Marvel’s ‘Jessica Jones’ comes to Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix
On Nov. 20, Netflix will be releasing its newest series “Jessica Jones.”
Based on the “Alias” comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, Jessica Jones isn’t your typical superhero. She likes to drink hard and fight harder. Yeah, she has generic superpowers like being super-strong and being able to jump super-high, but Jessica Jones is unique in another way. She’s the first Marvel superhero to be victimized, but never become a victim.
WARNING: FROM THIS POINT ON THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
OK, quick background on Jessica Jones: while on a family road trip to Disney World, Jessica’s father crashes into a military truck that’s carrying an ambiguous substance. Her whole family is killed.
Jessica wakes up from a coma six months later with superpowers and decides to become a superhero, known as Jewel, soon after that.
Jewel is successful at heroics until she runs into Zebediah Killgrave, aka The Purple Man. Killgrave has the ability to release pheromones that allow him to control others’ minds. Of course, this is what happens to Jessica.
Killgrave proceeds to make Jessica his play thing. He forces her to beg for illicit acts while having sex in front of her.
He never sexually abuses Jessica, but any chance he has to psychologically abuse her, he takes it.
Eventually, Killgrave orders Jessica to kill the first superhero she sees, which happens to be the Avengers— specifically Scarlet Witch. Jessica nearly kills the Scarlet Witch before the Avengers beat her into a coma.
Jessica wakes up months latter, traumatized from the experience. She chooses to give up the super-heroic life and and become a private investigator.
WHAT TO EXPECT
From the trailer, it looks like Jessica’s story will be altered in several ways, but the major stuff will stay the same.
The whole part where Jessica attacks the Avengers is gone so it’s likely that the part where Killgrave orders Jessica to attack them is gone as well. Other than that, everything looks and feels right.
Booze and meaningless sex are what Jessica uses to cope with the trauma Killgrave inflicted on her. It seems like the writers nailed that aspect from the comic in this series.
The writers and David Tennant, who plays Killgrave, also nailed down what a sicko Killgrave is with one scene where the woman fires an unloaded gun under her chin.
Some may say this series is about the exploitation of victims, but the Jessica Jones story isn’t about that. This is a series about working past traumatic events and confronting your abuser.
The Orion will be reviewing “Jessica Jones” once it is released on Netflix on Nov. 20, so stay tuned.
George Johnston can be reached at [email protected] or @gjohnston786 on Twitter.
