Jessica Jones' Powers Came At A Very Big Price

Jessica Jones doesn't subscribe to a lot of the traditional aspects of being a superhero. She doesn't wear a costume or go by a pseudonym. She's more concerned with her own problems and her job as a private investigator than turning herself into a masked crusader. But despite that, she is a superhero, and she's got all the abilities that come with the job. So what are Jessica Jones' powers, you ask? She has some seriously impressive ones.

Jessica's most useful power appears to be her superhuman strength, which is helpful in several ways. Not only could she pick up a car if she had to, but she also has superhuman durability and can withstand injuries that many others couldn't. She seems to possess enhanced speed and heals a lot quicker than the average person would, too. She has the power of flight, but she's not quite as skilled at using it. On Marvel and Netflix's Jessica Jones, she developed the ability to resist her enemy Kilgrave's mind control powers as well, though it's not totally evident how that happened. It's possible repeated exposure built up her immunity, but that's just one theory.

On the show, Jessica has had mixed feelings about her abilities ever since they first showed up. Like many other Marvel heroes, she wasn't born with strength, speed, and flight at her fingertips. She acquired those skills through a traumatic event that defined her young life.

From the trailer, it looks like much of Jessica Jones Season 2 will delve into its titular heroine's past when it premieres on March 8. However, fans did get some of her origin story in the first season. When Jessica was a teenager, her entire family was killed in an accident after their car collided with a truck. In the comics, that left Jessica doused with chemicals that turned her from normal teen into burgeoning superhero. But it looks like there might be more to the story than that.

The accident happened the same way it did in the comics, but toxic substances might not be the cause of Jessica's powers on the show. She was experimented on in the hospital during her recovery by a group called IGH. In Season 1, Jessica and Trish discovered that IGH paid for Jessica's hospital bills, but they had no idea why the company would do that or who was behind the organization. IGH popped up again to enhance the abilities of soldier-turned-cop-turned-creep Will Simpson, but while it's clear they have the market cornered on giving people powers, it's still uncertain why they chose Jessica as a guinea pig.

Jessica's powers emerged shortly after she was released from the hospital into the care of her new adoptive mother Dorothy Walker, which also made her and Trish adoptive sisters. Jessica and Trish bonded for the first time while they were living together as teens because Jessica could use her skills to protect Trish from her mom's abuse. It seemed like Jessica kept her abilities fairly quiet after that until urging from Trish had her experimenting with becoming a proper superhero. Unfortunately, crossing paths with Kilgrave put an end to that.

It seems like all the unanswered questions from Jessica's teenage years are still weighing heavily on her in the present. In the second season, she'll be digging even deeper into what happened during the accident and in its aftermath that caused her to manifest such superhuman powers. Since Jessica is much better at getting to the bottom of a mysterious situation than she is at flying, there's a good chance that she'll discover the truth before the season is done.

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