LUKE CAGE Casts Simone Missick as Misty Knight

Sweet Christmas!  Luke Cage has another woman in his life.

Deadline revealed yesterday that the upcoming Netflix series Luke Cage has cast Simone Missick as "Missy," who they claim is actually Marvel Comics character Misty Knight.  "Missy" is described in a casting breakdown as "a woman with a strong sense of justice."

Missick joins Mike Colter as Luke Cage, Alfre Woodard as Minetta, Theo Rossi as Shades Alvarez, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple.  She's probably best known as Porschla on the Showtime series Ray Donovan, and as Elise in the TV movie A Taste of Romance.

Luke Cage centers on a wrongly accused man who obtains super-strength after a sabotaged experiment and escapes prison to become a superhero for hire.  The third Marvel series for Netflix is executive produced by Cheo Hodari Coker, produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios.

Created in 1975 by Tony Isabella and Arvell Jones, Misty Knight first appeared in Marvel Premiere #21 as a NYPD police officer who was seriously injured preventing a bomb attack. Her right arm was amputated, and rather than take a desk job, she resigned from the police force.  Tony Stark provided her a bionic arm which endowed her superhuman strength. Soon after that she met Spider-Man, and then Danny Rand, the Iron Fist.  Misty roomed with X-Men member Jean Grey until Jean returned to the team.

Misty teamed with her friend Colleen Wing in fighting the criminal Emil Vachon in the Hong Kong area.  She saved Colleen from an attempted rape, and then the two set up a private detective agency called "Knightwing Restorations, Ltd."  She soon fell in love with Iron Fist, and aided him, Spider-Man, and Colleen Wing against Davos, the Steel Serpent.  She then met Luke Cage, Power Man, and Knightwing Restorations Ltd. would go on to help Power Man and Iron Fist's Heroes for Hire agency on numerous cases.

Misty and Danny moved in with each other in Harlem, where Danny proposed to Misty and she accepted, after telling him that she was pregnant with his child.  They later found out that this was a false pregnancy, which created a strain on their relationship until it eventually ended.  After a brief stint running a revamped Heroes for Hire, Misty joined the group of female heroes known as the Fearless Defenders.

Luke Cage is expected to be released on Netflix sometime in 2016.