WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Heroes Reborn: American Knights #1 by Paul Grist, Chris Allen, Marc Deering, Guru-eFX, and VC's Cory Petit, on sale now.
The street-level heroes featured in Netflix's Defenders have proven to not be immune to the sweeping changes that have overtaken the Avengers-free world of Heroes Reborn. In fact, the new comic book event has brought Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Misty Knight back into the limelight and provided a glimpse at just how different their lives have become.
In the primary Marvel Universe, Luke Cage was imprisoned for a crime that he didn't commit and subjected to experiments while incarcerated that led to him gaining impenetrable skin. Although he was never bestowed with unbreakable skin in this reality, Cage gained another kind of power by rising through the ranks of the Metro Police Department after his release, eventually becoming the Police Commissioner. This has given him the chance to form a relatively close working relationship with the city's resident superhero Nighthawk, although he does not get along as well with some of his other colleagues.
A deadly new vigilante called the Saint appears in the city, drawing the attention of Detectives Misty Knight and Jessica Jones, who are also in decidedly different roles from their mainstream counterparts. In this world, Misty never left the police force after losing her arm, and remains on active duty with her prosthetic limb. Jessica Jones, likewise, is in a completely different role, having never gained super powers or gone to work as a private investigator. Her relationship with Luke Cage has been changed as well with the two having an icy relationship in this world, a contrast to their married mainstream counterparts.
Much like Luke and Jessica avoiding the tragic experiments and accidents that gave them their powers, Heroes Reborn has done the same for Matt Murdock, who now never lost his sight and was able to dedicate himself to his faith entirely. As twisted and unsettling as this reality might be, the changes that have been made to it compared to the main Marvel Universe seem to have worked out for the betterment of these characters, at least on a surface level. Misty Knight might still be missing an arm, but of the four former superheroes at the center of American Knights, she is the only one of them to have been harmed doing something heroic. As such, it makes sense that her experience regarding her trauma would be largely unchanged in this timeline.
As a creation of Mephisto, there is no doubt that the world of Heroes Reborn is far worse than the primary Marvel Universe, even if it takes scratching beneath the surface to discover exactly why that is. The lives of Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Misty Knight are by no means bad in this reality, but they aren't right, and what they've unknowingly had taken from them in exchange for whatever this is would certainly not be considered worth it if and when they find out.
Luke and Jessica, appear to have lost the most, having lost not only their relationship but also the daughter they have in the mainstream universe. With any luck, things will be set right before too long, although the role these now powerless heroes may have will in all probability be as limited as their new existences.
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