10 Comic Book Supervillains Improved Through Retcon
3. The Purple Man - Zebediah Killgrave
The Purple Man was a minor villain from the early days of Daredevil. He had developed his persuasion powers after being doused with some kind of Soviet chemical in his native Russia. Coming to New York, he used his power to manipulate others to perform crimes, wait on him, or undertake other activities. Daredevil’s will proved too strong to be manipulated and Killgrave was defeated.
Killgrave resurfaced when he kidnapped Jessica Jones, then minor hero Jewel, and held her prisoner for over eight months. He repeatedly made her strip naked and beg him for sex while making her watch him rape mesmerized women, among other indignities. This torture continued until Killgrave ordered Jessica to kill Daredevil. She strangely mistook the Scarlet Witch for Daredevil and attacked her. Even more strangely, the Avengers beat her into a coma. Jean Grey brought her out of the coma and created a block to prevent Kilgrave’s powers from controlling her again.
Killgrave found that he had a number of children that he had fathered with the women he had mesmerized. Many of them had some or all of his powers and banded together in vengeance against their father. The Kingpin, another person whose will is too strong for Killgrave to manipulate, recently tried to kill him and steal his power.