23 Years Later, Jessica Jones' First Meeting With Killgrave Has Only Gotten Scarier

Published Sep 11, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Mark has been a comic book journalist for over 15 years and has interviewed comic book creators like Gail Simone and Caspar Wijngaard. And when he's not writing, he's working on beating his record of 1,200 comics read in a year. This article contains subjects like sexual and verbal assault. If you or anyone you know needs help, follow this link right here for more information. Whether they're a hero, villain, or someone in between, tragedy is part of being a comic book character. For example, Spider-Man took the death of Uncle Ben and became one of the greatest protectors in comics. Frank Castle lost his family through gang violence and turned into the Punisher. Superman from Injustice accidentally killed Lois and his unborn child and became a despot. These kinds of unfortunate events are how writers explain the characters’ personalities and why they chose the lives they did. The thing with misfortune is that it comes in different forms and kinds of pain. When comic book fans think of physical abuse, Wolverine and Deadpool’s time with Weapon X are usually at the top of the list. The physical torture still gives them nightmares and causes them to react negatively, and usually at inopportune times. It’s become part of who they are and something readers expect. Among the most horrifying tragedies in comics happened to Jessica Jones when she was a superhero named Jewel. Her time as a crime fighter began fine, but she had the unfortunate luck of encountering one of the most deplorable and vile characters in comics history, Zebediah Killgrave, Purple Man. Jessica Jones Completely Redefined A Classic Marvel Villain With One Twist Alias: Purple; Written by Brian Michael Bendis; Art by Michael Gaydos and Mark Bagley; Colors by Matt Hollingsworth Taking place before Jessica Jones was the hardboiled PI fans know, Alias: Purple explained Jessica's history with Killgrave. As Jewel, Jessica Jones was flying and saw a commotion in a restaurant. When she entered, she witnessed two men fighting while Killgrave was calmly eating a steak and watching the brawl. He said that they (the fighters) were doing what he asked. Killgrave then told Jessica to sit down and forced her to reveal her secret identity. After that, things got worse. Killgrave ordered Jessica to take her clothes off. Before she could, the police showed up, and she was forced to attack them as a distraction so Killgrave could escape. For the next eight months, Jessica did any and everything he asked her to. She had to bathe him, sleep on the floor, and dress like a schoolgirl to appease his desires. Once again, it gets worse. While Purple Man was assaulting women by mind-controlling them, he told Jessica to wish it were her. Jessica said she ended up begging for so long that she began to cry. Killgrave eventually revealed that he was torturing her because of the times Spider-Man or Daredevil beat him. Eventually, Purple Man lets Jessica go, but not before one last insult. When the Avengers return from a mission, he tells her to put on her costume and beat anyone in a costume that she encountered. Even though she was no longer around Purple Man, months of manipulation and abuse compelled her to do what he said. Thanks to Killgrave’s programming, Jessica has Daredevil on her mind and attacks the first person she sees in red and a horned top, Wanda Maximoff. That was when Jessica snapped out of it. Sadly, the Avengers didn’t know what was going on and attacked her. Luckily, before Jessica could get beaten too badly, Carol Danvers grabbed her and took her best friend to the hospital. It took months of physical and mental rehab for her to get good enough to be released. Before she left the hospital, the Avengers showed up and apologized for what they did. As a bonus, Nick Fury offers her a job to become the liaison between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. Unfortunately, after everything she went through, Jessica declines and says she’s done with the superhero business. What followed after the hospital was a long bout with alcoholism, bad choices, and weeks of eating nothing but packs of ramen noodles for dinner. Thankfully, there's a happy ending. Jessica faces Purple Man, overcomes his mind control, and defeats him. Later, she and Luke Cage have a baby (Danielle, named after Danny Rand) and get married. Jessica even becomes an Avenger and puts on the Jewel costume to save Clint Barton from Norman Osborn’s Avengers. Purple Man Still Remains Marvel's Most Horrific Villain Two decades later, it’s clear that few superheroes suffered more tragedy than Jessica did. The mental and verbal abuse she suffered was never-ending. For eight months, she endured a psychopath’s wrath because he was beaten up by superheroes and arrested for doing unthinkable things. As if that wasn't bad enough, she went missing for eight months, and none of her loved ones seemed to care. During her conversations with Luke Cage, she mentions that her disappearance left little to no effect on her family. So imagine going through all of that and finding out that the people closest to you didn’t bother to look for you. It’s just an insult to an already horrific injury. As awful as all of that was (and it was horrendous), it’s good to know Jessica came out of it a winner. It may have taken years, and sometimes she wanted to give up, but she didn’t. Jessica pushed past everything awful in her past and found sunshine at the end of the storm. Are there still moments that are tough? Of course. That's to be expected. Nevertheless, she doesn't let things bring her down for too long. The truly disgusting part of this story is that things like this happen in real life. People are captured, abused, and manipulated into doing things that they normally wouldn't. Many people could be reading this article or know Jessica Jones' story and see similarities to their lives. If anyone can read what happened to her and use it to get better and stronger, that's a win in anyone's book. Release Date 2015 - 2019-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, Scott Reynolds A hard drinking private investigator with superhuman strength attempts to leave her past as a costumed hero behind, but old wounds refuse to stay buried. This gritty 2015 Netflix series adapted Brian Michael Bendis' character and featured the first on-screen appearance of Luke Cage.