Early Life

Jessica Campbell was born and raised in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City. She attended Midtown High School along with Peter Parker, where they shared several classes. Jessica developed a crush on Peter but never told him.

She followed him to the New York Hall of Science, where she was about to approach him. But instead, he left the building; Jessica followed him but lost sight of him and was nearly run down by an Atomic Labs truck before a man pulled her to safety. At home that night, She tried to pleasure herself with her pictures of the Human Torch. Still, she was interrupted by her younger brother Phillip. The family later hit the road to take a trip to Disney World with tickets given to them by Tony Stark, her father’s boss.

You shoot that gun at me, I will pull that bullet out of my ruined four hundred dollar leather jacket, and I will shove it up your ass with my pinky finger. And which one of us do you think will hurt more? 

—Jessica Jones

The Accident

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On the way home, Jessica argued with her brother before the car collided with a military convoy carrying radioactive chemicals. As a result, she became an orphan and was exposed to the chemicals. After spending a few months in a coma, Jessica emerged around the time the Fantastic Four first encountered Galactus, an event in which a massive amount of cosmic radiation was emitted. She was placed in an orphanage. She was later adopted by Alisa Jones and her husband, legally taking their last name. After her recovery, she discovered she had developed superhuman powers such as strength and durability.

Her new family re-enrolled Jessica at Midtown High, where she was ostracized by her classmates, especially the school bully Flash Thompson. Peter tried to befriend Jessica, feeling she was a kindred spirit as they had both lost family members. Jessica, however, mistook his kind attention and lashed out at him, believing he was merely pitying her. She discovered she could fly when she ran away, although she lost control and crashed into the Hudson River. Thor rescued her.

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While trying out her powers, she accidentally crashed onto Scorpion as he was robbing a laundromat. This was enough to shock him so he could be apprehended. However, while witnessing a fight between Spider-Man and Sandman in her class, she realized she could use her powers for good.

Jewel and the Purple Man

She attempted to become a superheroine, calling herself “Jewel,” and was active for about four years. Unfortunately, little is known of her exploits during her tenure as Jewel, as mainstream media didn’t monitor her as closely as other era heroes.

One day, she happened to witness a fistfight in a restaurant. She discovered that Zebediah Killgrave, a Purple Man, had told the men to fight. Killgrave then gained control over Jessica and tasked her to “take care of the cops” so that he could finish his meal, which she did. Jessica was later captured by Killgrave and kept prisoner for almost eight months, though she was never used for sexual means.

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However, she was abused by Killgrave (AKA Purple Man) as an accomplice in his schemes to hurt people. She was eventually sent to attack the red-costumed The Devil of Hell Kitchen, aka Daredevil. And kill everyone who got in his way after a newspaper report had angered Killgrave. Jessica became disoriented once she was out of range of the pheromones produced by Killgrave. However, having been under his control for so long, she was still focused on her mission. She ended up attacking Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch because her costume was red.

She snapped out of Killgrave’s control after hitting The Scarlet Witch. Thinking the gathered Defenders and Avengers would apprehend her, she ran away but was found and nearly killed by Iron Man and the Vision. However, Jean Grey helped awaken Jessica from another coma. After a few months of recovery, she was asked to join The Avengers as a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison but declined the offer.

Knightress and Alias Investigations

Jessica retired as a superheroine and began a new career as a detective. She started a new company called Alias Investigations. Luke Cage hired her to find his father, James Lucas, who does not trust his “heroic” son. Jessica met Mrs. Lucas at her home. Jessica explained that she was a detective representing Cage in the search for her husband. She said that he had no interest in meeting his son due to the death of his other son, James Lucas, Jr. Luke and Jessica stopped at a nearby Dairy Queen on their way home and embraced.

Jessica commuted to Lago, New York, to find a missing girl named Rebecca Cross. During the investigation with the girl’s family, she learned Rebecca was a mutant.

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She later found Rebecca alive with her girlfriend in a bar in the next town over and brought her back home. Returning to the city, they learned that Katherine Cross had murdered Rebecca’s father. Jessica felt terrible for Rebecca, so she let her go back to the town she had been living in. After the case, she contacted Scott. She later went on a date with Scott Lang. However, the two were interrupted by Spider-Man and the Human Torch chasing Doctor Octopus down the street.

In one case, she succeeded in finding the missing Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin). Mattie’s boyfriend had been keeping her drugged and using her as a super-powered genetic material source to create the Mutant Growth Hormone drug. Her willingness to take cases involving her former colleagues was not always well-received by the superhero community. Nevertheless, she still assisted other heroes from time to time and had a large number of contacts.

The Return of the Purple Man

Jessica was contacted by Kim Rourke, who wanted to hire her to find a man named Killgrave. When she visited Kim’s home, she found a large gathering, where Kim explained that 34 people had been recently killed in a restaurant when Killgrave told them to stop breathing. During this time, Killgrave has been locked away on the Raft. She told Luke about her time with Killgrave.

Next, Jessica traveled to The Raft and met with Quartermain, who escorted her through the prison to Killgrave’s holding cell. Jessica demanded that he admit to just one of the many murders he was never charged with. When she returned to Kim’s home, she learned that there had been a riot at the Raft and that Killgrave had escaped.

Jessica experienced a vision of Jean Grey. Who explained that she implanted “a psychic defense trigger” in Jessica’s mind after her “first Killgrave incident” and that Jessica could stop Killgrave if she chose to. Jean vanished moments before the Avengers arrived, and Killgrave instructed Jessica to kill the superhero of her choice. Still, Jessica turned on Killgrave and beat him savagely instead.

In the aftermath of the brawl, Jessica admitted to Scott that she was three months pregnant and that the baby was not his, at which point Scott walked away. A few days later, Jessica met Luke outside his apartment. He admitted that he cared about her, and she told him that she was pregnant and the baby was his. Luke asked if she wanted to keep the baby, and when she said to him that she did, he suggested that the two of them could start a “new chapter.”

Daily Bugle

Jessica had moved in with Luke in Harlem when Jessica met with Editor-in-Chief Robbie Robertson at The Daily Bugle. He took her to complete J. Jonah Jameson.

Her new job caused an argument between her and Luke. Kat Farrell met with Jessica and Ben in Central Park to bring them up to speed on the details of Kidder’s death. The three considered how many “flying people” live in New York City. Kat laments that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to be called if “a flying guy” was involved. Ben met with Jessica, Kat, Jameson, and Robertson and explained that Oscorp employees had been disappearing. He could prove that Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin.

Despite his fears that running such a story “will look like a cheap vendetta” against Osborn, Jameson agreed to print Urich’s article. Jameson instructed Jessica to go with Urich to notify the police, assuring her that she would be safe. But at Oscorp, they are attacked by the Green Goblin. A blast knocked Jessica out the window, but Spider-Man rescued her. But she worried she may have lost her baby. Jessica attacked the Goblin, and the two brawled in mid-air. Osborn escaped as Spider-Man caught her. Luke met Jessica at the hospital as a doctor examined her, but the baby was fine. Cage left the hospital, claiming he “can’t let this go.” Osborn is outed and arrested after a savage beat-down by Luke for hurting Jessica.

While organizing Luke’s C.D.s in alphabetical order, Jessica and Luke were startled by a costumed Matt Murdock, whom she berated for not trusting her with his secret identity despite risking her life for him as his bodyguard.

Secret War

When they returned to their apartment inside their home, however, they discovered a woman who promptly destroyed the apartment with a massive energy blast, Knocking Cage into a coma. Nick Fury traveled to Metro Hospital, where he found Danny Rand and Jessica sitting with the comatose Cage. Jessica demanded to know why Fury had come. Steve Rogers also arrived, attacking Fury as he insisted that he warned Fury that something like this would happen. Fury then ordered Steve Rogers outside, but Steve tells Jessica to “get away from here” and “keep your baby safe” before instructing Rand to prepare to move Cage because “too many people have seen him.” Jessica then stepped outside to call Matt Murdock.

Upon returning, Jessica discovered that the hospital was under attack, Cage was no longer in his hospital room, and Fury, Rogers, and Rand were nowhere to be found. The hospital is almost destroyed as a result. Frantically searching for her boyfriend and eventually fainting from both stresses as well as her pregnancy outside the home of Misty Knight.

Here, she is found and kidnapped by a group of Hydra agents led by Special Agent Cohen. She explained to Jessica that Luke was attacked because of his part in Nick Fury’s “Secret War.” That they would help her find Luke in exchange for her becoming a secret Hydra agent. However, Jessica refused their help and was rescued by Clay Quartermain and S.H.I.E.L.D.

With Ben Urich’s help, Jessica eventually found Cage. Danny Rand took him to the Night Nurse’s Clinic in Chinatown after Rogers told him to bring him someplace safe. Cage’s tearful reunion was quickly interrupted when a holographic projection of Fury appeared in the room and explained that Jessica would soon know why Luke was attacked.

Motherhood and Marriage

Luke Cage became a New Avenger. Jessica was also in attendance when Santron attacked the Avengers at their annual Christmas party.

Jessica Jones’s water broke while she, Luke Cage, and her best friend Carol Danvers picked out a new costume design for him. Carol Danvers rushed Jessica to the hospital. Jessica gave birth to a baby girl they called Danielle Cage. So, as payback against Jameson, she refused the newspaper exclusive rights to cover their child’s ‘celebrity birth.’

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Jessica told her daughter, Danielle, about the first time she met Luke. Jessica decided to consent to be his wife, though she had not informed Luke. However, she quit her job with The Daily Bugle after editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson used the paper to smear the New Avengers. Jessica and Luke married with all their friends and family present, and Jessica chose to keep her maiden name Jones.

Jessica took up the identity of Jewel again and became a member of the New Avengers. She and Luke began searching for a nanny. They had a varied selection of applicants, including Hellcat, Mantis, D-Man, Firebird, Sersi, Echo, U.S. Archer, Molly Hayes, Ultragirl, Groot, Deadpool, Sepulchre, Cassie Lang, She-Hulk, Nighthawk, Devlor, Tigra and Beverly Switzler. In the end, they choose Squirrel Girl as Danielle’s nanny. Jessica took the name “Power Woman” to honor her husband and be a role model for their daughter.

Jessica and her daughter lived in the apartment of the Gem Theater. When Jessica and Luke are confronted by the Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) and his Arachnaughts, he offers him a place on his team. They refused, and she punched him in the face for threatening her child.

The Defenders

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After Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist disrupted the operations of up-and-coming crimelord Diamondback. He retaliated, attacking all of them and Jessica due to her relationship with Cage. Jessica was hospitalized due to the attack but recovered quickly. During the four heroes’ search for Diamondback, Daredevil noticed it could help people know that they actively worked together.

They continued operating as a team to investigate Diamondback and eventually became known as the Defenders. Diamondback was defeated by Iron Fist when Stryker attacked him and Jessica while they were at a stake-out. Stryker was arrested but escaped while being transported. The Defenders tracked him down and defeated him even though he had ingested the power-bestowing drug Diamond, leading to Diamondback’s second arrest.

Shortly after the formation of her team, Jessica and many superheroes became trapped in Manhattan under an impenetrable dome of Darkforce energy as part of Hydra’s plan to neutralize possible resistance during their conquest of the United States. With the island slowly falling into chaos, the Defenders assisted in tending to the ill and injured. When the Darkforce Dome was destroyed, the heroes trapped inside joined the final stand against Hydra in Washington, D.C.

Following Hydra’s fall, Jessica and the rest of the Defenders attended Diamondback’s trial, from which he walked away due to the secret intervention of his benefactor and the former Kingpin of crime, Wilson Fisk. Jessica enlisted Deadpool’s help to find Diamondback, but the Defenders ended up beating him up over his usual attitude. Diamondback was eventually tracked down and defeated for good. His operations were taken over by The Hood, but the Defenders managed to stand up to him as well.

The End of the Purple Man

Jessica eventually learned that following S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dismantlement, the Purple Man had escaped custody. She tried to hide, but Killgrave reached her by taking control of Danielle. She changed her mind about running away and came out of hiding so that Killgrave could find her.

The Purple Man approached her at her temporary headquarters, the abandoned Hauser’s Bakery and attempted to open up to her, claiming that he wanted to be different and that he needed her help to do it. Jessica’s allies gunned him down, and in retaliation, the Purple Man caused all bystanders in the area to riot, giving him a chance to recover and escape. She decided to play by Killgrave’s terms and agreed to listen to him.

He lured Jessica to her blown-up office while taking control of Captain Marvel. Once there, Killgrave confessed his belief that he could be some kind of God. She argued that he could use his powers to help the world instead of creating chaos. Because of this, Killgrave offered Jessica to do whatever she wanted to make the world better.

Instead, she confronted Killgrave for the abuse he forced her to endure and told him off. After admitting that Jessica was right, the Purple Man simply left her office, claiming he knew what he needed to do. While walking down the street, he suddenly dropped dead. With her nemesis seemingly gone for good, Jessica was freed from one of her life’s most significant burdens.

Jessica’s Powers

Jessica gained superhuman powers after her family’s vehicle collided with a truck of unknown chemicals. After being in a coma for quite some time, she awakened with the following abilities:

• Superhuman Strength.
• Superhuman Durability.
• Accelerated Healing Factor.
• Superhuman Longevity.
• Flight.
• Telepathic Resistance.

Jessica’s Abilities

• Private Investigator: Jessica is an experienced investigator. She can follow leads, interrogate suspects, and has closed many cases. These skills lead her to her next job as an investigative journalist for The Pulse.

• Trained Combatant: At first, Jessica relied on her powers and her own form of street fighting. Later working with the Avengers, she was trained in basic hand-to-hand combat.

Additional Attributes

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Jessica was traumatized by her time spent with the Purple Man. He affected her mind so much that she did not know what her thoughts were. It took months of therapy with Jean Grey to help her through it. However, she initially became a violent vigilante and later quit the hero life altogether.

• Alcoholism: Jessica coped with her trauma through alcohol, regularly drinking to forget her troubles. She quit after her daughter was born.

Notes

• While Jessica Jones’ first appearance came in Alias #1, her history was later retconned in Amazing Spider-Man #601 to make her one of Peter Parker’s high school classmates, appearing as early as Amazing Spider-Man #4, where she was in the crowd encouraging the fight between Sandman and Spider-Man.
• This revelation contradicts other aspects of Jessica’s life. In Amazing Spider-Man #601, Jessica mentions she already possessed her powers when she witnessed Spider-Man’s fight against Sandman. However, in Alias #22, it was established Jessica woke up from the coma around the time of the Galactus Trilogy, which took place a long time after Amazing Spider-Man #4.

Trivia

• The priest who performed the wedding ceremony for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage bore an uncanny resemblance to Stan Lee.
• It is rumored that Brian Michael Bendis originally wanted to use the original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew as the starring character in Alias. Still, Marvel balked at using the surface in an adult-oriented series, so Bendis created Jessica Jones as a replacement. Bendis has denied this.
• Upon finding out Spider-Man’s secret identity as Peter Parker, Jessica was dismayed to learn from him that he and many others at school only knew her as “Coma Girl” after her accident.
• Jessica gained a few admirers during her tenure as Jewel, such as the Young Avengers members Hulkling, Wiccan, and Hawkeye, as well as former co-worker Kat Farrell, Avengers Academy student Reptil and even a young Kang the Conqueror.
• Jessica as Jewel is the subject of one of Wolverine’s sexual fantasies.

Watch Jessica Jones Streaming now on Disney+ Hotstar.