why. Imagine not having super strength in a world where all kinds of other characters have some kind of amazing ability and your secondary ability is not that great.
>>84242760
That's one of Spot's issues. Fucker might be punching and kicking you from 100 different directions, but if you're, say, a robot, you might not even notice.
Good thing he can just drop a bus travelling at terminal velocity on people
>>84242760
It's weird to think if they applied that to any other powers. Imagine if half or more of Any Given superhero League had the ability to phase through objects or telekinesis.
>>84242862
That reminds me of another of lesser-known but amazing villain. Skymaster that absolute Madman wood drop cars and buses like bombs on the streets below from his giant ass airship.
>>84240909
Didn't Spot get his power transferred to Coyote? (Who coincidentally has one of my favorite designs)
>>84242966
Holy shit now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time.
>>84243280
I don't think so. Spot's basically the living embodiment of a dimension, why/how would he transfer that?
I think Coyote did fuck him up because Spot's not a fighter.
And Spot was dicking around in Superior Foes anyway
>>84240995
The last thing I remember Morbius showing up in was the Marvel Zombies arc where they had the zombies coming into 616 and he was in charge of the agency stopping them.
>>84243356
Actually coyote does not have his powers. After Daredevil basically rekt him in a fight he was restrained and somehow his powers were taken. I am unsure how but in any event now coyote has them.
>>84243280
Yeah he's got them now, and I'm pretty sure that she is going to be a much more effective villain than the original spot was with them because he already has skills as a fighter. Plus his design is GOAT
>>84243612
Just looked up Coyote because I don't know him
This is what I read
"The organization put Coyote, against his will, through the same procedure that created the Spot and aimed him at Daredevil. "
I fucking hate bullshit like this. If you can recreate the SCIENCE accident that created a super, then why stop at just making one more? Why not have an army of Spots?
>>84243795
I absolutely agree. At that point it's not even an accident anymore its just a slightly altered notion of the traditional super soldier process. Now I really like flash, but the fact that anyone can recreate his experiment and gain access to the speed force has always bothered me considerably.
>>84243795
It made Coyote nuts last I checked. A group of nuts soldiers usually doesnt work well. Maybe expensive as well?
>>84243880
>Maybe expensive as well?
What's expense when these particular supers could empty fort knox without much issue?
>>84241324
>cunning linguist
That had to have been on purpose
>>84243612
What I'm sitting here wondering is how anyone can even beat the spot in the first place. I mean as soon as you're about to hit him he could just pull the same move that he used in Spider-Man and reflect his fist or something I mean you'd think he'd be a hard counter to hand-to-hand Fighters.
>>84240808
How well world doflamingo do in the Spider-Man verse?
>>84244141
Bretty good I would say, but he would get destroyed after some of the stronger heroes are alerted.
>>84243952
Well, yeah. Austin Powers made that joke and I doubt that was the first time.
>>84233276
>Doom
>Not paying someone for services rendered, despite agreeing to.
Yeah, nah.
>>84246311
Yeah that really was out of character.
>>84244141
Phenomenally.
>>84249334
Well, it's not exactly like dr. Doom is hurting for money.
>>84243280
This was such a cool story and I wish there was more stuff with Coyote.
>>84249654
Isn't he like the 4th or 5th since it's stated every time he does manage to get into money troubles he just time travels
>watching JL and JLU
>entire casts power levels change every episode to suit whatever villain of the week is causing shit
>power creep is going forwars, backwards, up, down and sideways every episode
>one episode Supermans lifting an entire building and punching Darkseid, and the next episode he can barely handle Copperhead jumping around the room
>oh no, a galactic level threat alien has landed on earth
>lets bring the cowboy with colt revolvers to handle it
>>84237544
>The first yugioh set was 13 years ago
Aside from that though, Pot of Greed is still banned for being too powerful draw power, things like Raigeki, Monster Reborn, Heavy Storm, Harpie's Feather Duster are all at 1 or less across regions for being way too powerful. Like, half the cards on the forbidden/banned list are from the first series.
>>84240995
morbius was in that big storyline where he works for horizon and everyone gets turned into lizard people. That's the last time I saw him before he had that one shot, or series that got cancelled. It was a bit meh but I read it.
>>84249793
Gotta make sure even the worthless characters feel special!
I think only time I felt a good power level in that series was Booster Gold's episode.
>>84227877
isn't he pretty much consistently "street level"
like he's strong enough to arm wrestle Cap, maybe even Spider-Man on a good day, but can't against the likes of Thor or Hulk?
>>84242577
>enhanced with adamantium
Remember when adamantium was super rare and they put literally all of it into Wolverine?
>>84242760
>Imagine not having super strength
Yea, it's not like he's a street thug and not every fucking character has to have powers, amrite?
>>84244141
>>84244317
>>84249645
Someone asked the same about Phantom Troupe, same answer.
>start shit
>Spiderman intervenes
>gets killed
>Thor (Odinson, not the whore) sees Spidey get killed
>bloodlusted Thor turns them into pink mist
>Spidery gets revived
>>84249904
He should be in that monster city deadpool's wife has or he would be a good character for Moon Knight.
>>84244141
I just realized his fire rope is that flaming web from the n64 Spider-man game.
>>84249832
It's just that power creep isn't happening in the same areas where first gen was broken.
You can see the same thing in Magic the Gathering. Most of the power creep has been in creatures because first gen's broken cards were all spells
>>84227877
Super toughness and strength are pretty vague and always prone to changing like that, for any character. Even totally powerless characters survive things that they shouldn't. They're just hard enough to quantify that it's really easy to lose track.
