Luke and Evil Luke
Evil Luke, also known as Luke Spencer, made his first appearance on February 20, 2014. This persona of Luke is unrecognizable to his friends and family and is a departure from the Luke Spencer they have known. It is implied that Luke subconsciously crafted this alter ego, to mirror his abusive father, Tim Spencer.
Before his true identity was disclosed, fans often referred to him as "Fluke" or "Luke-a-like," and speculated that he could be one of the most infamous, and sometimes presumed deceased, villains from General Hospital.
On April 1, 2015, Anthony Geary disclosed that "Fluke" was initially intended to be Luke's doppelgänger cousin, Bill Eckert, but the plot shifted when fans started predicting this twist.[1]
Background[]
Years before, on an unspecified date, Luke Spencer splintered into "Evil Luke" and encountered Julian Jerome in the witness protection program, assuming the alias "Peter Caspin." "Evil Luke" proposed aiding Julian in restoring the Jerome family's influence, and they started collaborating. "Evil Luke" also sought vengeance against his own kin, the Spencers, with another goal being the takeover of ELQ. It was later disclosed that "Evil Luke" conspired with multiple villains, including Cesar Faison, Helena Cassadine, Jerry Jacks, Victor Cassadine, Stavros Cassadine, Larry Ashton, Johnny Zacchara and Carlos Rivera.
Storyline[]
Evil Luke
In early 2014, after Luke Spencer and Scott Baldwin are incarcerated in Miscavige, "Evil Luke" seizes the chance to exchange places with his alter ego, Luke. On February 20, Anna Devane rescues "Evil Luke" and Scott, but Luke's family notices his uncharacteristic behavior. By February 27, "Evil Luke" is discharged from the hospital and begins flirting with Kiki Jerome, unbeknownst to Tracy Quartermaine. He also intervenes to save A.J. Quartermaine from Carlos Rivera. On March 6, "Evil Luke" proposes to Tracy, who accepts. "Evil Luke" then shows an interest in ELQ, but Tracy's son, Ned Ashton, is suspicious of him.
On March 24, it's revealed that "Evil Luke" is Julian Jerome's bankroller and the true head of the Jerome mob family. He wants to use ELQ to fund his drug operation and he wants to take Sonny Corinthos down. "Evil Luke" warns Julian that they're going to have problems if he finds out Julian is not taking care of his business. On March 25, "Evil Luke" talks to Sonny about Julian's mysterious backer and Sonny believes that his half-brother, Ric Lansing is Julian's boss.
Tracy and "Evil Luke" marry at the Nurses Ball and Ned reveals that he has convinced the other Quartermaines to oust Tracy as ELQ's CEO. Julian tells "Evil Luke" he wants to quit the mob, so "Evil Luke" hires a gunman to shoot Julian's son, Lucas Jones and tries to finish the job while he is at the hospital, but Julian stops him. "Evil Luke" and Julian frame Ric as the head of the Jerome crime family before "Evil Luke" prepares to leave with Tracy on their honeymoon.
On May 29, it was shown that the real Luke is still seemingly being held hostage at Miscavige, where he's been drugged up continuously. "Evil Luke" pays Luke a visit before leaving town and taunts Luke about marrying Tracy, how he's been living his life and how he plans to take over Port Charles. Luke musters up the strength to threaten "Evil Luke" if he touches Tracy, but "Evil Luke" laughs off his threat. Luke spits in "Evil Luke's" face before "Evil Luke" tells him it's time for them to say goodbye. Luke tells "Evil Luke" that he can't kill him since he needs him, so "Evil Luke" agrees and says that he meant that he has to leave Port Charles for a little while and lay low. Before leaving, he tells Luke that he has a grandson named Rocco Falconeri. Luke asks "Evil Luke" who he is, so "Evil Luke" gets in his face and tauntingly says, "Who am I? That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Who do I look like? You? Lucas Lorenzo Spencer? But you want to know who's behind the face? You want to know who's pulling the strings, doing the dance? You want to know who's big buzzing brain is behind this genius plan? Let me tell you in the simplest possible terms…wouldn't you like to know." "Evil Luke" winks at Luke before leaving.
Evil Luke leaves Luke guessing on who he really is
On June 19, Tracy returned alone from their honeymoon. She told Michael that "Evil Luke" was a sleaze and that she was done with him, but it was a ploy so she and "Evil Luke" could take back control of ELQ. While "Evil Luke" is away, he has his associate, Mickey Diamond acting as his proxy. After Julian kills Mickey, he contacts "Evil Luke" and confronts him about the bomb that blew up Alexis' house. "Evil Luke" tells Julian if he gives up what he knows about Sonny, then they will have a truce. Julian refuses and hangs up on "Evil Luke". Ava contacted "Evil Luke" and proposed a partnership between the two of them. She reassured "Evil Luke" that she had the means to bring Sonny down and would get a hold of it soon. "Evil Luke's" plans to gain control of ELQ were foiled when Alice Gunderson told Michael Corinthos III that Tracy and "Luke" were conspiring to take ELQ, so Michael fired her. In retaliation, "Evil Luke" ordered Ava to kill Michael. When Ava couldn't go through with it, "Evil Luke" sent his henchmen, Kobe, to kill Michael. The plan didn't work out for "Evil Luke" when Michael killed Kobe.
Evil Luke hits on Kiki
On November 24, "Evil Luke" stopped Luke just as he had escaped from his cell. "Evil Luke" forced Luke back into his cell at gunpoint.
On Thanksgiving Day (shown from November 26 to December 3) "Evil Luke" (pretending to be a captured, tied up Luke) is released from Miscavige by Alexis and Julian. "Evil Luke" reunited with "his" family but is questioned by Detective Dante Falconeri about the crimes that he's suspected of committing. "Evil Luke" denies it and Alexis reveals that Luke was locked away in Miscavige while those crimes were committed. Everyone was stunned that there was (supposedly) an impostor pretending to be Luke for months, plus they confronted Lord Larry Ashton over his role in Luke's imprisonment and "Evil Luke's" scheme after "Evil Luke" revealed that he confronted his "impostor" about possibly being Larry. Cornered, Larry said he didn't have to answer to any of them and escaped in a getaway car. "Evil Luke" "learned" about a safe deposit box that Patrick Drake and Sam McCall found which contained a mask of his face. Later, Dante and Anna went to Julian's apartment to arrest him, only to see that the Luke impostor was also there, planning to kill Julian. Fake Luke claimed that he was the real Luke Spencer but Julian told them not to listen to him. Dante and Anna knew that he was not Luke since Luke was at the Quartermaine's and they knew he was wearing a mask. When Dante cuffed Fake Luke, Anna wanted to see who they were arresting, so they took off the Luke Spencer mask to see that it was none other than Cesar Faison, much to Dante's surprise, Anna's disgust and Julian's confusion. After Faison was arrested, "Evil Luke" "learned" that Faison was his impostor but rationalized it by reminding them of when Faison impersonated Duke Lavery back in 2012. After everything settled down and once "Evil Luke" was alone, he received a call from Faison, who said that everything worked like a charm on his end. "Evil Luke" said "ditto" and no one is any the wiser, revealing that the two arranged for Faison to be the decoy to throw everyone off of his trail.
On December 23, "Evil Luke" pretends to act like Luke by pulling a gun on Julian at Jerome Gallery. He then laughs and puts his gun down to reveals himself to Julian as the man he's still working for and that the real Luke is being held captive elsewhere. They are suddenly interrupted by Carlos Rivera who informs them that Jordan Ashford betrayed them by helping Shawn Butler save Ric who the PCPD now believes is not Julian's real boss. "Evil Luke" then commands Julian to take Jordan out.
Later, he is seen having lunch with his "daughter", Lulu and her husband, Dante. "Evil Luke" also talks to Duke Lavery about how they "both" were held captive by Faison and how's it like for Duke to be the new head of the Corinthos mob family after Sonny was sent to Pentonville Penitentiary for murdering A.J. Later, Julian informs his boss that he didn't kill Jordan and there has been a complication, killing Jordan will cause a mob war between them and her loyalties (Shawn and Duke).
Evil Luke with his wife, his "daughter", and his "grandson"
On January 6, "Evil Luke" orders Carlos to kill Julian. Instead, Carlos forces Julian to falsely confess to the murder of Anthony Zacchara. Julian is then remanded at Pentonville Penitentiary along with Sonny. On January 7, "Evil Luke" visits Luke and helps him remember where is being held, in his and Bobbie's old childhood home basement. "Evil Luke" says he knows about Luke's childhood history including his older sister, Pat, who Luke hasn't thought about in years nor mentioned. "Evil Luke" then grabs a bat and threatens to hit him, but Luke blurts out that he knows who his captor really is, his presumed dead look-alike cousin, Bill Eckert. "Evil Luke" leaves the basement moments later. On Januray 8, "Evil Luke" visits Anthony's grandson, Johnny who would comment on how much he looks like Luke. They later talk about Julian's false confession. On January 9, "Evil Luke" instructs Johnny to kill Julian. Johnny orders his thugs to kill Julian for him, but this fails after Julian and his apparent friend, Sonny kill two of them and the others are dragged out of the cell by security. "Evil Luke" is now raged that his plans to kill his enemies always fail.
"Evil Luke" is angry when he finds Bill Eckert's grave has been dug out. Helena appears and they talk about Jake. "Evil Luke" begins to doubt Helena's control over Jake and learns that Dante is at the Spencer home. "Evil Luke" confronts Dante, who is convinced he is not Luke. Dante forces "Evil Luke" to open the door at gunpoint and then handcuffs him to the railing. As Dante looks in and calls out to Luke, "Evil Luke" gets free and pushes Dante down the stairs. "Evil Luke" gloats to Luke that everyone be loves will soon be blown up. After changing into his tux, he taunts Luke one last time, knocks Dante out with a crowbar, and leaves a bomb on Luke's lap.
Later, "Evil Luke" meets up with Helena on the docks and they talk about the bomb on the Haunted Star. "Evil Luke" leaves to go of the party where he greets Lulu and Tracy. "Evil Luke" tells her that Dante didn't want to come to the party because of Johnny, angering Lulu. On January 30, when "Evil Luke" finds out that Julian, Sonny, Ava, and Franco escaped from Pentonville, he sends Johnny and Carlos to kill them. Later, Dante calls Lulu, but "Evil Luke" picks the phone up, insults Dante, and breaks it. He then leaves to Helena at the pier, but Tracy follows him there. Tracy and Helena start to argue against each other about Luke.
After Helena and Tracy leave, Sonny arrives and holds "Evil Luke" at gunpoint. "Evil Luke" tells him that Michael will blow up at the Haunted Star, prompting him to leave the pier, run to the Haunted Star, and jump into the water with the bomb. The bomb goes off and "Evil Luke" is happy that Sonny is "out of his way." Det. Nathan West arrives at the pier and commands "Evil Luke" to surrender. Michael comes to Nathan's aid and "Evil Luke" starts to run away from the pier. Nathan tries to shoot "Evil Luke", but all his shots miss.
On February 5, "Evil Luke" tries to kill Julian at the hospital, but Alexis arrives, forcing "Evil Luke" to leave. He then goes to Wyndemere where Nikolas is holding Helena at knife point. "Evil Luke" pulls a gun on Nikolas and tries to kill him, but Nathan and the police arrive. On February 6, both "Evil Luke" and Helena are arrested for the attempted mass murder on the Haunted Star. Later, "Evil Luke's" fingerprints are then scanned to see whether they matched Bill Eckert, however at the end of the show, Nathan tells both Tracy and Lulu that the fingerprints match those of Luke Spencer not Bill Eckert.
On January 7, 2015, which was New Year's Day on the show, Luke, while still confined in the basement, begins to recognize his surroundings with "Fluke" menacingly holding a bat to his face. He realizes he's in his and Bobbie's old childhood home, specifically the basement. This revelation leads Luke to question "Fluke's" identity, especially after "Fluke" displays knowledge of his childhood, including his older sister, Pat Spencer, whom Luke hadn't considered in years and hadn't mentioned in about four decades. Luke suspects "Fluke" might be Bill Eckert, his cousin who is presumed dead, but "Fluke" leaves without confirming. On February 6, it was disclosed that Luke was "Fluke" the entire time, and the "Luke" everyone saw was merely a hallucination. By February 18, the genuine Luke resurfaced, renewing Tracy's hope that the man she loves was still present. After an incident where he bit off Scott's ear, "Evil Luke" was declared insane and committed to Shadybrook Sanitarium, where Franco Baldwin confronted him.
Franco attempted to smother Luke with a pillow, but Nina Clay intervened. "Evil Luke" persuaded both Franco and Nina to aid his escape. He located Valerie Spencer, Pat's daughter, and took her hostage, forcing her to reveal Pat's whereabouts. "Evil Luke" then captured Pat and held Lulu and Tracy at gunpoint, threatening their lives until Tracy convinced Luke to regain control, leading to a reunion with Pat.
In Shadybrook, Luke was haunted by the apparition of Evil Luke, who declared that Luke could never escape him. He revealed a dragon tattoo identical to their father's. After the apparition disappeared, Luke noticed the same tattoo on his own arm. Resolving to conquer his dark side, Luke chose to accept it, marking himself with the dragon tattoo as a symbol of acceptance.