AKA Jessica Jones

Now that Marvel’s Netflix Daredevil has come and gone, kicking off the first of our Defenders toward an inevitable teamup, focus shifts to the second installment in AKA Jessica Jones. We’ve seen Krysten Ritter milling about on set as the titular super-heroine, but take a look at Doctor Who favorite David Tennant in the villainous role of Marvel’s “Purple Man”!

So you've watched all thirteen episodes of Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix and you're itching for more? (If you haven't, you should probably stop reading this article, because we're about to go deep into spoiler territory and we're not holding anything back.) The bad news is, the second of Marvel's Netflix shows, AKA Jessica Jones, won't be along til late in the year, and there's no guarantee that we'll see Daredevil again before the Defenders mini-series, but these thirteen episodes have gone a long way to enriching Marvel's on-screen world, and setting up hints for the future. So let's unpack some of the mysteries, Easter eggs, teasers, and in-jokes from Daredevil, and speculate wildly on where all this is going to go in the other Netflix solo series, and perhaps even in Daredevil season two.

Marvel’s upcoming AKA Jessica Jones has opened up casting floodgates in advance of its Daredevil predecessor even premiering a trailer for its April 10 Netflix debut, and now another name has joined the ranks. Transformers and Crisis star Rachael Taylor has been cast in the ‘AKA Jessica Jones’ role of Patsy “Trish” Walker, alternately known as Marvel superhero Hellcat. Marvel made the announcement, clarifying the character’s 1944 origins in the pages of publishing precursor Timely Comics’ Miss America Magazine, before ascending to superhero status in 1976 as Hellcat. Netflix’s AKA Jessica Jones will introduce the character as Jessica’s closest friend, Trish Walker, a syndicated radio talk show host, former model and child TV star, known to fans as “Patsy.”

Netflix's Marvel TV show AKA Jessica Jones may have found its lead villain in former Doctor Who actor David Tennant. Marvel has announced that Tennant will play Kilgrave, "an enigmatic figure from Jessica's past", and fans familiar with the show's inspiration, the Brian Michael Bendis/Michael Gaydos comic Alias, will know that Zebediah Killgrave is the name of Jessica's most dangerous nemesis, The Purple Man. Created by Stan Lee and Joe Orlando as a Daredevil villain in Daredevil #4 in 1964, The Purple Man is a former spy who gained mind control powers following a mad science accident that also turned his skin and hair purple. A minor but notably sinister villain, he appears in Alias as the cause of the trauma that led Jessica Jones to quit her superhero career, and will likely serve as the lead antagonist in AKA Jessica Jones. Based on the evidence of Marvel's announcement, the TV version does not go by the name The Purple Man, nor even Killgrave, but the more prosaic 'Kilgrave', with one L. He may not even be called Zebediah, which would be a terrible shame. Come to think of it, he may not even be purple.

The recent run of casting for Marvel’s ‘AKA Jessica Jones’ Netflix series brought with it news that ‘Luke Cage’ would first appear in a majorly supporting role, before graduating to his own ‘Defenders’ lead-in series. Now, Marvel has officially confirmed actor Mike Colter will don the yellow shirt and gauntlets as street-level hero-for-hire ‘Luke Cage.’

Though Marvel’s Netflix ‘Daredevil’ has yet to reveal an image of its titular hero in costume, we’d recently learned the second of the ‘Defenders’ series, ‘Jessica Jones’ had begun its casting search. We were split between ‘True Detective’'s Alexandra Daddario and ‘Breaking Bad’'s Krysten Ritter, but the latter seems to have won the role, with ‘The Following’'s Mike Coulter potentially acting as our ‘Luke Cage.’

You might think, after successfully reinventing the superhero movie genre with a series that has just hit a high point with the multiple-record-breaking The Avengers movie, that television networks would be eager for a piece of the Marvel superhero pie...

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Gaming: A new piece of Batman: Arkham City concept art sees the Caped Crusader avoiding Solomon Grundy's fist. TV: According to ABC president Paul Lee, AKA Jessica Jones and The Hulk pilots could surface next year. Animation: Nintendo has opened a Zelda Flipnote Studio contest commissioning fanmade animations to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary...

Jeph Loeb opened the Marvel Television Presents panel at San Diego's Comic-Con International 2011 by announcing update after update about Marvel comic books heading to the small screen at ABC, including the return of Hulk to your television, aka jessica jones, a live-action adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos' Alias, and an ABC Family adaptation of Cloak and Dagger...