Jessica Jones

Despite her difficult past and a distaste for costumed heroics, Jessica Jones never fails to lend a hand when called upon to fight for humanity. Whether working alone as a private investigator, or alongside the Defenders, Jones has a mean right hook and street smarts to kill.

Early Days

Born Jessica Campbell, the shy youth attended Midtown High where she kept mostly to herself. Once on a family road trip, Jessica’s father accidentally veered into an oncoming military truck, causing a canister of experimental material to crash through their car windshield and into Jessica’s lap.

Her mother, father, and younger brother died in the accident, and she sustained injuries that left her in a coma for months. Once revived, she lived in the Moore House for Wayward Children until she was adopted by the Joneses—a kind family from Jessica’s old neighborhood. Mrs. Jones had also lost her parents at a young age and sympathized with Jessica’s plight, bringing her to live with her husband and daughter.

Jessica returned to the halls of her school to find that she had gone from the unnoticed geek to the school’s freaky coma curiosity. When her somewhat recluse class crush, another nerdy kid named Peter Parker, tried to reach out to her, Jessica mistook his remorse for pity and fled the scene. Distraught, she sprinted away and launched herself into the air—thereby discovering that she had gained super human abilities in her family’s car accident.

Soon after discovering her new powers, Jessica inadvertently thwarted the Scorpion, which opened her eyes to a host of new career possibilities. Jones discovered the ability to fly, use superhuman strength, and avoid injuries that would befall a normal human undertaking her actions. With these abilities at her disposal, Jones chose to try her hand at the Super Hero life. Using the alias “Jewel,” she undertook underworld criminals and local gang members during her earliest stint as a hero. Despite her under-the-radar work, Jones did make a few connections with fellow super humans, including Carol Danvers (then known as Ms. Marvel), who would later become one of her closest friends.

Alias Abilities

Jessica boasts super human strength and durability. She has the power of flight, though she’s never mastered the ability and rarely uses it. She’s a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant—and has the temper to match. Jones’s greatest super power, however, may be her intelligence and street smarts. Her savviness is unmatched in her work as a private investigator as she uncovers secrets and chases down criminals with her PI firm, Alias Investigations.

Offenders

In her work as a PI and underground crime fighter, Jessica has made many enemies on the streets of New York. But her greatest foe is the man called Zebediah Killgrave—AKA the Purple Man.

While paroling the city during her time as Jewel, Jessica intervened in a brawl started by the deranged superhuman known as the Purple Man. Armed with pheromone powers, Zebediah Killgrave has the ability to make anyone bend to his will. He once held Jessica hostage for eight months, subjecting her to physical and mental abuse as recompense for his loses to other New York heroes like Daredevil. Finally, in a fit of rage over Daredevil’s latest exploits, the Purple Man ordered Jessica to fly to Avengers Mansion and kill the blind hero. Unbeknownst to him, the farther Jones flew from his side, the weaker his hold on her became. When she arrived at Avengers Mansion, Jessica mistook the Scarlet Witch for Daredevil. Unfortunately for Wanda Maximoff, her red costume put her on the receiving end of a surprise punch from JJ.

Jessica immediately realized what she’d done and, unable to explain herself, fled the scene of the crime. The Avengers ran her down and inflicted severe damage to Jessica before Ms. Marvel could intercede and explain. The wounds from this run-in left her in yet another coma, so S.H.I.E.L.D. moved her to a special care facility until Jean Grey used her telepathic powers to wake her up. Even with her increased resilience, Jessica spent the next few months in physical rehabilitation where she developed a relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain. Upon her full recovery, Nick Fury offered her a job working as the S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to the Avengers, but the trauma from her time with the Purple Man left Jessica disinterested in the codenamed Super Hero life.

Partners

Eventually Jessica became a fully licensed Private Investigator and opened Alias Investigations. During the early years, Jessica’s investigations—not to mention her complicated love life—led to her becoming more involved with the Super Hero community.

One of her first cases found her unknowingly tailing Captain America, which allowed them to become allies. This case prompted the start of her relationship with attorney Matt Murdock (AKA Daredevil), who helped clear Jessica as a murder suspect thanks to a request from Luke Cage. It also reconnected Jessica with former friend Ms. Marvel who then set Jessica up on a blind date with fellow Avenger, Scott Lang (AKA Ant-Man) who she dated for a short time, bringing her further into the Avenger’s fold.

As Jessica honed her PI and crime fighting skills, she joined Daredevil, Luke Cage, and the Iron Fist as a member of the Defenders. Patrolling the New York City streets, the Defenders utilize their unique combination of powers to bring down Super Villains and crime bosses alike.

Due to her constant presence as a force for good across New York, Jones became close with fellow NYC Super Hero Luke Cage. After a stuttering start to their relationship—with no shortage of awkward encounters—the two started a romance that would eventually mature into a marriage. Despite her misgivings about a life ruled by heroics, and despite her fears that any relationships would be weaponized by the Purple Man, Cage and Jones chose to have a child. Their daughter, Danielle (whose babysitter was Squirrel Girl), has served as a constant source of love in the often-troubled lives of her superhuman parents.

Underground Life

Jessica continued her case work with jobs including tracking down a man under the delusion he was former Captain America sidekick, Rick Jones; being hired by famed publisher J. Jonah Jameson to uncover Spider-Man’s secret identity; tracking down a young runaway from a small town; and serving as Matt Murdock’s bodyguard alongside Luke Cage.

Jessica found herself facing off with Jameson when someone dressed as Spider-Woman broke into her apartment. She discovered the girl’s identity to be Mattie Franklin, the adopted daughter of Jameson. A quick and not-so-painless team-up with Jessica Drew (the real Spider-Woman) later closed the case and laid the groundwork for Jessica’s future job at the Daily Bugle.

Jessica’s most mentally demanding case came when a woman called hoping to enlist her help in gaining closure for the families of the victims of the Purple Man. Upon hearing his name, Jessica immediately slipped into a small PTSD induced anxiety attack and rushed to Avengers Mansion where she confronted Carol Danvers for referring the woman to her. This ended, as many of Jessica’s social encounters do, with her running away. Scott Lang, Jessica’s boyfriend at the time, followed her to offer support, but Jessica sought comfort in the arms of another super powered man, Luke Cage. Jessica opened up to him about what transpired during her time with the Purple Man. Jones and Cage’s friendship began to turn into something much deeper.

The conversation gave Jessica the strength she needed to reach out to a former fling, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain, to help her gain access to the high security prison called the Raft. She hoped The Purple Man would confess to his committed crimes and grant closure to the families of the victims, however, Killgrave refused and, to make matters worse, escaped that very afternoon.

Jessica woke the next morning only to find Scott lying next to her, dead, covered in ants. Before she could digest the situation, she noticed the Purple Man sitting in the room. He revealed Scott to be alive, and commanded Jessica to follow him. As they walked through the streets of New York, Jean Grey appeared to Jessica, telling her she’d placed a defense mechanism in Jessica’s mind years prior when she woke her from her coma and Jessica simply had to trigger it to escape his control. This epiphany allowed her to turn around and beat the living daylight out of him.

Once the chaos died down, Scott found Jessica and, as the two spoke, she informed him that she was pregnant with another man’s child. This ended their relationship, sending Jessica straight into the arms of the baby’s father, Luke Cage, and the two began their new parental lives together.

The pregnancy loomed over Jessica’s head as she interviewed for a consulting job with known hero hater J. Jonah Jameson. Neither Luke nor Jessica showed much excitement toward the idea, but she wanted the best for the baby—which meant a stable, safe job. Jameson happily agreed, with the caveat that the Daily Bugle be given the exclusive story on the Super Heroes’ new baby.

Her next story found her tracking down a group of young heroes who took up the mantle of the recently disbanded Avengers. This took her down a twisted path with a time traveling teen Kang the Conqueror, a small Asgardian(ish) warlock, a new Patriot, kid Hulkling, and Cassie Lang, who had discovered she had growing powers of her own. When the real Kang showed up, Jessica morphed back into Jewel as the time stream began to unravel, and the adults agreed to send teenage Kang back to his own era to fix the damaged time stream.

Just as these fires began to fade, Jones and Cage returned home to find a strange woman in their apartment who promptly exploded, sending the pair to the hospital and leaving Luke in a coma. After being taken from the hospital, a frantic Jessica began running around the city in an attempt to locate Luke before fainting. Hydra agents took advantage and kidnapped her in an attempt to turn her into a spy, but Jessica promptly refused before former beau Clay Quartermain rescued her. With the help of Daily Bugle coworker Ben Urich, Jessica found a now-conscious Luke at the Night Nurse’s clinic in Chinatown.

Three whole months before her due date, Jessica rushed to the hospital to give birth. They turned her away, but luckily she ended up at the Sanctum Santorum with a capable Doctor on call. With a whole team of Super Heroes behind her, Jessica went into labor while a crowd of reporters gathered outside. Jessica took this moment to call Jameson in a rage and let him know his recent smear coverage of the New Avengers—and therefore Luke—negated his rights to her baby’s story. She instead gave the exclusive to the Jameson’s competitor, the Daily Globe.

Jessica gave birth to a healthy baby girl—and as an added surprise, Luke popped the question. The two married soon after, and they named their daughter Danielle Cage.

Super Parent

In the time after the birth of her daughter, Jessica became more involved in the Super Hero world she thought she left behind years prior. Though she mostly avoided the Civil War Superhuman Registration Act debacle by using the Sanctum Santorum as a bit of a hideout, she eventually caved, registered, and returned to Avenger’s Tower just in time to get sucked into the Skrull war in Secret Invasion. This ended with her daughter being kidnapped by a Skrull disguised as Edwin Jarvis. The little tike was rescued, but Jessica continued to don the Jewel costume before eventually taking on the name Power Woman to fight alongside her husband as part of the New Avengers.

Following their time with the Avengers team, Jessica and Luke decided to focus less on global matters and returned to their roots patrolling the streets of New York. Inheriting a super team name once held by the likes of Doctor Strange and the Hulk, Jessica and Luke joined their fellow NYC heroes Daredevil and the Iron Fist to help protect the city they love.

Jessica’s greatest power—her friends and family—have also long been exploited as her greatest weakness by Zebediah Killgrave. And since the birth of her daughter and her marriage to Luke, Jessica has fought to protect those she loves from the power of the Purple Man. The villain, however, is never denied what he wants, and in a particularly disturbing episode, he circumvented Jessica’s protection to possess Danielle. With some help from her closest friends, including Carol Danvers, Jessica confronted the Purple Man directly. Deep in debate and nonviolent conflict with the man she hates more than any in the universe, Jessica mastered her fears and, with them, Killgrave himself. Learning and choosing to deny the villain his quest for control, Jones cast him out of Danielle—and her life.