Jessica Jones: The Purple Man Returns

The life of Jessica Jones takes on a purple hue with Marvel Legacy.

Now a loving wife and mother, Jessica has carved out a relatively peaceful existence for herself…but on October 4, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos reanimate her greatest fear as The Purple Man returns in JESSICA JONES #13!

To get a grasp on the situation, we spoke to Brian about the revival of this living nightmare.

Marvel.com: The Purple Man played a major role in your series ALIAS—can you talk about the evolution of the character as you got to know him?

Brian Michael Bendis: Like everyone else, I read him in certain issues of DAREDEVIL, but I connected most to a MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL by Frank Miller and Herb Trimpe. It’s a lesser work by those masters, but it stars Luke Cage and Iron Fist and Spider-Man and they’re fighting The Purple Man. My young mind read this and I got struck by the idea that he had the most terrifying power of anybody in the Marvel Universe—that he could take over someone’s life like that definitely felt horrifying. And seeing him do that to a hero—with no one even noticing the hero had disappeared—became the scariest story I could think of at the time.

Marvel.com: What are Killgrave’s motives for coming back into her life now? 

Brian Michael Bendis: That’s the thing. This guy doesn’t have the same moral code as the rest of us. He lives in a different reality because the concept of power and responsibility mean the opposite to him than they do for the heroes. So finding his motivation will take a couple of issues because it’s so dense and complicated. Jessica Jones finds herself in the perfect place to figure him out…but will she be in the perfect place to stop him?

Marvel.com: How has The Purple Man changed since we last saw him come up against Jessica?

Brian Michael Bendis: He’s had other stories happen to him. Other things have happened to him since ALIAS. And all of that will be reflected in the new story.

Marvel.com: What kind of threat does he pose to Jessica’s role as a wife and mother? 

Brian Michael Bendis: Complete. Everything. This will be a nuclear hurricane right in the face of the life that she has built for herself.

Marvel.com: How do you go about making Killgrave’s return traumatic and scary, not just for Jessica, but for the reader as well?

Brian Michael Bendis: Jessica actually describes this in the story. This will be scarier because the first time this happened to Jessica she didn’t know anything. She did not know The Purple Man or what he did to her. Now she knows. And when you add a child and a husband, it’s the scariest thing you could think of. It’s the scariest thing I could think of.

Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos present JESSICA JONES #13 on October 4!