After being framed for murder and beaten by sadistic guards, Carl Lucas volunteers for a risky genetic experiment that grants him superhuman strength and unbreakable skin. Escaping Riker's Island, he assumes the name Luke Cage and heads to the African nation of Canann, where charismatic leader Moses Magnum is building a Black utopia. Cage initially aligns with Magnum, but discovers his new ally is a ruthless dictator armed with a deadly bio-weapon and plans to create an army of super-soldiers. Teaming up with the amnesiac martial artist Iron Fist and government spy Dr. Claire Temple, Cage must stop Magnum before he unleashes the virus on the world—all while his own body slowly begins to deteriorate from the experiment that saved his life.