Warning: Spoilers ahead!
First appearing in Marvel Comics’ Alias #1 back in 2001, Jessica Jones – played by Krysten Ritter on the small screen – has proved to be a very powerful force within the Marvel universe. And now, thanks to Netflix, it’s finally her time to shine.
Since Alias had been a part of the Marvel MAX series, the short lived stories featured a lot of explicit content (sexual content, nudity, adult oriented language), of which we may or may not see in the upcoming series. Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the same as the movies) the series will lead up to the Defenders miniseries currently in the make. Marvel’s Jessica Jones is the second of series to lead up to the miniseries, preceding Luke Cage and Iron Fist – the first being Daredevil.
And now’s a good time for a quick history of the character’s timeline, just in case you watched that trailer without a clue of knowing who was in it and so that you can be prepared for the series.
Origins
Fun fact: Jessica, last name initially Campbell, had a high school crush on the one and only Peter Parker. The two had been classmates at Midtown High, but Peter never really noticed her.
On their way to Disneyland, – thanks to Tony Stark, employer of Mr. Campbell – the Campbell’s were involved in a car wreck, exposing Jessica to radioactive chemicals, resulting in her falling into a coma and the death of her family. Jessica comes out of her coma several months later, only to be told that her parents had died, and that she was being put into an orphanage. Later adopted by Mr & Mr’s Jones, our titular character was created.
Jessica Jones was eventually re-enrolled into Midtown High, but only to be welcomed by a terrorizing Flash Thompson. Referred to as “Coma girl”, Flash and the other students taunted her; all but one Peter Parker. Peter genuinely reached out to her, but a distraught Jessica took this as a pity party and eventually ran away.
This is where her powers manifest.
Jessica’s power of flight develops while she runs away, and she eventually crashes into the Hudson River, but only to be rescued by Thor (don’t expect Chris Hemsworth to make an appearance in the series however). Once recovered, Jessica puts these new found abilities to the test. She discovers her power of superhuman strength when she lifts up a bicycle with ease. Pushing a tree over also makes you discover that you’re just on a whole other level of super.
We see Jessica speaking about a man in the trailer, Zebediah Killgrave. Originally a foe of Daredevil, Zebediah Killgrave is a skilled manipulator and also possesses a regenerative healing factor. Killgrave notices Jessica in the restaurant and takes control of her mind. For the next 8 months of this storyline, he controlled every move of hers.
One of Killgrave’s tasks for Jessica involved killing Daredevil. Killgrave was utterly indignant that he couldn’t figure out who Daredevil was under the red mask. Whether we see if this results in any mention or cameo in the second season of Daredevil remains a mystery.
Another character in the trailer is Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter. We learn that him and Jessica continuously have an on/off again romance. Jessica confides in Luke, revealing her encounter with Killgrave and the acts she was forced to do.
The Netflix version of Luke is described as a rather mysterious man, who encounters Jessica during an investigation she was conducting, and will “change her life immensely”. It is unclear whether the two start out as allies or foes in the beginning of the series, but they will definitely pursue their romantic relationship.
Giving up the superhero lifestyle, Jessica starts up Alias Investigations, which she uses to track down various cases and individuals and create an income for herself. With contacts like Carol Danvers and Steve Rogers, Jessica is successful in her new tasks. Many fans are hoping to at least get a mention of Danvers and/or Rogers – along with Scott Lang, who had been a love interest of Jessica’s at an earlier point.
Looking through the episode list for the Netflix series, I noticed that episode 12 is named “AKA Jewel and the Power Man”. In my opinion, I think we’d see the origins of Luke Cage in the same series. Rather than having the Luke Cage series be a prequel to Marvel’s Jessica Jones and introducing his abilities only then, we may see it all unfold sooner that initially thought. Prominent characters to be featured in the series include Zebediah Killgrave played by David Tennant, Trish “Patsy” Walker played by Rachel Taylor and Jeri Hogarth being played by Carrie-Ann Moss.
Jessica Jones releases on Netflix on November 20.
