Marvel’s First Power Man was an Avengers-Level Villain, Not Luke Cage

screenrant.com:

While Luke Cage made the title of Power Man his own upon breaking into the Marvel Comics’ scene as a Hero for Hire, he wasn’t the first character to use that moniker as the original Power Man was actually an Avengers-level threat.

Luke Cage aka Power Man made his first appearance in 1972’s Hero for Hire #1 by Archie Goodwin and George Tuska. Since his debut, Luke Cage has become one of the greatest street-level heroes in the Marvel Universe right next to Daredevil and Jessica Jones due to his impressive power set. Luke Cage boasts invulnerable skin and super strength, making him the perfect vigilante to stop low-level crime without any fear of getting seriously injured all while making a huge difference in his community. However, this isn’t to say Luke Cage isn’t strong enough to tangle with the world-saving heroes as he himself joined the Avengers for a time. However, Luke has proven to be much more effective (and a much more interesting character) when dealing with more hard-hitting, close-to-home stories as opposed to Avengers-level missions—though the first Power Man had the exact opposite idea.

Related: Avengers Believe One Villain is Even More Evil Than Magneto

In 1965’s Avengers #21 by Stan Lee and Don Heck, the Avengers are keeping busy within the confines of their headquarters when suddenly they are called to action as a monster mysteriously appeared in the center of New York. However, when the police arrived at the scene of the battle, they questioned the Avengers as to why they were causing such massive destruction for no reason. As it turned out, the monster was just a hallucination that had been placed in the Avengers’ minds, making it seem as though the Avengers themselves had gone bad. This keeps happening