Purple Man (Marvel)

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“	Only you have been able to resist me... and for that reason, you can no longer be permitted to live!	„
	~ Purple Man to Daredevil.

“	Feel my will conquering yours! Hear my voice... look at my eyes! Look at me, slave!	„
	~ Purple Man using his powers.

Zebediah Killgrave, better known as the Purple Man, is a major antagonist in the Marvel Universe, serving as the main antagonist of the Jessica Jones franchise and media, and a major antagonist in the Daredevil, Luke Cage and Avengers franchises.

He is an ex-spy who developed purple skin and mind-controlling abilities after being exposed to an experimental nerve gas, subsequently using these abilities to begin a life of crime. Over the years, he has shifted between using his powers for large-scale crimes to satisfying how own petty whims and sadistic desires. He is infamously known as an integral part of Jessica Jones' history, having used his powers to torment and enslave her for months, resulting in her giving up superheroics to become a private detective.

He serves as the main antagonist of Alias, Messiah Complex, Daredevil: Purple, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter, and several other storylines. He is the archenemy of Jessica Jones, and an enemy of other multiple other heroes, including Daredevil, Luke Cage, Captain Marvel, Alpha Flight, and the Avengers.

Biography[]

Zebediah Killgrave was born in Rijeka, in what was at the time Yugoslavia and is now in Croatia. As an international spy, he was sent to infiltrate a chemical refinery. During the mission, he was accidentally doused with a chemical that turned his hair and skin purple.

Caught outright and questioned, Killgrave offered a weak, inadequate alibi to his captors. Much to his surprise, he was believed and released. Several more incidents of this nature demonstrated that the nerve gas had given Killgrave the superhuman ability to command the wills of other people.

Calling himself the Purple Man, Killgrave embarked on a criminal career. The Purple Man has vacillated between an actively criminal life and easy retirement. Morally, however, he has never reformed. He can most commonly be seen in expensive purple street clothes.

Other Media[]

Television[]

X-Men: The Animated Series[]

Zebediah Killgrave appeared in the X-Men episode "No Mutant is an Island" voiced by Cedric Smith. In this episode, he does not use the "Purple Man" alias and in fact uses a face cream to hide his purple complexion in public.

He is depicted as a telepathic mutant terrorist posing as a philanthropist who plans on taking over the government using a group of young mutants (consisting of Skids, Boom Boom, Rusty Collins, and Wiz Kid) under his mental control. In the end, Cyclops gets in his way and eventually defeats him.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes[]

Main article: Purple Man (Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes)

The Purple Man appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Brent Spiner. He is shown escaping the Raft, along with other villains imprisoned there. In "Emperor Stark", Purple Man is revealed to be the mastermind behind the Avengers becoming world-controlling tyrants within a month by controlling Iron Man after a defeat, and manipulating him into developing a satellite that could spread his mind-controlling powers to the other Avengers.

Only Vision is left immune when being left on self-repair, and he manages to save the other Avengers from control. Upon Purple Man's satellite being destroyed, the Avengers gather at Stark Industries and defeat the villain, and with Iron Man, reminded of taunts by Purple Man, knocking him out with a finger flick in his face.

Marvel Cinematic Universe[]

Main article: Kilgrave (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Purple Man appears in the Netflix series Marvel's Jessica Jones as the main antagonist of Season 1, where he differs from his comic counterpart as he lacks purple skin but keeps his purple clothing. It is also revealed that Kilgrave is only an alias and that his real name is Kevin Thompson and is from England rather than Yugoslavia. He is also never referred to as "Purple Man".

The origin of his mind-control powers also differs from the comics, rather than being doused in a chemical. Kilgrave got his powers as a child after his scientist parents saved his life by giving him an experimental viral treatment. He is played by David Tennant, who also played Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sir Piers Pomfrey in St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, Cale Erendreich in Bad Samaritan, Brendan Block in Secret Smile, Lord Commander in Final Space, Wilf in Postman Pat: The Movie, Dread the Evil Genie in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, and Brimscythe in The Legend of Vox Machina.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]

He's a serial rapist who hypnotizes young women (especially college girls) into having sex with him and/or each other. At least six equally-hypnotic children were birthed from these rapes, one of whom's mother even died in the process of said birth.
He's by all means an abusive parent; once his children's mothers (one of whom he personally made walk off the roof to her death) were all either dead or in prison, he kidnaps them to amplify his own powers by using them as living batteries.
Once at a local Denny's, he hypnotized the 34 customers to stop breathing just so he could eat his breakfast in peace as they were too noisy, resulting in all their deaths. It's also said in-universe that there were 40 incidents like this in total, leaving little to the imagination regarding how many more innocents shared the same fate.
He kidnapped, tortured and enslaved superheroine Jessica Jones for eight months on end, thus leaving her with massive PTSD. To be specific, he forced her to watch him rape college girls while also cruelly brainwashing her into lusting after him during the whole ordeal, making her jealous that he's not having sex with her instead.
While in control of Manhattan, he kills 13 college students with a sonic device and frames Songbird for it, and then later cowardly orders the entire borough to commit suicide when the Thunderbolts have him cornered.
He uses a mind-control machine to cause global chaos just to spite Daredevil. Then, upon becoming dissatisfied with the results, Killgrave angrily states his intent to make Daredevil eat his own best friend and/or stomp on puppies.
Although he once committed suicide out of (what seemed like) remorse for his actions, this becomes completely subverted after his resurrection when he breaks a deal with Jessica and tries to kill his own son Benjamin in her body, and even threatens to make Jessica's husband Luke Cage go on a killing spree before taking his own life, sadistically taunting Jessica the entire time, thus showing he's back to being the same selfish hedonist he always was.
- It's also worth mentioning that even back then, Killgrave was actually pretty selfish in committing suicide since another factor was the belief that he didn't fit in on Earth due to his god complex. Thus, his remorse was honestly moot from the start.
Overall, he's easily one of the most despicable Earth-bound sociopaths in the entire franchise, and by far the worst rapist of them all.

External Links[]

Purple Man on the Marvel Wiki.

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