Singleton to Unleash Black Superhero “Cage”:
John Singleton is in negotiations to develop and direct ‘Luke Cage,’ a superhero drama based on Marvel Comics’ first black crimefighter.
Many people know that Nicholas Cage was born Nicholas Coppola. (Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle.) What most don’t know is that he named himself after Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, the 1970s blaxploitation comic-book hero.
Incidentally, it’s not clear that Luke Cage was Marvel’s first black crimefighter. If I may geek out for a moment, I believe Luke Cage was Marvel’s first black superhero to get his own title (in 1972). Black Panther appeared in 1966 in Fantastic Four #52 (according to the Museum of Black Superheroes). You can find anything on the Net.