Origin
Luther is your typical nerd, scrawny, clumsy, has glasses and is a target for bullies. Luther lives with his very timid mother (who seems terrified by the outside world, possibly due to an abusive relationship) and he has one best friend, Pete, who is also into comic books and video games as well as a nerd. Luther’s new life started with a book. Desperate to finally get some respect, girls and get the bullies off his back he ordered “The Hercules Method.” His miracle book instructs the reader to: “…focus the mind, body and spirit towards one goal. By bringing all three into alignment, the physical enthusiast can bring all of them under conscious control.” Unbeknownst by Luther practicing this he has developed some strange talents; incredible reflexes, a danger sense and strength.
Major Story Arcs
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode
Luther receives “The Hercules Method” in the mail and is dedicated to make a change in his life. His mother is one of his priorities as he skips school to keep her company at home. Luther’s father has gotten out of jail and he is worried for his mother’s safety.
Following the use of “The Hercules Method”, Luther starts to notice strange occurrences, such as seeing his mom drop a load of plates before she actually did, allowing him to save them from breaking. Following this, he heads to his high school with his best friend Pete. It is there Luther and Pete see Luther’s crush, Petra. In the spirit of friendship, Pete pushes Luther into Petra, so he can get his friend to finally talk to her. While talking to Petra, Luther is made fun of by his jock school bully, Paul. Seeing what Paul is doing, Petra decides to make fun of him, resulting in her kissing Luther, telling Paul he doesn’t know what a real man looks like. In gym class, Paul targets Pete, causing Luther’s “talents” to manifest. He breaks Paul’s nose with a dodge-ball and later, Luther knocks Paul out as an act of self-defense.
Luther, who is now much bigger and muscular, refuses Pete’s idea of exploiting his new found strength and power. Petra also becomes his girlfriend, telling him that she’s “been sending off signals” since Luther’s first day of school. Since he took a beating from Luther, Paul who had been put in a neckbrace by him decides to work out so he can exact his vengeance until he finds The Librarian with the bloody corpses of his parents. Luther and Pete are shopping in a convenience store when it gets robbed. Using his new talents to stop them, Pete realizes that he has the potential to be a superhero.
Excited for Luther’s potential to be a superhero, Pete puts together Luther’s costume. Pete tells Luther that he protect the innocent and help the helpless, causing a flashback of the abuse his mom received from his dad. He goes out on a night patrol of the city and sees a couple fighting. The guy grabs his girlfriend, causing Luther to act. When he tries to take care of the problem, the guy’s girlfriend gets mad over the help he provides. The following day at school, Petra meets up Luther and Pete. She seems to have bruises on her arms, hinting an abusive atmosphere at home. At night, Luther finds the guy, who turns out to be a drug dealer, again, and beats him to a pulp. After giving the guy a beating, Luther first encounters the Librarian.
Luther and the Librarian fight and Luther realizes that unlike high school bullies and low rent thugs, he isn’t able to anticipate the Librarian’s next moves. The Librarian establishes that he is a better fighter than Luther, effectively knocking him out. Vin, the drug dealer that Luther beat up, is in the hospital. His friend, Buck, receives a phone call from the Librarian who lets him know that Luther was the one that put Vin in the hospital. Luther wakes up and finds himself with the Librarian and his father, who is in bad shape. The Librarian informs him that the art of murder is knowledge collected, perfected, passed down and it can only be used to the full extent by people with certain talents. Luther happens to be the one who has raw talent, thus the Librarian orders Luther to kill his abusive father and when he refuses, the Librarian does so for him. Buck and his friends are now out to get an important person in Luther’s life, which is information that the Librarian provides. Luther rushes home to his mother and realizes that Buck went after Petra instead.
Buck punches Petra and she reveals that her father is abusive, claiming that her dad hits harder. Luther comes to save her and kills Buck and all of his friends. Meanwhile, the Librarian pays a visit to Luther’s home, where his mom and Pete are there. Pete tries to protect Mrs. Strode and unfortunately, his efforts lead to his fingers getting cut off. Powerless and helpless, Pete’s arms are stabbed by kitchen knives, letting him hang off of Luther’s kitchen cupboards. Luther and Petra find him in this state and are devastated.
Pete dies but before he passes, he tells Luther that the Librarian has his mother held captive at the docks. Luther’s attack is foiled by the Librarian who was able to sense his whereabouts under the floor boards. Luther releases his mother from her chains and continues to fight his arch nemesis. Luther in all his rage, blindly fights the Librarian who says that without awareness and control, accidents happen. Losing complete control of himself, Luther accidentally kills his mom. Luther’s talents come in to play as he’s able to focus all his aggression on the Librarian by ripping his spinal cord out. The cops have all gathered at the docks and as Luther approaches them, he is shot down. Later, a body bag is shown as an arm breaks through, thus signifying Luther’s survival.
The Legend of Luther Strode
Five years after his apparent death, Luther appears at a motel where some crooks are hiding and viciously slaughters both of them. Luther returns to his hideout and meditates as for the past five years he has been on a vendetta of killing criminals. Luther infiltrates a stake out against him and effortlessly clears the entire building of criminals and it turns out to have just been an act to see what he was capable of doing. Luther is at his hideout, training when a surprise guest enters in the form of his former flame, Petra. Petra was using the crime lord Michael Hill to get to him and she is utterly shocked at how different he has become. Mr. Hill’s forces soon arrive with Luther forcing Petra to run as Luther once again destroys the rest his strike team. A final and elderly enforcer called Binder, and as Luther attacks him, the man blocks his punches telling Luther him and the Librarian weren’t the only ones.
Binder and Luther have a brief, but brutal battle. Binder manages to incapacitate Luther based on Luther’s predictable fighting style, and Binder using a paralytic toxin in conjunction with targeting Luther’s nerve clusters with throwing knives. Binder tells Luther that there are more like him and as technology advanced, the humans were capable of fighting back and wiping the talented out.Cain from the bible from was the original and first bound as an example for them to remain in secret. Cain then charged Binder with finding the talented and restraining them. Luther awakens again as he overcomes the nerve poison and ejects the blades out. The two continue on with their fight with Luther gaining the upper hand. Binder kidnaps Petra and leaves. Luther uses the crime lord’s butler as a means to locate them.
Luther infiltrates the home of Michael Hill and finds him cut in half and nailed to the railing of the upper floor. Luther begins a battle another of the talented, Jack the Ripper. They fight a fast paced battle, but Jack’s finesse, speed, and agility are eventually overwhelmed by Luther’s focus on his physical prowess as the battle eventually leads to where Binder was holding Petra captive. Luther manages to seemingly defeat both of them, but he himself is eventually defeated as the two more experienced fighters defeat and unmask him.
Luther is bound by Binder. He pleads to Binder to let Petra live because he loves her, as she fights for her life against Jack. Luther watches Mr. Duvall try and fight Binder, as he ends up sacrificing himself in an attempt to kill Binder for slaughtering Michael Hill, causing a massive explosion that takes out most of the mansion and setting the rest ablaze. Luther is still bound, but Petra comes and finds him. Luther yells at her to leave, but she doesn’t as the flames continue to rage around them. Petra tells Luther that if he dies, she dies. In his desperation and anger, Luther tears the shackles apart, saving Petra in the process. They share a kiss, solidifying their relationship once again, but in the midst of it all Jack has escaped.
Luther and Petra locate Jack inside of a shopping mall. Luther breaks the door allowing the duo to enter. They find inside appears to be a hundred or so bodies lying all over the mall and blood everywhere. Luther deduces that Jack didn’t kill all of them, but he has kept them alive so they die a slow and painful death. Luther puts one of dying people out of their misery before Jack makes his presence known and Petra starts shooting up the place. Luther gets her to stop since it was just Jack toying with her so she would shoot the survivors that Jack has not killed. Luther lunges at Jack, and along with the help of Petra, they begin the final confrontation with the psychotic killer. Luther and Jack trade blows for a time, destroying parts of the mall in the process. Luther tells Petra to go help the remaining unharmed civilians to escape the mall while Luther deals with Jack.
Jack and Luther continue the battle with Jack seemingly gaining the upper hand over Luther. But it was a ploy with Luther holding Jack back as Petra reenters the fray with a chainsaw and she starts to dismember Jack. Jack reminds Luther that there are many more students of Cain and Luther delivers the final blow, crushing Jack’s skull. Luther and Petra decide to not hunt the remaining students and as they leave the mall, they see a massive squadron of police officers and cars pointing guns at them while the two embrace hands.
The Legacy of Luther Strode
Luther and Petra are taken into police custody after the events of Luther’s fight with Jack the Ripper. Luther waits for the police escort to get to the bridge and Luther breaks out and frees Petra before they leave. Five years later, Petra and Luther are living in solitude in a forest. Luther sneaks up on Petra and hands her a newspaper about a dozens of deaths in a mysterious massacre. Luther claims them to be more of the “Talented”. Luther and Petra head to the city to stop them. Luther and one of them exchange how the fight will go, but Luther makes a sidestep and Petra snipes one of them from a distance, killing him instantly. Luther faces off against the other Talented, but she chases after Petra. Luther and her fight on a truck until it crashes over a cliff. Luther appears behind a distraught Petra and is perfectly fine. But a mysterious woman in a white limo appears next to them.
The woman is revealed to be known as Delilah, another student of Cain, who then decides to help the couple to travel throughout the world in dealing with the other followers of Cain such as The Gardener and The Shooter. The latter secretly warning Strode of Delilah’s loyalty to Cain.
Powers and Abilities
Due to his study of “The Hercules Method” Luther has gained a plethora of abilities, exponentially above that of the human norm.
Superhuman Strength
Luther Strode has considerable strength, enough to maim and kill normal humans with a single strike. He has demonstrated the ability to cut through humans in half wearing body armor using only his hands, and smash through wood, stone and metal with ease. In his fight with Jack the Ripper, he created a massive crater by slamming his foe into the ground. Perhaps most impressively, in his the fight with the Librarian, the force of their blows were enough to fell an entire warehouse.
Superhuman Durability
Luther’s Durability has been similarly enhanced- allowing him to use his strength without sustaining injury. When a normal man repeatably punched Luther, Luther felt no discomfort and the assailant hurt his hand. Luther’s durability was such that he was unfazed by a entire Warehouse collapsing on him. When he was shot by seven bullets at close range, rather than penetrating through his chest, they were lodged in his muscles.
Near-Immortality
Luther is basically immortal. He does not age and is immune to all known diseases. Other chosen such as Cain and Jack the Ripper have gone for centuries without food, water or air, suggesting that Luther’s body is also completely self-sufficient. Luther Strode can only die permanently by having his heart or brain destroyed.
Healing Factor
Luther Strode has a healing factor which has increased in effectiveness during his tenure as a superhero. At first, it took him a few moments to heal from being shot several times. However, soon after, he was able to quickly heal from being disemboweled, but not before using his intestines to break the neck of his opponent. Now, bullets barely phase him, and multiple knife wounds are quickly healed. He has also demonstrated the ability to reverse the effects of pressure points, and fight off paralyzing toxins relatively quickly.
Superhuman Stamina
Luther has shown the ability to fight a maximum capacity despite enduring horrendous injuries. His Stamina is probably an extension of his healing factor.
Superhuman Speed, Agility and Reflexes
Before his powers fully manifested, Luther, without looking, was able to effortlessly catch a dodgeball thrown at him. As his powers have developed, he has only become faster. He has effortlessly dodged bullets, blitzed multiple opponents before they could react, and moved his hands so fast that they have acted as makeshift blades. Luther has also pulled a “batman gambit”, appearing and disappearing in front of his opponents. However, due to his lack of formal training, it can assumed this a speed, rather than skill feat.
Accelerated Probability
Luther like many other practitioners of the Hercules Method has the power similar to a Pre-cog, enabling him to predict the various different choices an opponent makes. The effectiveness of it isn’t fully clear, but the Librarian seemed to imply that he could see 1000 moves an opponent could make, if they didn’t share his power set. However, after Luther killed his mother, Luther was able to use this power on his the Librarian.
Superhuman aim and eyesight
Luther was able to throw projectiles with such precision that he blocked the barrels of multiple handguns in a robbery. However this could be attributed to his Accelerated Probability.
Prehensility
Strode has complete and total understanding of his physiological structure. From the individual muscle, tendon and ligament down to each and every individual cell within his body. Through the act of conscious thought the superhuman Strode can compel said viscera to accomplish Impossible feats. Such as catching bullets with his muscles, controlling the toughness & elasticity of his joints and using his intestines as a weapon.
Superhuman Hearing
Strode presents he may have sharpened senses beyond the seeing range. Showing he could hear or sense when Petra was nearby before she even intruded into his dwelling and again when Hill’s mercenary crew followed sweet. Further showcasing this when both he and petra arrived on scene to [[Jack The Ripper]]’s genocide gala at the mall, where luther could not only sense jack’s presence within the surroundings but can also hear the heartbeats of all the frightened yet still alive shoppers intentionally spared from the formers culling artistry collection.