Learn the origin and history of Marvel’s Jessica Jones!
When Marvel Entertainment and Netflix announced their plans to create four new series based on street-level characters that would culminate in a mini-series of The Defenders, among the characters were Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, but there was one more name that stuck out – Jessica Jones. Superhero’s lives are often defined by tragedy and Jessica’s life was no different, but it was also mired in sadness and hardships. From her failed superhero career to her second failed superhero career to being a down-on-her-luck private investigator, Jessica has had it rough, to say the least.
To casual fans, the “Man Without Fear” and the “Heroes for hire” are well known heroes, but despite a critically-acclaimed debut series, not everyone knows about Jessica Jones. With that in mind, we’ve gone through the character’s entire history for our latest Origins and Evolutions feature, which you can check out in the gallery below!
Marvel’s Jessica Jones on Netflix is Executive Produced by series Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight, “Dexter”) and Liz Friedman (“Elementary”), along with Jeph Loeb (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Smallville,” “Heroes”), who also serves as Marvel’s Head of Television. Marvel’s Jessica Jones will premiere in full on Netflix November 20, 2015 at 12:01am PT in all territories where Netflix is available.
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Origins & Evolutions: Jessica Jones
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Creation
Jessica Jones first appeared in comics in Alias #1 in September of 2001. Written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos, the series introduced the character into the world of Marvel but revealed along the way that she had actually been present all along with a number of connections to the heroes we all know.
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Origin
Originally named Jessica Campbell, the young girl got her super powers which include super strength, some durability, and flight, though once she stopped being an active hero her flying ability began to fade. Jessica's powers came about as a result of a collision with a convoy carrying radioactive chemicals, which occurred after a family trip to Disney World paid for by her father's boss, Tony Stark. Her real parents were killed and Jessica was put into a coma which she would awaken from months later, which happened to coincide with the arrival of Galactus in Fantastic Four #48.
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Spider-Man connection
Before Jessica was an orphan, or even had super powers, she had a crush on one of her high school class mates, Peter Parker. She was even present the day that Peter was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his powers. After the crash, Jessica was adopted by the Jones family, where she earned her new last name. Her new family put her back in school at Midtown High where Peter tried to connect with Jessica, knowing both of them had experienced loss, but misunderstanding his intentions, she lashed out at him.
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Jewel
After being rescued by Thor, stopping The Scorpion, and seeing Spider-Man defeat Sandman, Jessica took to the skies as her own superhero, Jewel. Unfortunately, Jessica's career as a hero was lackluster at best. Her only true claim to fame comes from an encounter with Daredevil villain Zebediah Killgrave, AKA The Purple Man. In attempting to stop the villain, Jones fell under his mind control spell.
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The Purple Man
Killgrave's control over Jessica wasn't an isolated incident, as he maintained his power over her for the better part of a year forcing her not only to be subject to his abuse but help him commit crimes. Eventually The Purple Man ordered her to kill Daredevil, but in her mind-controlled state, Jones targeted the wrong red clad hero at Avengers Mansion and went after The Scarlet Witch. After a severe beat down by some of the other Avengers, Jones was kept at SHIELD HQ in yet another coma and received aid from Jean Grey helping her from further mind control in the future. Jessica was then offered a job with SHIELD as their liaison with The Avengers, which she turned down.
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Friendship with Ms. Marvel
Though her superhero career was short-lived, Jessica formed a long lasting friendship with Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel at the time. The pair had a bit of a falling out, but they would later rekindle during her private investigator days.
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Knightress
Though her crime fighting career had been cut short, and none too successful to begin with, Jessica was undeterred in trying again and adopted a darker vigilante persona, Knightress. This turn lasted even shorter than her time as Jewel, only one week to be exact, but was in fact the reason that she would run into none other than Luke Cage, who we'll talk more about later.
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Alias Investigations
Following her failed turns at superheroism, Jessica opened her own private detective agency, but given her background, her clientele mostly asked her to deal with cases about other heroes or people with powers. In her time as a private detective, Jones encountered many different heroes from the Marvel Universe....
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The Captain America conspiracy
Jessica's first case seen in the pages of Alias was a bombshell involving none other than the Star Spangled Man himself, Captain America. Jones found herself wrapped up in a political conspiracy that went all the way to the president after accidentally video taping Steve transitioning from his civilian identity into Captain America. Keep in mind that this was years before the world knew of Steve's identity. Steve would later stop by her apartment afterward to retrieve the tape himself.
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Meeting The Devil
While being brought in for questioning in regard to a murder, Jessica was bailed out because none other than Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, came to hear aid, at the behest of Luke Cage. Jessica would go on to not only maintain a working relationship with him, as both a client and Matt's bodyguard when the world found out about his identity, but also develop a pretty big crush on the man without fear too.
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Dating Ant-Man
While on the outs with Luke Cage, Jessica was set up on a blind date by Carol Danvers with none other than Scott Lang, AKA Ant-Man. Like many of Jessica's relationships, it was an on-again-off-again affair that was rocky at times, despite the two really caring for each other.
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Unmasking Spider-Man
Jessica was at one point hired by J. Jonah Jameson of The Daily Bugle to unmask Spider-Man, inspired of course by Daredevil's own unmasking in the papers. Jameson would later fire Jones from the assignment when he found out she was billing him for expenses that were going toward soup kitchens, orphanages, and hospitals instead of finding out who Spider-Man was.
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The Return of the Purple Man
One of Jessica's final cases in the pages of Alias was a group of people that suspected their family and friends had been killed by none other than The Purple Man. They asked Jessica to try and get him to confess to their crimes, considering he had previously confessed to a number of other murders. Jessica went to the super villain prison The Raft to try and suss it out of him, but Kilgrave just continued to play mind games. Not long after Jessica left The Raft there was an attack and The Purple Man escaped. It didn't take him long to find Jessica and he tried to begin torturing her once again, but thanks to her barriers put in place by Jean Grey, she was able to come out of his trance and beat the snot of out him.
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Luke Cage
Luke and Jessica's relationship went from a casual friendship to a one-night stand to a serious relationship over the course of a few months. Though they initially met beating down crime boss The Owl, Luke eventually went to Jessica seeking her detective services in finding his father. The pair eventually spent the night together and Jessica revealed to Luke that she had become pregnant from their one-night stand, a moment that sees the two move in together and become a full-fledged couple.
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The Pulse
Following the conclusion of the Alias series, a new series titled The Pulse was created which saw Jessica going back to work for J. Jonah Jameson and The Daily Bugle as their consultant on all things superheroes for a new weekly publication called The Pulse. While on the job, Jessica went up against none other than Norman Osborn, AKA The Green Goblin, in addition to tie-in stories based around the Secret War and House of M storylines.
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Danielle Cage
Jessica and Luke's child was revealed to be a girl, whom they named Danielle, after Luke's friend and partner Daniel Rand, AKA Iron Fist. When Jessica signed her new job deal with Jameson, she agreed to give them the first rights to publish the announcement and photo of their child, but after Jameson published an article talking ill of Luke when the New Avengers were revealed, Jones went back on the deal. Doctor Strange delivered the baby in his Sanctum Sanctorum.
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Danielle's Future
It was very recently revealed in the pages of the “Ultron Forever” storyline that Danielle will grow up to not only have superpowers of her own, no surprise given her parentage, but that she will also take on the mantle of Captain America in the not too distant future.
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Marriage to Luke
Immediately following the birth of Danielle, Luke asked Jessica to marry him. Though she thought about it for some time, Jessica eventually agreed and the pair were married in one of the few Marvel weddings that wasn't attacked by a villain. The priest overseeing the ceremony also bears a striking resemblance to none other than Stan Lee.
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Civil War
When the Superhero Registration Act was passed, Danielle Cage was just a newborn, and since neither Jessica or Luke were going to register with the government, Jessica took the child and fled to Canada waiting for it all to blow over. Jessica would later return and join the registration, another bump in the road for her relationship with Luke. Another big moment in Jessica's life came when Peter Parker unmasked himself in front of the world, which shocked Jessica that her high school crush was also her inspiration for becoming a hero. When she told Peter this, he didn't actually remember her from high school except for her nickname, “Coma Girl.”
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Secret Invasion
A ship lands in the middle of New York and a bunch of superheroes exit, and among them is none other than Jewel. Though all of these heroes believe themselves to be who they appear to be, they're actually the shape-shifting Skrulls. During the event, the Skrull that appeared as The Avengers' butler Jarvis kidnapped Danielle Cage, though the infant was quickly found, albeit with the help of one of Jessica's most hated enemies, Norman Osborn.
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New Avengers/Power Woman
When Luke Cage became the leader of the New Avengers, Jessica joined the team and brought back her superhero identity of Jewel. Luke would later convince Jessica to take on the name Power Woman, since the two were already married and she hadn't taken his last name. In taking on the name and fighting crime once again, Jessica wanted to inspire her daughter, which we know she certainly did.
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Mighty Avengers
Most recently, Jessica has been seen in the pages of Mighty Avengers, a group that she and Luke run together as a new version of the Heroes for Hire. Jones, Cage and their daughter all live and work inside the Gem theater in New York City. Jessica wasn't always an active member of the team, however, but she did provide support in some of their more tough encounters.
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Ultimate Jessica Jones
Brian Michael Bendis would bring a different version of Jessica to life in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man, having the character still attend Peter's school albeit this time without the powers or tragedy. This version of the character would go on to try and unmask Spider-Man, albeit unsuccessfully.
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What If Jessica Jones had joined The Avengers?
Though Jessica turned down her job offer as the SHIELD liaison to The Avengers, a one-shot story about if she HAD taken the job was published and saw a very different version of the character's life play out. In the issue, Jessica fully embraces her role as a member of The Avengers, is able to prevent the entire “Avengers Dissasembled” and “House of M” storylines from happening by realizing something is wrong with Wanda Maximoff, and even goes on to marry Captain America.
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Marvel's Jessica Jones
In the TV series, Jones will be played by “Breaking Bad” and Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23” actress Krsten Ritter.
"I don’t think I’ve been so hooked on something since Serial,” Ritter said of the source material after being cast. “So now I feel that way about the Jessica Jones series. I can’t wait. I mean, as soon as we’re done today, that’s what I am going to be doing. I’m really excited about Jessica Jones. It’s so f***ing cool. It’s so cool. I can’t wait to watch it.”
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TV Series - Luke Cage
Not long after Ritter's casting, it was revealed that “Halo: Nightfall” and “The Good Wife” actor Mike Colter would make his debut as Luke Cage in the Jessica Jones series. Colter will go on to lead his own Netflix Original series following Jessica Jones, though it's unclear if Ritter will appear as the character in that series.
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TV Series - Kilgrave
Former Doctor Who David Tennant joined the cast as the notorious villain Kilgrave. When his casting was confirmed, and in subsequent interviews, the character has only been referred to by his surname and we now know will not appear (at least primarily) with his trademark purple skin.
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TV Series Carrie Anne-Moss
It was previously unclear who Carrie Anne-Moss would be playing in "Marvel's Jessica Jones," as she was previously just described as “a no-nonsense woman who could prove a powerful ally to Jessica…if Jessica doesn’t completely alienate her first.” We now know that she will be playing Jeri Hogarth, a female version of Jeryn Hogarth, the lawyer for none other than the hero Iron Fist.
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TV Series Hellcat/Patsy Walker
One of the surprising additions to the cast was Rachael Taylor as Patsy Walker, or the superhero Hellcat. For the new series, the character is being officially referred to Patricia “Trish” Walker, a syndicated radio talk show host, former model and child TV star known to her adoring fans as “Patsy” Walker. As Jessica Jones’ closest friend, Trish helps her embark on the most dangerous case of Jessica’s career.
