Jessica Jones-- Marvel/Netflix

[Turtletrekker]

The upcoming Marvel/Netflix series "Jessica Jones" (formerly "AKA Jessica Jones") is about to wrap shooting and has been in the news quite a bit lately.

Many of the details can be found here.

Starring Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage and David Tennant as Zebidiah Killgrave, the show has been confirmed for a late 2015 release.

Among the things we know...

Rosario Dawson will be reprising her Daredevil role of Claire Temple

Jessica will have company in the strong female character department, though, as Rosenberg confirmed one major Daredevil crossover. “I think I'm allowed to say: Rosario Dawson will be dropping in,” she revealed.

Marvel previously announced that Dawson had signed a deal that would have her return for Daredevil’s second season, as well as make appearances in any of the four Defenders series. But now it’s official! Rosenberg added, “Smaller characters that populated that world will be popping in.”

That may be where the similarities between the two Netflix series ends. Loeb told us Jessica Jones, which will premiere sometime in 2015, is more of a “psychological thriller.” Rosenberg adds, “Our show has plenty of action, but it's not about the action.”

We may have flashbacks to Jessica's costumed crime-fighter days...

showrunner Melissa Rosenberg tells ETonline we may still see Jessica as Jewel or Knightress, two of her failed alter egos.

“We're going to hit on that! We're going to hit on it!” Rosenberg smiled coyly at the Summer TCA Press Tour. When we pressed her for details -- like whether it will be in flashbacks, à la Matt Murdoch's origin story in Daredevil -- she would only tease that they’re “glancing off it.”

And about the character, her arc and Krysten Ritter..

...we asked (Rosenberg) whether she considers Jessica, one of Marvel's first female heroes to front a franchise, to be a feminist. “She herself wouldn’t consider herself a feminist. Or not!” she explained. “I approach this character not from telling a female story. Gender is not the first character aspect that defines her.”

During our extensive interview with Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television, at Comic-Con, he told us Jessica Jones is “more adult” and promised they were not shying away from “real problems” and “abuse” that Jessica grapples with. Rosenberg dittoed her complexity.

“She's funny! She's dark! She’s the real deal. She's utterly compelling, both the actress and the character,” Rosenberg told us. “The first time I saw [Ritter] do drama was Breaking Bad. And she was just a guest star. We pushed her to some really dark, emotional places, and she just keeps going there. She's got incredible range!”

“It's about the character, it's about her emotional arc,” she explained. “And she's not a ninja. She never studies martial arts. She's a brawler. You piss her off and boom! You're down! We're not seeing a whole lot of--“ She mimicked a praying mantis pose and cried, “Hiyah!”

Jessica has always been a compelling character and I hope the show does her justice.

Who has read the "Alias" comic? What are your hopes and expectations?

If you haven't read the comic, does this interest you at all? Do you plan on reading the comic beforehand, or will you just go in blind?

Discuss...

 

[Commander Richard]

I enjoyed Daredevil, I like Krysten Ritter and I've become an MCU completist anyway so I'm looking forward to this.

I don't know much about the character but I read up on her online a few months ago when I learned about the show.

That's how I'm going in.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'm debating whether I want to read Alias or not before going into this. I knew a lot about Daredevil before I started, but knew nothing about Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not sure what is better (although I suspect the comic is quite good for this if it made enough of an impression to get its own series).

 

[Guy Gardener]

Oh look, Jessica is a supporting character in Luke Cage's upcoming show and Luke is a supporting character in Jessica's show. It's like one big season instead of two little seasons.

He's her lobster.

The guy writing Alias an eigth of a century ago, was also writing daredevil simultaneously, so not only would the books overlap and crossover, but the same conversations would happen in both titles from slightly different perspectives, drawn by different artists.

#### got weird.

Although another odd thing was that when Jessica said #### in Daredevil it was censored, but when she said shit in Alias, it was not. The two comics were targeting different demographics, but when Jessica really got going, her speech bubbles in Daredevil looked like redacted NSA black opps files, which is just darling to think that an 8 year old, who needed that much protection, could handle Daredevil.

 

[JD]

I'm really looking forward to the show. I haven't read Alias yet, but I plan to at least try and start it before the show starts. The main reason I'm excited is because I loved Daredevil, and Marvel Studios hasn't let me down yet.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I was reading that the complete Alias hardcover was out of print.

Methinks that won't be the truth any more in a month or two.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, there's going to be a new print - actually with brand new cover art by David Mack.

 

[theenglish]

I don't really know a heck of a lot about Jessica Jones because she came after I was well out of comics. When I got back into them about ten years ago and was reading Marvel more than DC, around Avengers Disassembled to Secret Wars, she appeared a few times.

That said though, based on how good Daredevil was, I am really looking forward to this series.

 

[Reverend]

I'm debating whether I want to read Alias or not before going into this. I knew a lot about Daredevil before I started, but knew nothing about Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not sure what is better (although I suspect the comic is quite good for this if it made enough of an impression to get its own series).

I read Alias for the first time a few months back when Daredevil was released and I highly recommend it.

It may give some of the twists away (or not, depending on how close they stick to the plot) but there it's most definitely going to be it's own thing.

One major detail about her past (don't worry, it's not really a spoiler) is that when she was a young super-hero (more of a 5th stringer wannabe really) it was in a world where superheros had been around for years and the likes of Scarlet Witch, The Vision & Ms Marvel (who all figure prominently in her backstory) are the veteran characters.

Given the state of the MCU at the moment that obviously won't work, so I do wonder how they'll work in her superheroing days in a world that didn't have superheros out in public. Most likely she was a secret Shield operative like Ant-Man back in the day, I just wonder who they'll get to fill the role of Carol Danvers since it's a fairly crucial role.

 

[Turtletrekker]

My guess is that the Danvers role will be transposed onto the Patrisha "Trish" Walker character (called Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat in the comics) played by Rachael Taylor.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Alias was one of my favorite Max books back in the day, so I'm kind of intrigued by this. From what I've read of Daredevil, I've been thinking that these Netflix shows will be too tediously morbid for my taste, but I did like Rosenberg's response to the moron who asked if Jessica Jones is a Feminist.

 

[kitik]

Unlike so many Marvel movies and tv shows (and DC's too), I have a feeling this show is going to be far more of a retelling of a specific storyline from Alias.

Will it be different? Yes, I would think so, to make it fit in the MCU for sure. But you may be spoiled if you read the comics before watching the show. If you read any Daredevil comics or Avengers comics or Flash comics, sure you'll know about the characters and the villains, and have some general ideas on how stories involving those characters may go, but it won't really spoil a tv show or movie for you. But if you read Alias, it might spoil some big plotpoints and storylines from the show. Of course, I haven't seen the show, so I really have no way of knowing for sure, just a hunch.

I've certainly been wrong before.

 

[Guy Gardener]

An antifeminist is someone who believes that all women must commit unwaveringly to whatever any man tells them to do always without question.

 

[Mr Light]

On that note, does a feminist agree to coerced anal sex?

 

[Guy Gardener]

If they agree to it, then it's not coerced.

(Everytime I see the word Anal, I think of Lana from smallville, because Lana is anal spelt backwards. For me, Lana is the face of anal.)

 

[Mr Light]

LOL! I never made that connection before! And now, I can never NOT again...

And just because she does it, doesn't mean she wants to.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Sorry, I was trying to be clever and that never works out.

1. Does a feminist agree to coerced anal sex?

(Which to me sounds like it is one particular feminist who is agreeing into being coerced, and not some esoteric thinkproblem about a subsets unilateral belief system towards an entire gender. Agreeing is more strong than consenting or submitting, but it's still the anathema of "force" or coercion, whether we are talking about anal sex or baseball. Are you really stealing a base if they let you take it? Please understand, I'm only talking about the words used, and not women's rights, which are far less open to sophistry.)

vs.

2. Do feminists believe that anal sex can be coerced?

(Meanwhile the word coerced really, really seems like code for rape.)

Although...

In the comic Jessica wasn't coerced, in fact, I think she was bored by his tiny imagination that Luke was given an unlimited hallpass, but all he could think to do was stick it up her bum (again).

Although, anal impregnation is quite the accomplishment.

 

[Commander Richard]

I was reading that the complete Alias hardcover was out of print.

Methinks that won't be the truth any more in a month or two.

You can still buy the Alias Omnibus on amazon.com but they'll probably be snatched up soon.

There's also a reprinting of the four volumes.

Volume #1 on September 15, 2015
Volume #2 on November 3, 2015
Volume #3 on December 8, 2015
Volume #4 on January 12, 2016

 

[Guy Gardener]

I still have the original comics wrapped in Mylar thank you very much.

It's just the principle of the matter, that there are good comics that you can't back order from the publisher through your local comicbook shop.

Marvel will only keep profitable titles in print, which creates scarcity, which creates a second hand market where prices are determined by supply and demand.

You know, how the world works.

Ant-Man plays a reasonably interesting part in the Alias books.

"Look at me, like you look at her!"

I wonder if Rudd is aware of what is expected of him?

 

[Reverend]

Yeah I doubt they'll be using him for that. They'll either make up some new character, cast someone and give them the name of some obscure third stringer or just ditch that sub plot altogether. They probably won't be doing that thing with Captain America either.

I do however hold out hope that we'll be seeing J.K. Simmons make an appearance.