Hero For Hire#7(1973)

On Christmas Eve, Luke Cage is spending time at the clinic where Noah and Claire work. Luke happens to spy a child being beaten by a man in Dickinson-style dress. Stopping him, Luke learns that the man's name is Marley and he certainly acts his part -- telling Luke that he was beating on the boy for charging him fifteen cents for a newspaper (when he never paid more than two.) before disappearing into the winter weather. Taking the boy into the clinic for medical aid, Luke is unaware that this was orchestrated by Marley who wanted to see if there were any good Samaritans left in the world. Before leaving with Claire, Luke is warned by Burnstein that Phil Fox has been nosing around to try and get a story about Noah's clinic, bringing up fears that Noah's past might reveal Luke's past as a criminal. Later as Luke and Claire are out for a walk, they encounter what appears to be a war vet. Upon giving him some change, he has about of shell-shock and attempts to shoot them with an automatic weapon. Luke quickly disarms the man and breaks his gun, feeling sorry for the man they leave him be. This "vet" however turns out to be Marley once more, continuing the test he started earlier. After taking Clair out for dinner, the two are attacked by Marley yet again -- this time dressed like a futuristic "police-man" right out of George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty Four, demanding their "identification cards" and attacking Luke with a laser. Luke manages to subdue Marley and turn him over to the police. However, when Luke notices the police car crashed on the side of the road not far after, he sends Claire home in a cab and goes after Marley. Marley gets the drop on Luke, managing to knock him out while disguised as a charity Santa Claus. Waking up, Luke is face to face with Marley, who tells him that the entire evening's episode was to see if there was still any good in mankind. Unconvinced, he plans on destroying New York with a nuclear bomb of his own design at dawn. However, before he can detonate the bomb, he is distracted by the sound of someone coming down the chimney. This gives Luke the chance to stop Marley and destroy his detonator. With Marley incapacitated Luke is surprised to find that the person coming down the chimney was a would-be thief. However, having just saved the city, Luke allows the thief to stumble through his explanation and the two watch the sunrise, as Christmas Day finally arrives.