Hopefully by now you have finished watching Jessica Jones, but if you haven’t, spoilers are ahead! Tread lightly, friends, as we discuss exactly how Jessica Jones connects to the MCU.
As you probably already know, Jessica Jones takes place in Netflix’s corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe along with Daredevil and the forthcoming Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders shows that will premier in the future. It’s important to keep in mind, howver, that while these shows are helmed by Netflix, that they also take place in the same universe at the Avengers, Agents of SHIELD, and even Guardians of the Galaxy.
While Jessica is having a drink at Luke’s bar, picture Thanos in some far off galaxy twiddling his thumbs to figure out the next part of his plan. While Claire Temple is bandaging people up in the hospital, picture Captain America and Black Widow training their new team of Avengers.
What’s awesome about Marvel and the MCU is that all of these various types of characters and stories can and do exist in the same universe. At the moment, it doesn’t seem like any of the street heroes that will eventually make up the Defenders team will be involved in the fight against Thanos in the future, but it’s cool to think that while the Avengers and the Guardians are dealing with global and inter-galactic threats, there are others who are dealing with street-level crime in small parts of New York City. Just because Thanos is the “big bad” of the MCU who’s orchestrating his grand plan doesn’t mean he’s the only bad guy, as Kingpin and Kilgrave have both proven that.
So, since Jessica Jones takes place within the MCU, what connections did we notice to the greater universe? Generally speaking, Jessica Jones is pretty self-contained, with only minor references to the MCU, but there are a few. Here are some of the ones we noticed:
MCU References in Jessica Jones
Episode One
- It’s made fairly obvious that “powered people” other than the Avengers are common knowledge when Jessica serves the jerk with the nice car his summons.
Episode Three
- Luke Cage references the “big green dude and his crew.”
- There’s a radio broadcast in the background that references the Battle of New York and other “super folk.”
Episode Four
- Jessica’s new client, Eastman, thinks Jessica was somehow involved in the Incident (Netflix term for Battle of New York that’s also used in Daredevil), and blames Jessica for her mother dying in a collapsed building during the Battle. Eastman associates the fact that Jessica has abilities with her somehow being responsible for her mother’s death. Jessica says she had nothing to do with “the big green guy and the flag waver.”
Episode Five
- In a quick scene in Central Park, a kid can be seen cosplaying as Captain America.
Elsewhere in the Series
As the show goes on, there are less and less references to the greater MCU. In episode eight, there’s a WHIH News report on television. WHIH is basically the CNN of the MCU and has appeared in many film and television properties in the cinematic universe. In episode 11, there’s a long shot of the skyline of the city and I think Avengers Tower is visible in the background. I’ve never been to NYC, so if it’s not actually the tower, feel free to correct me!
Finally, to help with some continuity, Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple makes an appearance in the finale and help patch up Luke Cage. It’s a cool and welcomed cameo and her line, “you don’t scare me and you’re not my first,” pretty much solidify her role in this corner of the MCU.
What other connections or references to the cinematic universe did you notice? Let us know in the comments.
Make sure to check out all of our previous coverage of Jessica Jones here, and stay up to date on all the exciting material we still have coming about the Netflix hit!