Canceled MCU TV Show Would Have Introduced A Powerful Avenger 8 Years Before Her $1B Movie Debut

The canceled AKA Jessica Jones series would have made the Marvel Cinematic Universe look quite different, as one of the MCU’s most powerful heroes was set to debut in the show years before their $1 billion movie. Marvel Studios spent many years focusing only on making movies, with the MCU’s Phases 1-3 consisting of 23 films. Recently, after the end of the Infinity Saga, Disney+ made it possible for the MCU to expand in exciting new ways, with supporting characters getting fleshed out and several new heroes debuting across TV series, animation, and Special Presentations.

Before Marvel Studios started getting into television, multiple shows loosely related to the MCU came to life through Marvel’s deal with Netflix. Among the Marvel series on the streaming service was Jessica Jones. Krysten Ritter gave life to the complicated Jessica Jones, the reluctant hero who had to go back to a life of superheroics in order to settle a trauma from her past and stop other innocent people from getting hurt by the villainous Killgrave. While Jessica Jones is one of the best Netflix Marvel shows, it was not the first iteration of the series, and the canceled AKA Jessica Jones would have featured a major MCU hero.

Jessica Jones Almost Starred In A Canceled ABC Series With Captain Marvel

In 2010, years before Netflix’s Jessica Jones, the character had been set to debut in an ABC series titled AKA Jessica Jones. While the canceled series had similar elements to Ritter’s eventual Marvel show, AKA Jessica Jones would have featured Captain Marvel in a major role, which would have notably made things very different for the MCU. As reported by Collider, then Marvel Television chief Jeph Loeb revealed at 2011’s San Diego Comic-Con that both Carol Danvers and Luke Cage would be in the series. As Jessica’s best friend and her most popular romantic interest in the comics, respectively, Carol and Luke appearing in the series would have made sense.

However, had AKA Jessica Jones made it to series, the project would have rewritten MCU history. Carol Danvers only debuted in the MCU in 2019, with Brie Larson leading Captain Marvel to over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. As Marvel Studios has only recently started incorporating the Netflix Marvel characters like Charlie Cox’s Daredevil into the MCU, had Carol Danvers been part of AKA Jessica Jones, the hero would likely not have been active during the Avengers’ battle against Thanos. Given Captain Marvel’s immense power and connection to Nick Fury being major assets to the Avengers, the MCU would have had to rework the Infinity Saga’s finale greatly.

What We Know About The Canceled AKA Jessica Jones Series

AKA Jessica Jones was being developed by Netflix Jessica Jones showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, which helped keep many plot elements intact across both versions of the series. AKA Jessica Jones would have been based on the Alias comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis. Loeb revealed that the show would have followed Jessica “rebuilding her life as a private detective in New York City,” just like Jessica Jones. The show’s major change was really to Captain Marvel’s role in AKA Jessica Jones going to Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat. It would have been interesting to see Captain Marvel in AKA Jessica Jones, but things worked out well for Carol Danvers’ MCU journey.