Luke Cage was a street tough who was framed and imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. While in prison, he was given the opportunity to undergo experiments that would grant him superhuman strength and endurance. He accepted, broke out of jail, and cleared his name. He then started a mercenary business of sorts, where he would do good deeds for others for a small fee. Cage was a typical superhero who displayed many qualities bordering on minstrel-esque; one particular characteristic of Cage's that remains infamous is his catchphrase, "Sweet Christmas!"

Hero for Hire later changed its name to Power Man, with Cage adopting that name. Later, the series was suffering from low sales and merged with the equally low-selling series, Iron Fist, in which Cage and Iron Fist teamed up and founded a new Heroes for Hire agency. The merged series, Power Man and Iron Fist, retained Power Man's numbering, and lastest from #66 to #125, when it and several other low-selling comics were cancelled to make way for Marvel's "New Universe". Power Man and Iron Fist also featured the first time Cage was written by a black writer, Jim Owsley.