19. Misty Knight
Mercedes Knight was a detective in the NYPD who became embroiled in Luke Cage’s affairs. While investigating Cottonmouth, she encountered the man with unbreakable skin and wondered why he’d been involved in every step of her investigation. From this point on, she became close friends with Luke and often teamed-up with him on investigations.
After Cottonmouth is murdered by his own cousin, Knight became fixated on finding out the truth about Mariah Dillard. Her intuition told her that Dillard wasn’t as clean as she appeared on the surface and, of course, we know she was right.
After Cage was freed from prison, Knight became involved with him once more. She had requested his help on another case, but eventually, this spiralled into the battle against the Hand at Midland Circle. Here, she lost her right arm while defending Claire Temple from being beheaded, though she never let this disability stop her.
During Luke Cage Season Two, Knight continued her efforts to investigate Cottonmouth and Dillard’s family. Because of this, she actually ended up having to protect Dillard from Bushmaster, who had targeted her for assassination. Knight is a fearless detective who strives to uphold the law, so it was no surprise that she was offered the captain’s position in Harlem.