6. Alias
What Is It? Once the superheroine known as Jewel, Jessica Jones is now washed up, reclusive, and down-on-her-luck, working as a private investigator. Although she still possesses her powers and still interacts with other superheroes, its mostly outside of costumes. Her investigations run along the rails of the more superhuman aspects of the Marvel Universe, intersecting slightly but not always directly. For example, one case involved a former teen heros DNA being harvested to create a street drug that temporarily grants the user superhuman abilities. Another centered around a conspiracy involving a plot to expose Captain Americas identity. Jessica also has friends and acquaintances who are still superheroes, such as Luke Cage, Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man), and Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel).
How To Do It Right? In this articles predecessor, I mentioned The Pulse as being a great idea for a show, and that also features Jessica. The Pulse is actually the successor to Alias. But whereas The Pulse would be more along the lines of reporting on superheroes, Alias would be able to show the dark side of that world. What happens to a superhero when he or she falls from grace? What sort of things do they get involved in? While the name of the series would probably have to be changed to avoid confusion with J.J. Abrams spy series (for a time, this show was actually under development as A.K.A. Jessica Jones), the basic thrust of the series remains the same: superheroes in a noir setting. This could be a great way to look at the street level characters from a different angle, as well as a way to utilize characters who may otherwise not have the opportunity to get the same amount of exposure. For example, the Captain America connection mentioned above didnt actually feature Captain America in the story, other than in silhouette.