Jessica Jones could provide the biggest connection between the Marvel Netflix shows and the rest of the company's TV, specifically Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Marvel Netflix shows have always existed in a little pocket adjunct from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's TV division, with connections relegated to small references: Crusher Creel, who fought Daredevil's father in the boxing ring, was an antagonist on S.H.I.E.L.D.; the ABC show had a momentary glimpse of "Hell's Kitchen" on a news tickertape; or, most notably, the Judas weapon was used against both Luke Cage and Jeffrey Mace.
That could all change soon if the first trailer for Jessica Jones Season 2 is anything to go by; it promises the most explicit connection to date.
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Jessica Jones' Exact Origins Are A Mystery
Jessica Jones Season 1 introduced viewers to a mysterious company known as "IGH." This company specialized in the creation of combat performance drugs, and ran a paramilitary task-force who they granted superhuman strength and endurance with addictive drugs. Trish Walker looked into IGH, and found that the company doesn't officially exist. Even the company's name "is an acronym for nothing," she told Jessica. Intriguingly, towards the end of the season Jessica learned that IGH had paid her medical bills after the car accident that granted her super-powers.
The name "IGH" may have a deeper meaning, though. The X-Men comics feature an addictive drug known as "MGH." Here, the acronym stands for "Mutant Growth Hormone," and a dose can grant non-mutants temporary super-powers. Marvel's television shows have often used Inhumans as substitutes for the X-Men, meaning "IGH" could actually be an acronym for "Inhuman Growth Hormone." Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 clearly established that it was possible to steal the powers of certain Inhumans using experimental procedures; Doctor Whitehall's experiments on Jaiying had prevented his aging. It's possible that, decades ago, this mysterious research company discovered an Inhuman, providing a more pseudo-scientific explanation for Jessica's powers; she was accidentally exposed to an overdose of these combat enhancers and forever transformed.
How Jessica Jones Season 2 Could Connect To Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The trailer for Jessica Jones Season 2 has presented another intriguing hint. It seems that, in the aftermath of the car crash, Jessica was experimented upon for months. Crucially, she actually died - but was brought back from the dead. It's doubtful IGH employed Hand mystics (although it's possible given that group's confusing past); instead, it seems far more likely this was achieved with their own technology. And that's something we've seen before elsewhere on Marvel TV.
In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, it was eventually revealed that Coulson was brought back to life after undergoing a horrific experimental process. At the heart of this process was a dose of GH-325, a drug linked to Kree blood. More recently, Season 5 revealed that the Kree have been using the same process to resurrect humans and Inhumans alike. In both cases, the processes operate in a similar manner to Jessica's death and resurrection. Given the potential Inhumans link and all round lining up of the technology, it's possible what brought Coulson and Jessica back to life is linked.
It's worth noting that this is only a theory, but it fits the (few) facts we know to date. Of course, if this is correct, Jessica Jones Season 2 is unlikely to address it too visibly. Previous links between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Netflix shows have been subtle, visible only to the most alert of fans. The same is likely to be true for this plot-point, which could easily add another subtle connection between the different Marvel shows.
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Jessica Jones will return on Netflix on March 8, 2018.