While I've always liked Luke Cage, he's obviously a cool character, I can't help but think he's been vastly overused in the comics of late. Let's face it, while he's got impressive durability his strength level and fighting skills are moderate at best. And yet, for such a low level character he's been seen at the forefront of nearly every major marvel event over the last ten years no matter how big said event is. I can only assume that Marvel (And the comics industry in general) are desperately trying to prove their character diversity to industry outsiders (Those of us who actually read comics know that there are literally hundreds of decent non-white characters) While this is fine is saddens me that mediocre characters such as Luke Cage and Falcon are being featured to such a huge extent when more interesting and outright awesome character (Iron Fist for example) are being ignored.

No.

Also Iron fist HAS a title of his own right now and Luke doesn't. Luke also isn't mediocre.

How in the name of Batman and Wolverine is Luke Cage overused?

@dagmar_merrill: He's slightly mediocre, he's not a great fighter, he's not very powerful and he's not an expert on anything in particular that the Avengers may need someone for and yet there he is at the forefront of nearly every major event the Avengers have been involved in over the last decade. I have a similar view of Falcon, he's just a moderately skilled fighter in light body armour and a flight suit, he fits in well when fighting crime or in an anti-terrorist role alongside Cap but against a significant threat he's out of his depth an yet, as with Cage he's been pushed into the limelight recently. Falcon is now even going to take on the Captain America identity when he in no way has the combat skill or raw physical power to effectively wield the shield.

Oh god no, Luke Cage isn't used anywhere near as much as he should be.

not like Wolverine is

@squares: Why? what about more interesting characters like Hercules or Chamber?

@furiousweasel: Because he's an interesting character that I think has potential to be even more interesting if used properly.

You seriously think Chamber is more interesting than Luke Cage?

@squares: Not personality wise but like many characters (Iceman or Sasquatch for example) he has an interesting power set and has in the past shown power levels up there with the best of them. I'd personally like characters such as this to be given more face-time (or 'No-face time' in Chamber's case) showing their potential.

No he needs to be used more and Marvel is probably going to use him more once the Netflix series comes out which I'm very excited about.

@furiousweasel: Yeah, Chamber's powerset is passingly interesting (biokinetic energy fields and an undefined form of telepathy, that's pretty damn ambiguous), but personality is kind of a big deal to me when it comes to characters, and Chamber's too angsty for my tastes.

And he's never shown powers "up there with the best of them", to my knowledge at least.

*sees a black character in comics*

Goddamn diversity.

Luke's strongest qualities are his character and not his powers. He gets the spotlight because hes an interesting character. Id like to see more of him.

@jonez120: Yeah that's exactly the reason I find him boring, it's because he's black, you got me there well done.

(Oh how I wish there was a sarcasm font!)

@furiousweasel: You think that his purpose is to diversify, correct?

"I can only assume that Marvel (And the comics industry in general) are desperately trying to prove their character diversity"

^ Your statement

So.... You don't think he could possibly just be a popular character who just happens to be black?

@jonez120: I don't dislike Cage because he's black, I don't dislike him at all I just think he and Falcon don't offer anything to the avengers that the team doesn't already have many times over. Neither of them are particularly skilled or powerful or have any unique knowledge and yet they seem to have been shoehorned into every major event recently when many other more skilled, powerful characters (of all races) with more interesting backgrounds get ignored.

This is a legitimate gripe, but race has absolutely nothing to do with it.

no. bendis' characterization of him and jessica made them spike in popularity so at least he's exposed more for his character and not because he can do 'xyz' like actual overused characters

So i=you'd be okay with him if he got a power/strength boost?

@furiousweasel i agree with you only with your assessment of falcon but Luke Cage character and story of redemption and change makes him an amazing chatacter. I love the fact that cage's power level is moderate at best. It adds to the character.