Here she is in the costume of Jewel, her old superhero identity, looking badass:
Jessica Jones has never really been seen as a superhero character because she never was a superhero character...Let me try that again.
In 2oo1, Bendis created Jessica Jones in her own title "Alias".
[The following is a dramatization and in no way reflects the thoughts, opinions, values, financial status, parent company, or sex lives of Marvel Entertainment, INC.]
So the story goes: The first script opened with the word "fuck" and Marvel's editorial department was all prepared to do the usual "Bendis, I know you want this character to be a foul-mouthed lady and that's cool, but the same company that publishes Spider-Man CANNOT publish comics with the word 'fuck' in them," but then someone said "Why can't we publish this? Why can't we put it in the comic-book stores with a MATURE label on it like the music industry does?"
And so the Marvel MAX imprint was born. A place where Marvel's creators and Marvel's characters could be naughty together. It's still around today in case you didn't know.
Jessica Jones was a private investigator who specialized in cases involving superheroes or super-powered people. She was the only person who could do this because-- drum roll..... she USED to be a superhero! She attended Midtown High, the same high school as Peter Parker and had a big crush on him (Bendis still got Spidey in there!) and in the classic Marvel 1960s million-in-one-accident explanation she got superpowers. A teenager with superpowers she of course ran out and became a superhero. Called herself Jewel and dressed, essentially, like she looks at the top of this post.
But things did not go rosey and super-heroric for Jessica Jones. She went through hell and quit. But all that is flashback to the main story in which Jessica is a private investigator and is dating Luke Cage. So, ya see, she was never a superhero character. She was a retired-superhero detective character from day UNO.
The series was cancelled with issue #28, but the character and her setting was carried over to one of Bendis' next pet projects: "The Pulse". In fact, Jessica and Luke had already been popping-up in the pages of Bendis' major series "New Avengers". They got hitched in that series' first annual.
These two series not being a part of the MAX Imprint, they were constrained in their subject matter, but not in their use of the wider Marvel U. So Jessica became a bit less of a foul-mouthed lady (which was explained as an effort of her willpower for her soon-to-be-born daughter), but Spider-Man, Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, and the Green Gobin play a big role in the first story-arc of "The Pulse" and we got the fun of Jessica interacting with Iron Man and Captain America in the pages of "New Avengers".
The fact that she and her hubby Mr. Luke Cage are now both going to be super-duper heroic members of Bendis' New Avengers team should be pretty cool. Although Jessica is now a mother and can't spout the F-bomb anymore, she is still tough as nails. And Luke Cage... Luke Cage was ALWAYS tough as nails. It's another step away from what originally made Jessica Jones great but I don't believe that characters should be so constrained as to be forced into one mold. She was a retired-superhero detective. She married a superhero. Now it looks like she's going to be a superhero again. Makes sense to me.
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