WARNING: Spoilers below
Welcome to Day 8 of Jessica Jones Month everyone! It should come as no surprise that Marvel will use and reuse their stories over the years, especially when those stories make the jump to other forms of media, such as television. It’s here, during the “Emperor Stark” episode of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, where we essentially see an abridged version of Jessica Jones’ history take place, only with Tony Stark in Jessica’s role. Don’t believe that both stories are pretty much the same? Watch the episode below, and we’ll take a look.
Image taken from moviepilot.com
The parallels between both stories, whether intentional or not, can’t be ignored. As I’ve mentioned a few times during the past week, Jessica was a costumed hero after she gained super abilities (thanks to the indirect involvement of her father’s boss, Tony Stark), who quit after a traumatic run in with the Purple Man at a restaurant. “Emperor Stark” reveals that Stark, after embarrassing Purple Man in a restaurant, fell under his control later that day. One character tries and fails to fight him, the other fights and succeeds. Both in a restaurant, and both obey his every command.
The similarities don’t stop there either. Both characters are tortured by Purple Man while they’re under his control (Jessica through physical and psychological means, Tony through strictly psychological means), and both are forced to attack fellow superheroes. As is fitting for his character, Purple Man eats up every second of it. Both characters are also eventually set free by a specific couple in the Avengers: Jessica was freed by the Scarlet Witch, while Tony was indirectly saved by the Vision (Vision being the one to set off the chain of events that freed Tony).
With all that in mind, is it really so hard to think that the writers for EMH might have been at least a little influenced by Jessica’s story? After all, if you’re going to write one of Marvel’s creepiest bad guys, you might as well take inspiration from the creepiest parts of his history.
Do you think “Emperor Stark” was, in some way, influenced by Jessica Jones? Let me know, either in the comments below or with a tweet through that widget on the left. Better yet, like the Comic Books vs The World Facebook page, and subscribe to the official Youtube channel to keep up with all the latest on Comic Books vs The World. Keep coming back for more of Jessica Jones Month!
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