Kilgrave

"I'm the only one who matches you... who challenges you... who'll do anything for you."

- Kilgrave

Kevin Thompson was a man who was experimented on by his parents since his childhood in order to treat a neurodegenerative disease, but the treatment ended up giving him the ability to control people's minds. Assuming the name Kilgrave, he began to use his powers for personal gain, eventually coming across Jessica Jones.

He became obsessed and fascinated with Jones, even falling in love and hunting her down since she managed to overcome his thrall. His quest for a loving future with Jones soon fell apart and he focused his efforts on enhancing his powers and killing her, until he was eventually found and killed by Jones herself.

Torturous Childhood
"That's my loving mum and dad, scientists, bent into turning me into a freak. Neurological exams, fluoroscopy, brain biopsies and my personal favorite, cerebral spinal fluid extractions."

- Kilgrave

Born to parents Albert and Louise, Kevin Thompson quickly developed a serious brain malfunction which required a great deal of treatment. Thompson spent much of his young life going through seemingly never ending tests alongside extremely painful treatments, including spinal fluid extractions. These experiences caused Kevin to hold a great resentment towards his parents for never showing him affection and instead concentrating purely on their work. Eventually he developed the power to control people's wills and make them do as he commanded with ease.

Controlling Parents
"We carried out his every childish demands for years." "He was throwing a tantrum, but I was busy ironing and... I, I never should have yelled at him but..."

- Albert and Louise Thompson

Thompson forced his parents to obey his every command, using them as his personal slaves and slowly developed a complete lack of empathy for the human need, focusing entirely on his own desires and pleasure from other people's suffering. Eventually, at the age of ten, he forced his mother to burn her face with an iron, permanently scarring her. Due to fear for their own lives, his parents abandoned Thompson and left him to fend for himself for the next twenty years, using his powers to force others to give him food and shelter. Eventually Thompson renamed himself Kilgrave to hide his identity.

Meeting Jessica Jones
"Here I am, just debating where to eat and then BAM, there you are, performing feats of heroism. Come here, let me look at you, come on. Jesus you're a vision, hair and the skin, appalling sense of fashion but that can be remedied."

- Kilgrave to Jessica Jones

While walking through New York City with two beautiful women under his control, Kilgrave witnessed Jessica Jones display incredible strength while saving Malcolm Ducasse from muggers. Fascinated by Jones' powers, Kilgrave ordered the two women to leave and focused his attention on Jones, asking her about her powers. He commented on what a beautiful woman Jones was, although he was not fond of her clothing and ordered her to smile before taking her under his control and ordering her to join him for dinner. Over the next few months Kilgrave kept Jones as his mental prisoner. Although he viewed their extended period of time together as a real and loving relationship, he constantly used his powers to force her to spend time with him, care for him and have sex with him. When Trish Walker would call Jones to ensure that she was alright, Kilgrave ensured that Jones explain that everything was fine. Kilgrave would treat her to dinner and use his vast wealth to stay in five star hotels, including the Plaza Hotel; however it would constantly be his powers keeping her by his side, not Jones' own free will.

Testing Loyalty
"If you don't listen to me what is the point in having ears?" "To listen to someone else." "You never appreciate anything I do for you. If you can't listen to me you don't need ears... Cut them off."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Wishing to test if Jessica Jones wanted to stay, he gave her no orders for twelve hours, the amount of time for someone to fall out of his control. However he found Jones had decided to not leave him, allowing him to believe that she truly did love him. He found Jones standing on a balcony and ordered her to step down; when he questioned why she initially had not listened to him, he decided to punish her by ordering her to cut off her own ear. When she began to obey Kilgrave changed his mind and hugged her.

Losing Jessica Jones
"Come back here! Jessica? Now Jessica!"

- Kilgrave to Jessica Jones

When Kilgrave learned that Reva Connors had come into possession of a hard-drive featuring footage of the experiments performed on him as a child, he became obsessed with keeping it a secret. He forced Connors to reveal its location and ordered Jessica Jones to use her enhanced strength to dig it up. Eventually after digging through feet of concrete and leaving her hands dirty and covered in her own blood, Jones discovered the hard drive and handed it to Kilgrave, who did not speak a single word. Stepping outside, Kilgrave ordered Jones to execute Connors, which she obeyed by punching her so hard in the chest that her heart stopped. Kilgrave ordered Jones to leave Connors' body behind, but was shocked when he witnessed Jones disobeying him. Kilgrave roared at Jones to come back to him, but she refused, instead walking further away. At the same time, a bus driver, drinking on the job, accidentally crashed and rolled his bus, causing Kilgrave to be hit and almost killed in the chaos.

Recovery
"What shape was Kilgrave in? How badly hurt?" "One of his kidneys had been destroyed in an accident. The other one started to break down."

- Jessica Jones and David Kurata

Having almost been killed in the accident, Kilgrave sought the help of Doctor David Kurata and forced Jack Denton to donate both his kidneys to him. Kurata was forced to perform the surgery on Kilgrave without any anesthesia and saved his life, while Denton had a stroke from the shock of losing his kidneys. Kilgrave then ensured that his death was faked and went on the run while Jessica Jones believed he had perished.

Return to New York
"He's back, he sent clients to me, this couple from Omaha, he took their daughter. Remember I told you, he had that one month anniversary night, and now one month from the day he took Hope he's doing the lingerie, the gift, the restaurant."

- Jessica Jones to Trish Walker

Having recovered from his injuries, Kilgrave returned to New York City and took control of a young woman named Hope Shlottman, keeping her hostage for weeks while raping her numerous times. In order to send a message to Jessica Jones, Kilgrave took Shlottman to the same restaurants as he taken Jones years before. When Jones was hired by Shlottman's parents to find her, Kilgrave ordered Shlottman to wait on a bed for Jones and when she was close, murder her own parents, which she obeyed.

Tormenting Jessica Jones
"Children should be seen and not heard. Or better still not seen and not heard. Get into that closet!"

- Kilgrave taking over a family household

Seeking a place to stay in New York City, Kilgrave arrived at the apartment of a wealthy family and ordered them to allow him to come inside and stay with them. The couple were delighted and Kilgrave ordered their children to hide in the wardrobe so he did not have to look at or listen to them. He stayed at the home, taking advantage of their hospitality while he continued to with his plans, using Malcolm Ducasse to take photographs of Jessica Jones in exchange for drugs; Kilgrave then used the photographs to decorate a room in tribute to Jones. When Trish Walker openly insulted Kilgrave on her radio show while discussing Hope Shlottman's legal case, Kilgrave personally called the station to threaten her, noting that insulting him was a highly foolish thing to do as he could easily force her into killing herself as a punishment for the insult. In response Kilgrave took control of a police officer named Will Simpson and ordered Simpson to murder Walker. When Simpson returned while Kilgrave was relaxing and watching the football, he informed him that Walker was dead, so Kilgrave calmly ordered him to jump off the balcony to his death. However, to his shock, Jessica Jones appeared and saved Simpson, throwing him away from the balcony. Having caught eyes with Jones, Kilgrave used the distraction of Simpson attempting to commit suicide again to escape while ordering the homeowners to attack Jones. While Kilgrave got away, Jones subdued her various attackers and discovered Kilgrave's collection of Malcolm Ducasse's pictures of her. Days later, Kilgrave listened as Walker apologized to him on her talk show; in response, Kilgrave enthralled a young girl and had her tell Jones that Walker was no longer a target of his.

Poker Game
"I don't know what just happened there, but you're going to sit down and give us a shot at winning our money back." "I've got a better idea, let's see how long it take you to put your head through that post."

- Harvey and Kilgrave

Enjoying his time in New York City, Kilgrave attended a poker game with a group of gangsters. When Harvey attempted to light a cigar Kilgrave threatened to force him to put it out on his eyeball. Having gotten a terrible hand, Kilgrave decided to go all in with his cash and ordered the other men to do the same, mocking their nervousness and putting the money available to win at a million dollars. Kilgrave then ordered the men to fold and took the money for himself, revealing his terrible hand and mocking the group. Kilgrave then had a group of women pack the money up for him as he prepared to leave with his winnings, handing one of the women a large sum of money for giving him luck. However Harvey tried to stop him and demanded that he give them all a chance to win back their money. Instead Kilgrave told him he had a better idea and ordered him to hit his head against a thick wooden post until he managed to knock his head entirely through it, while Kilgrave departed with his bags filled with cash ignoring Harvey's prolonged suffering.

Jones Fights Back
"I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. So rare for me to feel powerless, well I would have been if I hadn't been unconscious but in retrospect it's exhilarating."

- Kilgrave to Jessica Jones

To fuel is dangerous obsession, Kilgrave continued his arrangement with Malcolm Ducasse, arranging to meet Ducasse somewhere in Central Park every morning to have the photographs of Jessica Jones delivered to him. In order to protect himself by not appearing in the exact same location twice, Kilgrave would inform another civilian of his location so they could inform Ducasse and he could meet him there. During one of these occurrences, Kilgrave found himself insulted by a newspaper vendor, so he ordered him to throw boiling coffee in his own face before casually walking away. This technic of no single person knowing where Kilgrave would be proved effective as not only was Kilgrave hard to find, but he knew that few people would look twice at the drug addicted Ducasse and would not likely question where he was walking to, meaning that although Jones lived in the same building, it was months until she worked out Ducasse's connection to her tormentor. One day Kilgrave decided to meet Ducasse outside a small cafe where Ducasse delivered the pictures, with Kilgrave once again keeping his back to the wall and remaining suspicious in case he was ever attacked by one of his many enemies looking for violent revenge. As Kilgrave was speaking to Ducasse however, a balloon bursting caught his attention and he spotted Will Simpson walking towards him holding a paper bag which held a concealed weapon. Before Kilgrave could react, he suddenly heard the voice of Jessica Jones, who yelled out and called him a shit-head to briefly distract him. In the confusion Simpson shot Kilgrave in the neck with a dart; unable to react in time, Kilgrave fell to the ground unconscious while Simpson, Jones and Trish Walker put him in a van and drove away. Fortunately for Kilgrave, his security team were able to use a tracker hidden in his jacket to find and managed to locate him and fight his kidnappers while taking him away before he could be locked away and interrogated. He woke up hours later in his apartment. Upon getting up Kilgrave looked at himself in the mirror and discovered a large bruise on his face, caused by a punch from Jones. Kilgrave reached into his mouth and painfully pulled the tooth out before laughing at himself for Jones' complete failure. Kilgrave called Jones on the phone and told her how it felt to be powerless because of her, noting that he found it mildly exhilarating. He asked her why she had decided to keep him alive instead of killing him but Jones refused to speak a word. Kilgrave defended his actions involving Malcolm Ducasse, before promising to leave Ducasse alone if Jones began sending him pictures of herself. Jones hung up without a word but minutes later, Kilgrave received a photograph of her which made him smile a satisfied grin. While eating at a cafe looking on the internet at homes which may have been owned by Jessica Jones' family as she was growing up, Kilgrave became annoyed at the amount of noise coming from the other customers and screamed at them to be quiet. Once everyone was quiet and Kilgrave was satisfied, he received a text message from Jones which included a photograph of herself, Kilgrave commented that Jones was cutting it very close with her timings to deliver her picture to him, looking through all the other pictures she had sent before continuing with his work.

Grand Gestures
"I have absolutely no intention of controlling you, I want you to act on your own accord." "Act how? Suicide? Is that why you've been torturing me?" "Oh my god, Jessica I knew you were insecure, that's just sad. I'm not torturing you, why would I? I love you."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

In an attempt to win back Jessica Jones' love, Kilgrave located the house where she lived until she was thirteen before her parents died. Taking the money he had won from a poker game, Kilgrave arrived at the home and spoke to the owner Lin, expressing his desire to buy it. Kilgrave decided to negotiate with Lin and offered him the money which amounted to twice the house's value. Lin agreed to sell the house and even move out by the very next day. Once the family was finally all ready to move out of their home with all their belongings packed away and the keys being handed over to him, Kilgrave made sure that they were happy about the agreement, and the owner tried to explain how delighted he and his family were with the deal. As Lin spoke for too long about how he had convinced his children that it was a game, Kilgrave became bored, using his powers and ordering them to leave the house immediately, uninterested in their personal views as taking slight pleasure as they obeyed his command without any question or even hesitation. Kilgrave began to silently walk through the house's now empty rooms and corridors and discovered one wall which had been covered over by wallpaper. Noticing that the door frame beside it had markings, Kilgrave pulled the wallpaper aside and discovered the markings were from Jones and her brother being measured for their height as they were growing up as young children years earlier. Kilgrave stared intensely at the markings which signified a key part of the life of the one woman he loved, convincing himself that this grand gesture would finally make her love him as he loved her. Kilgrave traveled to the Alias Investigations Office with the intention of leaving a journal from Jones' childhood for her to find. While there he was interrupted by a knock at the door which turned out to be Jones' neighbor Ruben, who questioned why Kilgrave was in Jones' apartment late at night with the lights off. Kilgrave made Ruben reveal why he was there and was told he had brought her banana bread because he was in love with her. In response, Kilgrave forced Ruben to cut his own throat, causing him to bleed out and die in Jones' bed, ready for her to discover his corpse later in the evening. Back at Jones' childhood home, Kilgrave decided to increase the power of his gesture of love by using old childhood photographs to recreate the house to be exactly the same as when she lived in it decades earlier. Kilgrave hired a new security team and forced them to locate the exact furniture that the house had had while Jones was living there; he even used a magnifying glass to work out the CDs that Jones had kept in her room. To ensure that Jones got a warm welcome, he hired top chefs to work for him for twice their original pay, convincing them that they were happy to be there.

Taking over the Police
"Calm down, you're killing the mood. Jessica... You're not surprised to see me. You had to know I'd come for you. Not this fast? I will admit to keeping eyes on you. Spies are easy to come by... For me." "Do whatever you're going to do to me, but let them go."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

To the surprise of Kilgrave, Jessica Jones however used Ruben's corpse to get herself arrested by the New York City Police Department, dumping his head on a desk there and demanding to be sent to super max. Not wishing her to get taken into prison, Kilgrave traveled to the 15th Precinct Police Station and put every officer under his control and forced them to aim their guns at each other. Kilgrave then ordered Brett Mahoney to bring Jones out to him from questioning; once Jones appeared, Kilgrave revealed himself and admitted to keeping spies on her at all times. Jones begged him to let the people go but he refused, stating he had no intention of controlling her mind ever again. When Jones questioned if he was torturing her to drive her to suicide, Kilgrave revealed his true love for her. They were interrupted when Oscar Clemons' phone began to ring; so Kilgrave furiously destroyed it and promised to force the next person to eat their phone, insisted it ruined his declaration of love. Jones promised to come with him but he refused, knowing it was out of fear for others, not choice. He told her how she was the first person he wanted who had left him which had made him yearn for her ever since she had left him to die under a bus. Once the security footage and all evidence that either of them were ever there was deleted, Kilgrave left with Ruben's head, complimenting Jones on the manual decapitation. Kilgrave then ordered everyone to find the situation hilarious and allow Jones and himself to leave, reminding her to look for the present he had left for her in her apartment.

Happy Families
"You and I will eventually make a go of it." "Not gonna happen." "Well this is a weird wild world, where anything could happen. Look at us, super-strength and mind-control in the same house"

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Having eventually found her childhood notebook within the Alias Investigations Office where Kilgrave had hidden it eariler, Jessica Jones got the message and traveled to her childhood home where Kilgrave was waiting, believing that she was the first day of their new lives together. He greeted her with a smile and welcomed her into their new home, although Jones remained unsure of his true plans. Once inside, Kilgrave began introducing her to the security guard Hank whom he ordered to search Jones for needles or any other weapons, noting that the Sufentanil she had injected him with before had given him a terrible headache when he awoke. Hank soon found a recorder which Jones had planned to use to get Kilgrave to confess to the murders of Hope Shlottman's parents, so Kilgrave took the phone away from her. Kilgrave then showed her around the house, admitting he wanted Jones to relive the happiest days of her life which were spent there with her now deceased family. Kilgrave then introduced Jones to the cook and cleaners of the house; when Jones said she would not stay in a house with slaves, Kilgrave explained that they were all being well paid. Jones claimed to be tired, so Kilgrave showed her upstairs. When he tried to show her Phillip Jones‏‎' room, she told him to leave it; instead Kilgrave showed off her room. They were interrupted when Trish Walker called and Kilgrave allowed Jones to answer, listening as they discussed Will Simpson, whom Kilgrave insisted he had not killed, while Jones insisted she was safe and insulted Kilgrave to prove it. Kilgrave waited several hours for Jones to come down for dinner; eventually she appeared, not wearing the purple dress he had left her and drank wine instead of eating the food Laurent Bouchard had prepared. Kilgrave ordered Hank to leave while he expressed his desire for them to have a real relationship. They discussed their time together and Jones blamed her drinking problem on being forced to murder Reva Connors; when Jones lost her temper, Kilgrave ordered the cook and cleaner to slit their throats until she calmed down. Jones then stood up, apologizing to the cook and cleaner as she left. Hearing a commotion upstairs, Kilgrave called up to Jones, only to be told she had drunkenly fallen; however when he came upstairs to investigate, she informed him that there was a bomb in the basement. Hank quickly found it and confirmed it was real. Kilgrave furiously ordered Hank to fire the night guards who had let the assassin inside, suspecting it to be Will Simpson seeking revenge. Kilgrave then spoke to Jones, expressing his belief that Simpson had left the bomb and claimed that her saving his life meant she did care for him, although she claimed to not want any more death.

Accusations
"We used to do a lot more than just touch hands." "Yeah, it's called rape!" "What? Which part of staying in five star hotels, eating in all the best places, doing whatever the hell you wanted is rape?"

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

The next morning Kilgrave enjoyed breakfast outside the house until he was joined by Jessica Jones, who began greedily taken the food that had been prepared. He was asked if he was ever haunted by his actions but Kilgrave claimed to rarely ever consider them, even the murder of Hope Shlottman's parents, but Kilgrave claimed he would be happy to kill his own mother and father whom he still despised. They were interrupted when Jones' old neighbor Elizabeth De Luca appeared who Kilgrave invited to join them, De Luca began happily talking about Jones' family, explaining how Jones had always been a tomboy and claiming that Phillip Jones had been a terrible child, which Jones denied. De Luca went on to claim that she had had a vision of their death, but Kilgrave forced her to confess she was lying and ordered her to leave once she admitted that it was a terrible thing to say. However when Kilgrave touched Jones she furiously stormed inside due to not wishing to be touched by him. Despite Kilgrave insisting that they had done more than hold hands when they were together, Jones accused him of raping her, claiming that despite the five star hotels he physically and mentally raped her time and time again throughout all the time that she was under his control. Kilgrave confessed that he found it impossible to tell when someone was under his control, noting that in his power forced him to painstakingly choose every word he said as it would be obeyed regardless, using the example of the time he had told a man to go screw himself and had been horrified at the result. When Jones continued to push him about his past Kilgrave argued that he had never had a home or a loving family, although Jones insisted that the deaths of her family did not turn her into a murderer or rapist. To prove his point, Kilgrave took out the hard-drive he had taken from Reva Connors and showed Jones the footage of him being horribly experimented on as a young child, explaining that his own mother and father were scientists who desired to turn him into a freak but instead granted him his gifts and had abandoned him shortly afterwards, leaving him scared and alone. As Kilgrave sat on the sofa watching the news with his mind filled with hatred for his parents actions, Jones questioned if he was a villain because he had never been taught how to be good since his parents had walked away from him at such a young age, with Kilgrave asking if she was mocking him by saying this. Seeing a news report about a homicidal man taking his family hostage, Jones recommended they go out, Kilgrave agreed but ordered Alva Rivera and Laurent Bouchard to remove the skin from each other's faces if he did not return within the time limit that Jones had promised him.

Playing the Hero
"You can't kill him." "No, but he can kill himself. The man's clearly insane. He is never gonna be a productive member of society." "That is not for you to decide."

- Jessica Jones and Kilgrave

Jessica Jones took Kilgrave to the dangerous site of a police stand-off with a man holding a gun to his terrified family which she had seen on the news. Realizing what was happening, Kilgrave mocked the idea, claiming not to care about the people or want the attention; however, Jones changed his mind. Kilgrave used his powers to calmly walk past the police until Jones used her strength to break inside the house. Once inside, Kilgrave ordered Chuck not to shoot while Jones managed to get his family outside and away from danger. As they were leaving, the mother personally thanked Kilgrave for saving her, to which he ordered her to keep quiet about their involvement. Kilgrave then ordered the man to put the gun in his mouth, but Jones told him not to kill him and, despite Kilgrave's objections, convinced him to force the man to hand himself over to the police. Kilgrave expressed his belief that it had been a waste of time but Jones argued that they had successfully saved four lives. Returning home in a fantastic mood, Kilgrave ordered Alva Rivera and Laurent Bouchard to bring him cake to celebrate while discussing with Jones why she had tried to be a hero. They debated how many lives Kilgrave would have to save to make up for the number of lives he had taken. When Kilgrave suggested that they become a team, Jones resisted; however Kilgrave argued that he did not know how to be a good man and needed her guidance. Jones decided she needed to go for a walk to think; Kilgrave allowed her as long as she knew that Rivera and Bouchard would die if she did not return. While he waited for Jones to return, Kilgrave ordered Rivera and Bouchard not to blink until she came back, causing them incredible pain. When she finally arrived back at the Jones Residence, she handed over Chinese food, sharing it with Rivera and Bouchard. Kilgrave remained suspicious of his food being poisoned, so Jones proved that it was not poisoned by tasting it herself. As they began to eat, Jones admitted that they should try to become a heroic team, something she had been discussing with Trish Walker while she had been away from the house for those few hours. When Jones left the table after spilling food, Rivera and Bouchard both collapsed; before he could react, Kilgrave was attacked by Jones who injected him with Sufentanil, knocking him out and telling him that this was what she would do, before carrying Kilgrave away on her shoulders, getting past Hank during her escape. As a safeguard, Kilgrave had ordered Elizabeth De Luca to return if he was in danger and detonate Will Simpson's bomb to the police officer, which killed his two friends who had come to assassinate Kilgrave, but only injured Simpson, with a shard of glass stabbing him in the side.

Imprisoned
"You built up my trust, pretended we were a team! You even made me a hero. All the while you were planning this! Why?!" "Because you're not a hero. You're a murderer, Kevin." "Shut up! Kevin died in that lab."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Kilgrave later woke up in an isolated cell with his bare feet ankle deep in water, with Jessica Jones watching him through a partition, while the video file of his past childhood experiments were projected onto the cell wall. Kilgrave was upset with Jones' betrayal, reminding her that she made him a hero, but she begged to differ, calling him by his real name Kevin and accusing him of being a murderer. Kilgrave insisted that the innocent little boy named Kevin had died years ago, leading to Jones mocking the name Kilgrave. She then demanded that he confess to killing Reva Connors, Hope Shlottman and Ruben, but he refused, so she resorted to hitting a big red button, sending an electric current into the water, electrocuting Kilgrave. Just then, Jeri Hogarth arrives and Kilgrave watches on as the two women argue over what could be admissible to exonerating Shlottman. After Jones had left, Kilgrave non-verbally asked Hogarth to turn on the intercom, which she did. He revealed that he knew about her divorce troubles and offered to help if she would let him out.

Interrogation Through Violence
"This isn't you Jessica, we were happy, whatever you think I did to hurt you I'm sorry! What's the matter with you people, you just gonna let this happen?! Please, somebody help me!"

- Kilgrave

Having been locked in his room with no communication for several hours, Jessica Jones later returned to bring Kilgrave his lunch and willfully entered his cell to force him to control her on camera. She began by seductively touching him in ways that she knew he would find erotic, before attempting to force him to retaliate by physically assaulting him. Despite Jones' violent attack on him, throwing him from wall to wall and repeatedly hitting him, Kilgrave held back rather than give in, even begging for help from Jeri Hogarth to ensure that he appeared as the victim in the video footage. Though Hogarth was about to hit the red button, seeing this assault as going too far, Trish Walker intervened and allowed Jones to continue, but ultimately decided it was enough and stopped Jones' assault before she could kill him.

Manipulating Jeri Hogarth
"You are clearly a smart woman, you know that if I did have abilities they wouldn't be inherently bad. Just imagine what someone like that could do. These powers of persuasion, could right any wrong, make any stubborn problem disappear." "Please repeat that for the camera."

- Kilgrave and Jeri Hogarth

To be added

Family Reunion
"Why did you leave?!" "Your mother nearly died after what you did to her." "I was ten, I had a tantrum like a normal child, I didn't know what I was doing, you didn't explain to me you just left!"

- Kilgrave and Albert Thompson

Jessica Jones and Trish Walker soon took the shift watching Kilgrave while tormenting him with the experiment footage. Jones later left, leaving Walker and Jeri Hogarth on watch duty. Hogarth convinced Walker to leave and was about to let Kilgrave out when Jones returned. To his surprise, Jones had came with Oscar Clemons, having been lured by Jones so he could witness Kilgrave's abilities, and his mother and father, whom she allowed into the cell. While his mother tried to apologize to her son for his parents' transgressions, resulting in a hug, before she stabbed him with a pair of scissors, declaring it their responsibility to stop him. Angered, Kilgrave ordered his mother to stab herself in the heart with the scissors. With her evidence finally proven, Jones attempted to shock the cell, but the line had been cut. As he ordered his father to cut out his heart, Walker shot at the glass, breaking it after a few shots and wounding Kilgrave in the shoulder. Kilgrave ordered her to shoot herself, but she was out of bullets. He ordered Clemons to follow, which he did after breaking his thumb to get out of his cuffs. Jones, after knocking out Albert, attempted to restrain Kilgrave. Kilgrave attempted to enthrall her once more but she resisted, so he had Clemons attack her, enabling him to get away.

On the Run
"I'm not the bad-guy here, you wanted this!" "Your own mother?" "She was a cold blooded monster who performed barbaric experiments on her own son. What happened to her was justice, the world will not miss her, or my father when I get my hands on him!"

- Kilgrave and Jeri Hogarth

Charging outside, Kilgrave ordered Jeri Hogarth to stop her car and pick him up, although she tried to pull a gun on him Kilgrave ordered her to throw it away. Once they had gotten a suitable distance away, Kilgrave defended his killing of his own mother, claiming it to be justice as she was a monstrous woman who had performed barbaric experiments on her own son before ordering Hogarth to bring him to a doctor. Hogarth took Kilgrave to the home of her ex-wife Wendy Ross-Hogarth, although Ross-Hogarth protested Kilgrave ordered her to get her medical bag, he then confronted Hogarth about bringing him there to sign the divorce papers. While Ross-Hogarth treated his wounds Kilgrave questioned what Jessica Jones wanted from him. Hogarth confessed that Hope Shlottman had been pregnant with his child whom she and Jones had helped abort and she had kept the body for testing. Hogarth was called by Jones who claimed Kilgrave's father was on the run, but Kilgrave did not believe her. Hearing the doorbell, Kilgrave left, but first he ordered Ross-Hogarth to kill her ex-wife by cutting her.

Blackmailing Jessica Jones
"You know what I call this phase of our relationship? I call it the wrath. First the Shlottmans, then their daughter, and that baby faced boy who slit his own throat, mummy obviously, your lawyer presumably. It's quite a rooster you've inspired, whose next?" "You." "I doubt it."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Kilgrave went to Jessica Jones' apartment where he confronted her, admitting that he could not control her but told her she could not kill him as many innocent people would commit suicide if she did. Kilgrave told her that he had Hope Shlottman, but when she tried to force him to admit where she was by pressing on his wound, he admitted she was currently still in prison to be freed the next day. He promised to let her go free in exchange for his father, which she reluctantly considered. While Kilgrave waited for Jones to make up her mind, they discussed whether or not Jones could have ever felt anything, Kilgrave however argued that she once did, when they were together and he allowed her to be free of his control for eighteen seconds and she did not run. Jones claimed she did not have time to jump to freedom as she had wanted to which Kilgrave strongly denied, but she showed him the scars behind her ears to prove it. Jones then hit him and knocked him out, tying him up and putting gaffer tape over his mouth.

Getting the Upper Hand
"She'll never kill me, despite her callous, hard bitten and frankly poorly styled vizard, despite her several problems she still hopes that at her core she might just be a hero. But only if she can save you, the ultimate innocent victim."

- Kilgrave to Hope Shlottman

Kilgrave quickly was rescued from his situation when Robyn and the other members of the Kilgrave Victim Support Group attacked Jones and rescued him by mistake. Kilgrave put them all under his control before taking Hope Shlottman from the Northeastern Correctional Facility. While waiting at Niku for Jones, Kilgrave forced the Support Group to tie nooses around their necks. Jessica Jones soon arrived with Kilgrave's father. Kilgrave mocked Jones' efforts to be a hero as well as his father's fear of him. To his shock, Shlottman suddenly stabbed herself in the throat; Kilgrave then ordered the group to kill themselves before escaping with his father. Leaving the restaurant, Kilgrave was approached by Luke Cage; Kilgrave managed to stop Cage before he could kill him. Ordering him into the car, Kilgrave learned that Cage was Reva Connors' husband and he was not Jones' lover. In response, Kilgrave ordered Cage to blow up his bar with Jones watching; however, he managed to keep his hold over Cage and gave him specific orders to make Jones believe he had forgiven her for Connors' death.

Increasing His Power
"A hundred feet, call that an improvement?" "Well that's up from 80, the changes are incremental not exponential." "I haven't got time for incremental, Jessica's trying to kill me now!"

- Kilgrave and Albert Thompson

Kilgrave began working with his father to increase his powers in terms of range and effect length, testing them out in nightclubs where he managed to control a couple of hundred people at a range of a hundred feet; however, his father explained that they could not test if Kilgrave could control Jessica Jones without Jones herself. Kilgrave remained unsatisfied and angry, ordering a drunk teenager to stare at a wall forever, noting that it would not be forever as his powers would still wear off within the normal twelve hours despite his father doing everything he could to improve them.

Wanting to get more men working on his powers, Kilgrave ordered the staff at ZALK to work non-stop on the drugs. When they were ready, a man took the bag of drugs to Central Park and delivered them to Kilgrave, before violently killing himself in front of the families there.

Still unsatisfied with the results, Kilgrave confronted his father about the slow progress of the results. When his father demanded to be allowed to rest so he could focus better, Kilgrave lost his temper and ordered him to step into the kitchen and turn on the blender. He then ordered him to slowly lower his hand near the blades and stop millimeters away. Once his father's fingers were close enough to be cut, Kilgrave asked him again if he needed to rest and his father said no, so they continued their work.

Duel of Delaney Hall
"I want you to know, I forgive you for everything, I'll say it everyday, for as long as you need to hear it." "You heard that?" "I wrote it! Surprise!"

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Using information given to him by Luke Cage, Kilgrave was able to track Jessica Jones to Delaney Hall; taking control of the microphone, Kilgrave called her out onto the stage. Kilgrave tried to force her to stop but his powers were still not strong enough. Kilgrave then quoted back what Cage had told her and revealed that he had told him to say it, before ordering Cage to hit her.

Kilgrave revealed how his powers had increased and he had Cage until his control the entire time, and Cage claimed that he could never forgive her for killing Reva Connors. Kilgrave claimed he had never wanted this but she had failed his test; he then ordered Cage to kill her. As Cage began to beat Jones to death, Kilgrave continued to mock her, claiming all his tender moments were controlled by him. When Jones attempted to attack him, Kilgrave ordered Cage to stop her before escaping, leaving Jones to die by the hands of the man she truly loved.

Hospital Ambush
"Oh no, are you upset with me for not dying? Did I foil your evil plan?" "Evil? Come on, how reductive. I suppose me evil means you good, bullshit!"

- Jessica Jones and Kilgrave

Knowing that Jessica Jones defeated Luke Cage and rushed him to Metro-General Hospital, Kilgrave called her on the phone, mocking her for saving her own life and risking Cage's and expressed his new found hatred for Jones. When he was insulted about his so called evil plan, Kilgrave claimed not to be evil, just unregretful and removing nuisances from his life. As Jones discovered his location, Kilgrave fled, ordering every person in the hospital to hunt her down and kill her.

Purple Man
"Dear god I'd give anything to see the look on her face when she realizes she's helpless. I'd make her want me, then reject her, devastate her over and over and over until she wants to die."

- Kilgrave about Jessica Jones

Furious that he had once again failed to kill Jessica Jones, Kilgrave took out his rage on his father, who he accused of not working hard enough despite being more powerful than ever. Kilgrave questioned what would happen if he was to be injected with all the drugs, although his father warned that the most likely result would be death and admitted that he wanted him to die.

Kilgrave thought for a moment and decided to go ahead with the injection regardless, considering that he could put Jones under his power and reject her, driving her to suicide. Once the drug was ready, Kilgrave allowed his father to inject him in the back of the neck. The injection caused him incredible pain, making him scream out as his skin and veins briefly turned purple. However the experiment was a success, but in a fit of rage, Kilgrave ordered the other two men in the apartment to cut off his father's arms and destroy them in a blender before killing themselves.

Final Showdown
"Perhaps I choose the wrong sister. From your perspective I'll be raping her everyday, my skin will be touching hers. She'll be my play-thing, she'll be my slave, and in her mind she'll be dying."

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones

Kilgrave invited Jessica Jones to meet him at the Hudson Ferry Terminal for their final confrontation. She arrived with her hood covering her face and looking down, Kilgrave mocked Jones for not having the courage to look him in the eye and unveiled the team of New York City Police Department officers under his control. However the woman was revealed to be Trish Walker, annoying Kilgrave until he spotted the real Jones and ordered the officers to shoot her. As Kilgrave made his way to the yacht, Jones managed to catch up with him; however he had already prepared a group of innocent people to block her path. To stop Jones, Kilgrave ordered the people to kill each other, forcing Jones and Walker to try to protect them. As Jones continued to walk towards him, Kilgrave roared with all this might, ordering everyone to stop, which they did, including Jones. Kilgrave briefly believed that Jones was faking but she claimed that she wanted him to stop the people hurting each other. Kilgrave claimed that Jones could have never loved him as she had never loved anyone except Trish Walker. To mock Jones, Kilgrave ordered Walker to come over to him and claimed that he had chosen the wrong sister to love, promising he would rape her continually for the rest of her life and make her his slave while she died inside. Kilgrave promised that if either of them ever saw Jones again, he would make Walker cut her own throat. He then forced Walker to kiss him passionately. Seeing that she had still not moved from her spot, Kilgrave became convinced that his powers had indeed allowed him to control Jessica Jones again. Delighted, Kilgrave approached her and promised Jones that after a while she would love him like he loved her and ordered her to smile, which she obeyed instantly. Overcome with joy, Kilgrave ordered her to tell him she loved him. Glancing over his shoulder to Walker, Jones said the words. Jones then grabbed Kilgrave's face and mockingly told him to smile before breaking his neck, killing him instantly and dropping his body to the ground.

Personality
"I have a conscience. It's just...more selective."

- Kilgrave to Jessica Jones

Kilgrave lacked any form of moral compass; if someone annoyed him, he would frequently go out of his way to order them to do something vicious to themselves. An example of this was when he ordered a newspaper salesman to throw his hot coffee over his face simply for telling him to stop loitering. This was only a mild example; he had been known to order people to remain motionless for hours on end or even to commit suicide. Worst of all, he repeatedly raped female thralls such as Jessica Jones and Hope Shlottman, impregnating the latter, and was apparently too divorced from human morality to realize it was rape. He also had little, if any, self-control, with a tendency to overreact to even the slightest insult.

Before he met Jones, Kilgrave was used to getting everything he wanted. However, when Jones escaped his thrall Kilgrave became obsessed with Jones; stalking her and trying everything in his power to get at her with the ultimate goal of trying to make her his. To further this goal Kilgrave attempted to destroy anyone that Jones was around. Hope Shlottman and her family were mere toys for Kilgrave and his attempts to woo Jones. He turned Jones' neighbor Malcolm Ducasse into a drug addict so he could use him to get pictures of her. This would have also happened to Jones' sister Trish Walker, when he was just about to escape wanted the ultimate act of revenge against Jones by taking one of the only people she ever loved and turning into his plaything whereas in Jones' mind he would be raping her, whilst Walker was slowly dying in her own mind. However, when forced to see the experiments that created him, Kilgrave showed genuine sadness and discomfort covering his ears and assuming the fetal position in order to hide from the video being shown.

Kilgrave hated children, believing they should be "seen and not heard, or better still not seen and not heard". Without batting an eyelid, he put the children of a family into a closet and told them to be quiet, not caring that the family's daughter needed the toilet. He also told a man he controlled to become his chauffeur to leave his child on the side of the street. He also saw no regret in using the fetus of his aborted child with Shlottman in order for his father to research ways to expand his powers to greater levels. One of his most defining traits was his complete refusal to take responsibility for any of his actions, often twisting events and finding reasons to make it sound like others were to blame or that his victims deserved the horrible fate he gave them.

At one point, he went so far as to say Jones didn't love him because she was incapable of loving another person, not even considering the possibility that it was because he turned her into his personal mind-slave. Ultimately, Kilgrave's personality was little more than that of a sociopathic, overgrown spoiled child prone to throwing temper tantrums over not getting what he wanted, which in turn makes his hatred of children completely ironic. Literally everything he did with his powers, from forcing Jones to kill Reva Connors to attempting to kill Jones for 'rejecting' him, were either self-serving or acts of petty vengeance against those he claimed to have wronged him.

Powers
"How am I supposed to know? I never know if someone is doing what they want or what I tell them to!" "Oh poor you." "You have no idea, do you? I have to painstakingly choose every word I say. I once told a man to go screw himself can you even imagine?"

- Kilgrave and Jessica Jones


 * Mind Control: Kilgrave had the ability to control another person's mind through literal verbal commands, thanks to a virus that he emits through micro particles in the air. He controlled Hope Shlottman for weeks and Jessica Jones for months, and he was able to enter into another man's house by simply saying "you'd like to invite me in" in order to acquire a place to stay. Kilgrave acquired over a million dollars by having the participants of a poker game all fold after betting everything. However, Kilgrave himself must have been present for his commands to have an immediate effect; speaking over a phone did not enthrall his victim. Kilgrave's power also had a time limit of ten to twelve hours before his victim began to regain his will. Until the time limit was up, the victims would continue to follow Kilgrave's command unless he gave them a different order to follow. His power was a side-effect of the viral treatment used to cure his childhood degenerative disease. If a person managed to have a significantly traumatic event happen to them to the point that they can break free of that control, he became immune to the virus and to the mind control itself. His thralls must have fulfilled Kilgrave's words specifically, but sometimes they were open to interpretation as when he told Trish Walker to put a bullet in her head, and she automatically assumed she had to shoot herself. Jessica Jones found a loophole in that command and told Walker to place a bullet inside her mouth, which was technically in her head, allowing her to satisfy Kilgrave's command. After Albert Thompson performed more experiments, he was able to extend Kilgrave's power to the distance of over a hundred feet and a time limit of 16 hours first, and then up to 24; later, Kilgrave demonstrated that he could control people by voice alone, without being present, when he took control of Metro-General Hospital and had everyone pursuing Jones to kill her.

Family

 * Albert Thompson † - Father, Thrall and Victim
 * Louise Thompson † - Mother, Thrall and Victim
 * Unborn child †

Allies

 * Eric Brantford - Idol
 * Matt - Bodyguard
 * Lin
 * Hank † - Bodyguard

Enemies

 * Jessica Jones - Former Thrall, Obsession, Rape Victim, and Killer
 * Luke Cage - Former Thrall
 * Malcolm Ducasse - Former Thrall
 * Hope Shlottman † - Former Thrall and Rape Victim
 * Bob Shlottman † - Victim
 * Barbara Shlottman † - Victim
 * Trish Walker - Former Thrall
 * Jeri Hogarth - Former Thrall
 * Wendy Ross-Hogarth † - Former Thrall
 * Ruben † - Former Thrall and Victim
 * Robyn - Former Thrall
 * Reva Connors † - Former Thrall and Victim
 * Jack Denton - Former Thrall
 * David Kurata - Former Thrall
 * Chanise - Former Thrall
 * Harvey - Former Thrall
 * Elizabeth De Luca † - Former Thrall and Victim
 * Alva Rivera - Former Thrall
 * Laurent Bouchard - Former Thrall
 * Chuck - Former Thrall
 * Robinson † - Victim
 * Ken † - Victim
 * Justin Boden - Former Thrall
 * Frank Levin † - Former Thrall and Victim
 * Kilgrave Victim Support Group
 * Emma - Former Thrall
 * Donald - Former Thrall
 * Clair - Former Thrall
 * Jackson - Former Thrall
 * New York City Police Department
 * Will Simpson - Former Thrall
 * Brett Mahoney - Former Thrall
 * Oscar Clemons † - Former Thrall
 * McCaffrey - Former Thrall
 * Morth - Former Thrall
 * Warren - Former Thrall

Trivia

 * In the comics, Kilgrave's real name is Zebediah Killgrave (with two Ls). He was a spy from Yugoslavia who was exposed to chemicals that changed his skin purple and allowed him to control people's minds through their pheromones, assuming the codename Purple Man.
 * Kilgrave tends to dress using purple suits and clothing, alluding further to his codename in the comics. Though in the series he is never referred to by that name.
 * Kilgrave's powers were discovered on Halloween of 1985.
 * His real name is Kevin Thompson, but takes the name Kilgrave as his new alias.