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Having watched both series, with their release dates being:

Marvel's Jessica Jones - November 20, 2015

Marvel's Luke Cage - September 30, 2016

Luke appears in multiple Jessica Jones episodes and has a significant part in the plot, and Jessica appears in none of the Luke Cage episodes.

Since Jessica Jones was released before Luke Cage, why did Luke appear in Jessica Jones and not the other way around?

Wouldn't it make more sense to each one have their own story, and then merge them, like they are doing now in Marvel's The Defenders?

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    Haven't watch the Defenders yet. But IIRC, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage do not end in good terms in the end of JJ.
    – LeonX
    Aug 28, 2017 at 12:08
  • BTW @LeonX - don't rush to watch Defenders unless you like "oops, we've run out of plot, let's have some more kung fu" 3 times an episode :/
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 28, 2017 at 12:19
  • @Tetsujin Oh, no worries. I've read the reviews and am actually saving this show to watch when I run out of "literally any other thing".
    – LeonX
    Aug 28, 2017 at 12:23
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    @GustavoGabriel I've heard this show is more of a Iron Fist Part 2. Which was the worst Marvel series IMHO.
    – LeonX
    Aug 28, 2017 at 12:27
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    Iron Fist doesn't do much except get washed along by the tide of the [thin] plot. Daredevil does his gung-ho chin out stuff. Jess & Luke don't get enough air-time.
    – Tetsujin
    Aug 28, 2017 at 12:41

3 Answers 3

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There's not an in universe reason. It's the showrunners' choice, probably a creative decision. They wanted to introduce Luke Cage in her show, but felt no need to do it the other way around, or that she doesn't fit the story, or doesn't add anything to it - probably a combination of those reasons.

They ended up in good terms at the end of Jessica Jones. In the last 2 episodes, despite him being mind controlled by Kilgrave, she initially refuses to shoot him. He tried to fight it off and to avoid hurting her.

Jessica: Please stop. Please stop.

He had a painful expression on his face and seemed to fight, then said:

Luke: Do what you gotta do.

She shoots him, then try to get him help.

In his last scene of the show, after he wakes up, he finds out Jessica was arrested and wants to break her out.

Claire: She's been arrested. She killed someone. It's all over the news.

Luke: He got to her.

Claire: No, no, no. She got to him. Kilgrave is dead.

Luke: She did it.

Claire: Yeah, she did it.

Luke: They can lock her up for that. I won't let that happen.

Claire: Okay. Okay, enough. She saves you, you save her, then she has to save you again. And neither one of you want to be saved, right?

In The Defenders, when they meet again, he was trying to convince her to stay due to their past relationship. In the 6th episode, they briefly address why they didn't keep in touch:

Luke: I can't believe this is what it took for us to talk again.

Jessica: I'm not good at keeping in touch. But you could've called.

Luke: Fair enough.

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  • Thx @T.J.L. for the edit.
    – madmada
    Aug 30, 2017 at 20:08
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The events of JJ season 1 feeds into a lot of events that are referenced in, or even extremely plot critical to, Luke Cage's first season. Chronologically Jessica Jones has to come first, and the events in question can't really just be shoehorned into a Luke Cage focused narrative. They are very deeply tied to Jessica's own storyline, Kilgrave in particular. Such events include (possible spoilers):

  • How his wife died.
  • How he got the data drive that came from his wife.
  • Getting shot in the head with a shotgun, surviving, and meeting the Omni-Series Better-than-a-doctor-Nurse.
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Jessica is horrible at keeping friends. She keeps alienating people that genuinely care about her. She herself says that "she is not good at staying in touch", which is a horrible understatement.

So in the "Luke Cage" series she wouldn't be looking for contact with Luke. Luke also wasn't so keen to contacting her, since in his series his cover is blown and he is a fugitive from the police and he wouldn't want to endanger Jessica (or risk the chance that Jessica is monitored by Police

after she killed Killgrave

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