Iconic Marvel hero Jessica Jones has a new superhero codename, as Marvel radically reinvents her superpowers and identity. At various times known as Jewel, Huntress and Power Woman, Jessica Jones isn’t exactly a traditional superhero, and it’s already clear this new name won’t change what’s fundamental to the character.
Jessica Jones was retconned into existence in 2001 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos. Depicted as an alcoholic private detective who had crashed out of the superhero life, Marvel’s adults-only Alias series gradually revealed her previous career, and how encountering the Purple Man destroyed her innocence.
However, one of the most surprising elements of Jessica Jones’ backstory is that she went to school with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man – Bendis and Gaydos even found an unnamed character in Amazing Spider-Man #4 to retcon as Jones. Now, that fun fact is about to change everything fans know about Jessica Jones…
Jessica Jones Claims the Spider-Girl Codename
Marvel just shared a preview of the upcoming What If…? Jessica Jones #1, from Justina Ireland, David Messina, Brian Reber and Joe Sabino. The issue rewrites Jessica’s history so that she, rather than Peter Parker, was bitten by a radioactive spider, gaining arachnid powers.
As Jess tangles with a drunk bar patron, he reveals her official superhero name was ‘Spider-Girl.’ However, with Jessica Jones’ acerbic personality intact and her tending bar for Luke Cage, it doesn’t seem like her superhero career went much better than in mainstream canon.
Fans already know that from here, Jess will become entangled in the return of the Green Goblin, begging a host of questions. If Jessica Jones was Spider-Girl, did Green Goblin kill someone close to her in place of Gwen Stacy? And with a different history, is Norman Osborn even the villain under the mask?
Given this new timeline changes Peter’s story too, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him placed in either role (especially since Jessica canonically had a high school crush on him.)
Jessica Jones Gets a New Spider-Girl Costume
Alongside her new codename, Jess seemingly also has a new costume, with David Messina’s variant cover showing her in a blue and pink take on Spider-Man’s costume, facing down Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, the Prowler and Hammerhead.
It’s unclear if this is her official costume as Spider-Girl, or just appearing on this cover. On the one hand, it’s an incredibly kitsch design, with go-go boots and a pointed mask. On the other hand, Jessica’s costume as Jewel was similarly slight, since its whole purpose was to enhance the contrast between her naive early heroism and her jaded worldview in the modern day.
Jessica Jones Is Getting a 2026 Renaissance
Given there have been years at a time where Marvel fans barely heard from Jessica Jones, 2026 has been a good year. Outside this What If…? one-shot, Jessica has starred in the Alias: Red Band #1 miniseries from Sam Humphries and Geraldo Borges, which has seen her return to adults-only content, hunting a serial killer alongside Typhoid Mary.
With Krysten Ritter reprising her role as Jessica Jones in Daredevil: Born Again season two, it seems Marvel has further television plans for the foul-mouthed private detective, with synergy dictating she’s likely to keep getting comic attention as long as Ritter is depicting her on the small screen. Great news for the many fans who, in a rare situation for a popular Marvel character, have been following her ever since her debut.
Marvel’s new one-shot What If…? Jessica Jones reimagines Jess as the one and only Spider-Girl, as the jaded hero is forced into a dark rematch with her former nemesis, the Green Goblin.
What If…? Jessica Jones #1 is coming July 15 from Marvel Comics.