Luke Cage Gets an Updated Look For ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ Animated Series

Marvel's been on a roll this week unveiling official images of young S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees from Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-Man animated series debuting on April 1. Now, joining Spidey, White Tiger and Iron Fist is Luke Cage a.k.a. Power Man. No one has guaranteed he won't exclaim "Sweet Christmas!" but the show's tasteful decisions thus far seem to indicate it's not in the cards.Luke Cage has had only a few distinct looks over the years in Marvel's comic stories, upgrading from his original disco shirt to a leather jacket with metal gauntlets and then to essentially just street clothes. Lately he's been rocking a yellow athletic tee and gauntlets with the Thunderbolts and New Avengers. Cage's Ultimate Spider-Man look has perhaps the most in common with new Power Man Victor Alvarez's outfit -- minus some chains and adding in a slight tiara motif on his shades.

Despite a slight costume similarity to Alvarez, show writer Brian Michael Bendis and Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb indicate that this version of Cage will be easily recognizable to comic fans, even if he doesn't share the same troubled past.

"I find him to be a very noble character," Bendis told Marvel.com. "That is not a word he would use to describe himself, which I think is the definition of nobility. He's the one that's the least neurotic about his heroism. [For him], that's what you do--you get super powers, and you do the right thing. There's something very cool about that. He's kind of like the rock of the team, just by the nature of him standing still, feet firmly on the ground, the others bouncing off of him. It's a nice chemistry."

Click for a larger image of Luke Cage from Ultimate Spider-Man below: