Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 233. Who is The Purple Man in Marvel Comics!?

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Ep. 233. Who is The Purple Man in Marvel Comics!? · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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  Hello Marvel fans, comic geeks, and all the nerds in between.
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  My name is Megan with vigilante vibes and as I usually do, I'm
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  here with another character breakdown and it is actually a
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  villain and it is not a mutant. But I would say because of the
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  Netflix series of Jessica Jones that he is a pretty big fan
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  favorite because of the show. If you liked David Tennant's
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  portrayal of Zebediah Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, then you will
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  either really, really love or really, really hate him in the
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  comics because he is a whole problem.
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  Just unforgivable. But we're still going to talk
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  about him. So Zebediah Kilgrave, he first
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  appeared in daredevil #4 in August of 1964, and he was
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  created by Stan Lee and Joe Orlando.
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  According to his own story, Zebediah Kilgrave used to be a
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  spy working for the Soviet bloc. We don't know if this is true.
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  This is up just what he said. He was sent to break into AUS
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  Army's weapons depot and steal a sample of some experimental
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  nerve gas. While he was inside, a guard
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  spotted him and fired a shot. But instead of killing Kilgrave,
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  it actually struck a canister of the gas and exploded all over
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  him, which is, you know, very comic bookie.
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  The gas soaked into his skin, permanently turning him purple.
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  When he was captured in question, Kilgrave gave a flimsy
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  excuse and somehow everyone believed him.
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  That's when he realized the gas hadn't just changed his color,
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  it gave him the ability to control people's wills with his
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  voice. So he reinvented himself as the
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  purple man and jumped straight into the life of crime.
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  Which is crazy work that you immediately dive into that, but
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  I guess you respect the hustle. At some point he met a woman
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  named Melanie in a bar in Buffalo.
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  On a whim, he mind controlled her into marrying him.
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  Eventually, he actually fell in love with her and released her
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  from his control, hoping she loved him back for real.
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  Instead, horrified, she ran off to Toronto.
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  Months later, she gave birth to their daughter.
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  Kara. Kilgrave never went after them,
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  so aw, how nice. In New York City, he used his
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  powers to rob banks and force people to do whatever he wanted.
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  He figured he could eventually rule the world, but like, he
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  very well could have. Instead, he ran into Daredevil,
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  whose sheer willpower let him resist Killgrave's commands,
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  which is crazy because it goes by pheromones on Killgrave and
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  you would think that would have a bigger impact on Daredevil.
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  Just I have questions that no one can answer for me because
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  like, I feel like that's kind of a plot hole, but whatever.
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  Kilgrave went to prison, escaped, built a criminal empire
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  in San Francisco, got beaten up by Daredevil again and
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  eventually drifted back to New York.
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  There, he manipulated Maxwell Glenn, head of Glenn Industries,
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  into committing crimes to help Kilgrave build a financial
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  empire. Glenn was put on trial and offed
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  himself when Daredevil confronted Kilgrave at Rikers
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  Island. Kilgrave figured out Daredevil
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  was actually Matt Murdoch. The fight ended with Kilgrave
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  plunging into the sea and seemingly drowning.
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  He survived, oddly enough, and weirdly, that loss changed him.
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  He realized he didn't need elaborate schemes.
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  With his power, he could just live comfortably and take
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  whatever he wanted. So he retired and became a
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  gentleman of leisure. That did not last though.
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  After a run in with the Kingspin's men, Kilgrave forced
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  2 criminals to fight each other, ruining a drug shipment the
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  Kingpin had brought him in and proved strong will enough to
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  resist him. The Kingpin forced Kilgrave to
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  help set up a trap for New York's heroes.
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  By this time Kilgrave's powers had grown stronger and with his
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  voice amplified, not even Daredevil could resist.
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  It took Moon Knight wearing earplugs to knock him out.
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  Later, Doctor Jim captured him and used a giant psychoprism to
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  amplify his powers, basically enslaving the entire world.
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  Heroes like Wonder Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and others
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  eventually broke free. The Submariner smashed the prism
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  and seemingly killing Kilgrave and freeing Earth.
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  He got better, he got better. At some point he was revived,
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  though his powers were reduced to skin contact range.
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  Then things got really crazy after Venom's prison was broken
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  open. Kilgrave ended up bonding with a
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  fragment of Venom's symbiote that massively boosted his range
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  again. He started controlling military
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  personnel across a city to further his plans.
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  He even revealed that he wanted to gradually take out everyone
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  on Earth and then himself, just despite Doom.
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  Venom eventually destroyed the prism powering him and reclaimed
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  the symbiote fragment, stopping him.
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  Kilgrave also secretly manipulated Nate Gray.
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  X-Men, not the X-Men, but X-Men, subtly pushing people to see him
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  as some kind of miracle worker, hoping Nate would reshape the
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  world. When Nate learned the truth and
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  lost all that confidence, the plan fell apart completely.
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  But the darkest chapter of Kilgrave's life involves Jessica
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  Jones. When she was still the young
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  hero, Jewel Kilgreat took control of her.
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  He forced her to take care of the police, kidnapped her and
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  kept her under his control for eight months in a hotel.
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  He psychologically tortured her, made her believe her life was a
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  comic book being watched by readers, sent her to attack
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  Daredevil. She accidentally attacked the
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  Scarlet Witch instead, because they got, she got the red
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  costumes all mixed up. She was coming out of his
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  pheromones. And, you know, she's a little
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  loopy. The Avengers eventually realized
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  she'd been brainwashed, and Jean Grey implanted psychic defenses
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  in Jessica's mind. The trauma may Jessica quit
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  being a superhero and become a private investigator, launching
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  her own alias investigations. Kilgrave kept resurfacing,
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  though. At one point he was locked into
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  the Raft while 34 people were mysteriously told to stop
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  breathing at a restaurant. Jessica visited him, only for
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  him to escape during a riot triggered by Carnage.
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  He later forced people into mass violence in the streets and
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  tried to make Jessica kill a hero.
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  Instead, she beat him nearly to death, which she should have.
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  Luke Cage once beat him senseless after drugs were
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  slipped into his food to neutralize his powers.
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  He targeted the Thunderbolts, amplified his powers with help
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  from Overmind, manipulated heroes as cannon fodder, and was
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  defeated again. He escaped during Civil War
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  chaos, tried to take over a Vegas casino, joined the Hood's
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  gang, escaped the Raft multiple times, kept running into
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  Daredevil who repeatedly found ways to counter him, like
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  blasting loud music so his commands couldn't be heard.
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  Eventually, Kilgrave gathered the many children he'd fathered
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  while controlling women, the purple children.
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  He wanted to use them to rule nations and maybe feel
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  unconditional love for once. Instead, the kids united their
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  powers and forced him to walk in front of a train, killing
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  himself. He resurrected again thanks to
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  his healing power. He tried kidnapping the Purple
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  Children to use as living batteries to boost his powers
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  worldwide. Daredevil and the kids stopped
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  him. In a strange twist, the children
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  later used his machine to erase Daredevil secret identity from
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  the world's memory, then left Kilgrave tied up for the
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  authorities. After SHIELD fell, he approached
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  Jessica, claiming he wanted to change.
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  He briefly possessed her daughter to get her attention.
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  Jessica's allies shot him. He caused a riot to escape and
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  later claimed he thought he could be a God.
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  Jessica told him he could use his powers for good instead of
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  abuse. After that confrontation,
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  Kilgrave walked away and suddenly drop dead.
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  His son Benjamin then took the body, discovered he could
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  replicate the mind control ability by mixing their blood,
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  and kept Zebediah in a coma to harvest it.
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  Things spiraled into illusions, body possessions, and Jessica
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  being briefly taken over by Kilgrave to stop Benjamin.
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  In the end, Zebediah was returned to prison, though
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  Benjamin escaped. Finally, the Kingpin pulled
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  Kilgrave into a private cell, lectured him about power being
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  about knowledge, not strength. Kilgrave smugly said he didn't
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  need anyone and told him to open the door.
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  Kingpin did, and then immediately grabbed him by the
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  throat. So yeah, that's Kilgrave.
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  He's a pretty horrible person. He's, he's a complicated
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  character. He he's a pretty horrible
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  person. So yeah, I'd say David Tennant
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  really nailed it. So I have some comics for you to
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  check out to get to know the Purple Man even better.
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  You should check out Alias Daredevil from 2014, Jessica
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  Jones from 2016, and Devil's Reign the event because first of
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  all, it's a fantastic event. It's my favorite one.
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  Second of all, it seems that Daredevil season, Daredevil Born
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  Again Season 2 will be pulling from Devil's Reign, but Kilgrave
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  is dead. This is a really good time where
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  if they brought back David Tennant as Kilgrave, even though
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  he's gone, I think the fandom would just kind of be like,
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  that's cool and we wouldn't question it.
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  We would just be happy he's back.
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  But that's what I think. But I don't know anyone who said
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  that he did a bad job. So who knows?
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  Who knows what the future can bring.
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  So yeah, that is Zubdiah Kilgrave.
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  He's a horrible person and I hope you enjoyed this episode
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  and I hope you will like and subscribe.
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  With that being said.