Jessica Jones: Here's Why Dr. Karl Malus Could Be Very Important

Jessica JonesSeason 2 has a big tie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his name is Dr. Karl Malus (Callum Keith Rennie).

Marvel's Netflix superhero shows haven't always followed comic book canon, but they've found creative ways to incorporate characters and storylines from their source materials nonetheless. This season of Jessica Jones, for instance, introduced Dr. Karl Malus, who has a pretty long history in the Marvel universe. He's appeared several times in the Captain American comics, and he's also popped up in Iron Man, Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange.

In the comics, he's a brilliant but mad scientist who performs illegal experiments on humans to study superhuman abilities. He got his start by founding the Institute for Supranormality Research, but he didn't study powered people out of some altruistic motive. In fact, one of his most common tactics was to control the powered people he experimented on and use them for his own purposes.

His unethical practices didn't stop there though.

One of his most dangerous discoveries in the comics could actually mean huge things for Jessica (Krysten Ritter) should it ever be incorporated into the show. During his experiments, Malus eventually learned how to de-augment people who'd been genetically enhanced to have powers, which could be bad news bears for Jessica.

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Malus was briefly introduced in Jessica Jones Season 2 Episode 5, and he'll play a big part in Jessica's (Krysten Ritter) journey to discover the origins of her own powers through the rest of the season.

Jessica Jones Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.