Image via Complex Original
There's been a lot of lip service about Marvel's Jessica Jones being "the Marvel show for people who don't care about Marvel." While that claim is partially true, the Krysten Ritter-led vehicle is still a Marvel product, and while this series a) finds Jessica Jones figuring out her so-called superhero life while b) helping expand Marvel's Hells Kitchen for the Luke Cage / Iron Fist / Defenders series on Netflix, the show is very aware of the Universe it's set in. No episode of Jessica Jones properly puts that into perspective like the fourth, "AKA 99 Friends."
It's a tale that could be seen as more of a standalone than some of the others, although there's enough "Where's Kilgrave?" going on to keep those who pay attention to those kinds of things more than happy. But there's a nugget of a scene towards the end of the episode that focuses on the bigger picture, and begs the question, "Where exactly do these Netflix properties end up in the larger scale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?"
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. IF YOU'VE NOT BINGED ON JESSICA JONES YET, AND WANT TO LIVE LIFE SPOILER-FREE, STOP READING NOW.
A Quick "AKA 99 Friends" Synopsis
This episode focuses on a new client Jessica picks up, Audrey Eastman. Like the majority of Jessica's investigative work, she's asked to track a suspected cheater of a husband (side note: imagine Jessica Jones on Cheaters). Audrey was sketch city when she first meets with Jessica, a vibe that Jessica picked up on immediately. Given her PTSD and paranoia stemming from all of the Kilgrave insanity, she immediately starts to suspect that Audrey's under Kilgrave's control, and is out to get her.
Her suspicions aren't lessened when she finds out Audrey is packing heat and conducting target practice.
Fast-forward to late in the episode, where Jessica tracks Audrey's husband down to an apartment... that Audrey's already in. The tables turn, with Audrey pulling a gun on Jessica Jones, wanting to exact revenge on a super-powered being for "The Incident" that took her parents. Jessica is enraged that Audrey (or anyone) would attempt to take out their pain on someone else, and demolishes a room before getting into something that we want to highlight further:
"99. You wanted to know how many of us there are? The last time I counted, I had 99 gifted friends, in this borough alone."
"The Incident"
What is this "Incident" that we've so delicately given a capital "i" and put quotation marks around? Why, that's the Battle of New York in 2012's The Avengers. Remember? That was when the squad battled Loki and the Chitauri, saving the world in the process. While that's a great thing, New York suffered some major casualties (which, of course—it was an intergalactic brawl in Midtown), one of which was Audrey's mother. While that big of a win meant party time (filled with mead) for the Avengers, the civilians on the ground were the ones having to clean up the mess and deal with the post-traumatic pain.
"AKA 99 Friends" finds Jessica Jones dealing with the aftermath of what's considered to be a mega-event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one that has repercussions both small (a woman becoming a beast with a handgun to exact revenge) and, as we should be seeing in the future of the MCU, large.
Marvel's Other "Civil War"
Back in 2006, Marvel Comics kicked off its massive crossover story, Civil War, which dealt with the idea of super-powered beings registering as a kind of police force under the U.S. government's Superhero Registration Act. Iron Man was strongly for this, while Captain America was hugely against it, and this rift caused a major battle between heroes on both sides in the quest for what was right.
Why would the government want to enact something like this? To help stop some of the insane incidents that go on when superheroes go unchecked, such as the Hulk rampaging through Las Vegas (and ultimately causing the deaths of 26 people), or the destruction of an entire city by the New Warriors after a fouled-up attempt to stop a villain. The government felt regulations were necessary, and this Act was to be the start of it.
This led to factions like the Secret Avengers being formed as a black-ops team that still fought the good fight, as well as everything from the assassination of Captain America to Iron Man heading up S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now how would all of this tie into a) "AKA 99 Friends" and b) the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole?
Captain America's Civil War
Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off in May of 2016 with Captain America: Civil War, which picks up right after Avengers: Age of Ultron, where a number of international incidents are said to culminate in the creating of a governing body for superpowered individuals. Judging by the Marvel Comics crossover of the same name, one has to imagine that this film will detail both sides of the issue: heroes who are willing to register, and those who are opposed. You can expect some infighting, and more than likely some major foe that both teams will have to band together against.
This is where it gets interesting: Age of Ultron helped introduce heroes like Falcon and Vision to the mix, while everyone from Ant-Man to the Winter Soldier will also have to be factored in at some point. But what about Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage? Jessica Jones said at her last count, she has "99 gifted friends" in that borough alone! This opens up a mountain of possibilities for tying the Netflix properties into the MCU proper, something which has been going on since the beginning, but never to this magnitude.
We're in a situation where heroes like Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage could, in theory, make some kind of appearance in a Marvel proper film... right? We've seen Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter have Easter eggs in the proper Marvel films, but it's rare that characters (outside of the likes of Agent Coulson) make a full-on leap from MCU films to MCU TV. They wouldn't have Jessica just drop that nugget of info, after such a successful run with the build-up to Jessica Jones, then totally deny her screen time in Captain America: Civil War... right?
Part of this might just be one admitted fanboy's desire to see Krysten Ritter getting to be Jessica Jones on the big screen, but for Marvel to have these glorious standalone Netflix shows getting more notice, it would be awesome if they took the time out to connect even more dots by thrusting their Hell's Kitchen squad into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.