Zebediah KillgravePurple Man

Shades of Purple

After moving to San Francisco to build his criminal empire, the Purple Man again crossed paths with Daredevil, who had recently moved there as well. Killgrave sent his men to rob the Williams Building, intending to use the Purple Man?s nerve gas when Daredevil arrived to stop them. However, the hero proved to be resistant to the gas just as he was to Killgrave?s own powers. Frustrated, Killgrave hired Electro to help, but was defeated by Daredevil, who had received his own assistance from Black Widow. Using his powers to escape the police, Killgrave established a subterranean stronghold in the American Midwest, from which he plotted the death of Daredevil. His operations, however, were accidentally discovered by Clint Barton and the time-displaced 19th century hero the Two-Gun Kid. Hawkeye managed to disrupt Killgrave?s concentration with a hypersonic arrow, and the pair destroyed his base before escaping.

He resurfaced in New York City, coercing Maxwell Glenn, a local businessman, into committing numerous crimes. Once again, Daredevil got wind of the Purple Man?s treachery, but Glenn committed suicide and Killgrave learned of Daredevil?s secret identity. With the aid of Klaus Voorhees, AKA King Cobra, and Mr. Hyde, he kidnapped the hero and brought him to Ryker?s Island prison. There, they were joined by Melvin Potter, AKA Gladiator, and the Jester in an attack. But Daredevil defeated this motley crew of Super Villains with the help of the mercenary known as Paladin. Attempting to tackle Daredevil himself, Killgrave fell into the sea and seemingly drowned.

Surviving the watery grave, Killgrave encountered Jessica Jones (operating as Jewel at the time) and made her his slave. Later, he sent her off in a fit of rage, causing her to get into a fight with the Avengers. Jessica was so traumatized by the experience that she gave up being a Super Hero afterwards.

He attacked her again years later when Jessica was a self-employed private investigator, hired by a group of people seeking closure after Killgrave killed their family members. She went to visit him in prison at the Raft and he mocked her before breaking out and confronting her in her own home. But what he didn?t know was that Jean Grey taught Jessica how to activate a psychic defense trigger, so that Jones would never have to be Killgrave?s prisoner again. Jones then beat Killgrave unconscious, and he was returned to prison. Even after that, he returned years later still to terrorize her after she?d given birth to her and Luke Cage?s daughter, Danielle.

Killgrave later tried to retire from crime, but the Kingpin and Doctor Doom still exploited him; since he could be so often defeated, the Purple Man often became the unwitting pawn of smarter, stronger villains. Fisk was able to resist his power and instructed him to kill Daredevil. Most unfortunately for the Purple Man, Daredevil teamed up with Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Power Man, and Iron Fist in response. Using a pair of ear plugs, Moon Knight was able to ignore Killgrave?s commands, and punched him out. Killgrave was again sent to prison.

Killgrave came into the reluctant employ of Victor von Doom after moving to French Polynesia, looking for a quiet life of luxury. Doctor Doom captured him and used Killgrave?s power to force the entire world to obey him via his power-enhancing Pyscho-Prism. Although Doom realized that he preferred the conquest for power more than power itself, he deed was done and the world was under his control. However, the Avenger called Wonder Man used his ionic energy-powered body to resist Killgrave and led the enslaved Super Heroes to revolt. Namor the Sub-Mariner then shattered the Psycho-Prism, apparently killing the Purple Man and ending the reign of the all-powerful Emperor Doom.

Though Killgrave was buried, he actually survived in a death-like state while his body healed its own injuries. The demon known as the Dreamqueen then pushed Killgrave into a delusional state where he believed himself to be a living corpse. Under the Dreamqueen?s subtle influence, Killgrave assaulted the home of his ex-wife Melanie and his daughter Kara?who was known as Purple Girl (later Persuasion) at that point in time. The Dreamqueen similarly manipulated the perceptions of Kara and Melanie during these events, and it appeared that the Purple Man was consumed in a fiery explosion.

He attempted to compel the mutant Nate Grey, AKA X-Man, to help him conquer the world, but Grey defeated him by conjuring a telekinetic force field to filter out the Purple Man?s pheromones. He later controlled all of New York at the behest of Baron Zemo, but the Thunderbolts put a stop to that. He soon sought to escape the government?s Superhuman Registration Act during the first Civil War by stealing a S.H.I.E.L.D. craft, downing it near Niagara Falls and escaping into Canada after a victorious battle against the hero U.S. Agent. Unfortunately for Killgrave, U.S. Agent soon caught up with him and returned him to justice.

Kara, it would be revealed, was not Killgrave?s only child. Zebediah fathered several kids, but abandoned them before they were ever born. Keeping tabs on them, he one day hoped to bring them together and rule the world by using their combined powers of persuasion. These kids were known as the Purple Children, whose resentment Killgrave highly underestimated. Together, they convinced the Purple Man to commit suicide by placing himself in the way of an oncoming train. With that taken care of, the Purple Children embarked on a crime spree in San Francisco, which drew the attention of Daredevil. When his secret identity became compromised, Matt was able to use them to convince the world that Matt Murdock and Daredevil were two separate people.