Antagonists of comic book superheroes are often far more colorful than their legitimate opponents. The Marvel Universe is full of interesting characters. About one of them, Purple Man, we will tell readers today.
Character story
He first appeared in 1964 in the comics of the Marvel Publishing House. The purple man was then the daredevil antagonist. It was invented by Stan Lee and painted by Joe Orlando. In 2000, the villain had new enemies, but we'll talk about this later.
Marvel comic book character Purple Man - biography
The birthplace of the future supervillain was Rijeka's third largest city in Croatia. Purple's real name is Zebedaya Killgrave. He worked as a doctor and was soon recruited by the Communist Party. Becoming an international spy, Killgrave was given the task of extracting a sample of new nerve gas. To do this, he needed to infiltrate an American military base. The spy was unable to make his way unnoticed. Spotted by the guards, Killgrave tried to escape, but the enemy opened fire. One of the bullets pierced a container of gas, and he enveloped Zebedaya, giving the doctor's skin a purple tint, but without causing harm. Killgrave began to make excuses to the soldiers, and those, to his amazement, calmly released the spy. Realizing that as a result of the impact on his body of gas, he got the opportunity to influence people, Zebedaya began a criminal career and became known as the character of the Marvel comics Purple Man.
Appearance and character
The supervillain looks like an ordinary person, but with purple skin . Apparently, he does not hide his unusual appearance with a special costume, but disguises himself, resorting to suggestion. He has an unbalanced psyche and a pronounced tendency to violence, up to murder. Deprived of compassion and any moral principles.
Abilities and skills
As a result of the exposure of the Purple Man ( Marvel comics character ) to nerve gas, the structure of his DNA was changed. He got the opportunity to produce special pheromones that allow you to control other people. But for this, Killgrave must be next to the victim. The farther he is from her, the less impact pheromones have. He can control the consciousness of hundreds of people at once. Only a person with exceptional willpower or immunity against his pheromones can resist a Purple person. Apparently, he can throw them into the atmosphere and be in the crowd without camouflage.
Another Killgrave ability is quick regeneration. They destroyed him several times, and he was completely restored.
Marvel comic book character Purple man has a bright charisma. This enhances his ability to influence others and helps to persuade him to act in his interests.
It should be noted that unlike most of the other heroes and villains of Marvel comics, the Purple man is practically devoid of combat skills and easily loses defeat when meeting with opponents hand-to-hand. Therefore, he prefers to act with the wrong hands, as is the case with Jessica Jones and Daredevil.
The supervillain uses his abilities to achieve different goals: creating his own financial empire, for the sake of pleasure and gaining world domination. None of his plans, however, was ever realized.
Enemies of the Purple Man
Killgrave's first adversary was Daredevil. Having acquired the ability to control people, Purple Man arrives in New York and begins to engage in criminal activity. He catches the eye of Daredevil and he, acting faster than Killgrave, defeats the villain. After escaping from prison, he goes to San Francisco, where he again comes across Daredevil. Their third meeting ended in a fight and the fall of Killgrave in the sea.
Among the sworn enemies of Purple Man were Iron Fist, Namor, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Kingpin and Treasure. He tried to create a team of his children, who also had some of his abilities, but were destroyed by them.
Jessica Jones and the Purple Man - A Confrontation Story
The villain's worst enemy was Daredevil, but he could resist the action of pheromones. But there were among the superheroes those who seriously suffered from the manipulations of the Purple Man.
The Marvel comic characters appeared at different times. If Zebedaya Killgrave became known to readers in 1964, then one of his main opponents, Treasure, appeared relatively recently - in 2001. This name was one of the superheroes Jessica Jones. She was a classmate of Spider-Man. Having with her family in a car accident with a truck transporting radioactive waste, she survived, but fell into a coma. Recovering, she discovered abilities such as tremendous power, partial invulnerability and the ability to fly. It is not known how her career would have developed as a superheroine without having faced Treasure with Killgrave. Jessica Jones and the Purple Man met in a restaurant where she tried to stop the villain (he started a fight between visitors using his abilities). As a result, the girl herself was influenced by Killgrave.
Subjugating her mind, he used Jessica in his criminal plans. She was under the control of the Purple Man for eight months, until he decided to use the Treasure to destroy the Daredevil. During the execution of his order, Jones was spotted by the Avengers and captured. A team of heroes with the help of Gina Gray freed Jessica from the influence of Purple Man. She received mental protection from his further attacks. During the next meeting, the girl severely beat the villain, but left him his life.
Purple man in the cinema
In November 2015, the series “Jessica Jones” was released. He talks about superheroine, who, after the psychological trauma inflicted by Killgrave, decides to start a new life. She leaves the career of a superhero and opens a detective agency. But then her worst enemy appears again, not wanting to leave Jessica alone.
The role of the Purple Man in the series was brilliantly performed by the British actor David Tennant. The creators of the picture did not literally follow the comics and saved him from the need to apply makeup to the face and body, which would give his skin a shade of purple. Instead, a suit of the same color was put on Tennant.
The series received good ratings from the audience and was extended for the second season with the same actors in the lead roles.
“Jessica Jones” is the first appearance of the Purple Man on the big screen. Prior to that, he appeared in two animated films about the X-Men and Avengers.
Conclusion
The Marvel Universe is full of unusual characters, many of which are of great interest for their amazing abilities and skills. Some of them, like the Purple Man, come out of the shadows and get a rebirth thanks to the adaptations of the comics.