Karl Malus

Karl Malus is the secondary antagonist in the second season of the hit Marvel Netflix TV Series Jessica Jones. He was a bio-geneticist who saved the lives of Alisa Jones and her daughter Jessica, as his experiments on them is the reason why they developed their powers in the first place.

He was portrayed by Callum Keith Rennie.

Saving Two Lives
Malus started off as a genticist working at a secret laboratory called IGH. Upon hearing of a car crash that ultimately killed the entire Jones family (except for Alisa and Jessica), Karl took in in his mission to perform experiments to save both Alisa and Jessica's lives, vastly increasing their strength and abilities. Malus proceeded to discharge Jessica by leaving her to be raised by the Walker family. Alisa, on the other hand, remained under Malus' custody, even when he closed down the clinic before marrying Alisa and enjoying a peaceful lifetime together. However, Alisa's mind began to deteriorate and she drifted down the route of insanity, something which started to disturb Malus.

Hunted Down and Death
Following the death of Kilgrave, Jessica learned about the Malus' experiments and the origins of both her and her mother's powers after her adoptive sister Trish Walker uncovers them. Jessica then vowed to hunt down Malus so that he can provide her answers about her past. However, unknown to Jessica, Trish intends to gain powers similar's to Jessica's while Alisa goes on a rampage due to her insanity. To that end, she kidnapped Malus and took him to the closed clinic, forcing him to perform his procedure on her. However, as Jessica arrived to confront both Trish and Walker, the experiment failed, resulting Trish to sustain several injuries. Out of remorse for his actions, Malus decided to commit suicide by setting himself and his lab on fire, but not before telling Jessica that he was sorry for what he did to his mother.

This event, along with Trish's murder of Alisa, is what destroyed the friendship between Jessica and Trish, as the former blames the latter for ruining her chance of mending things with Alisa despite her rampage. Needless to say, Trich soon learns that she has developed enhanced powers thanks to Malus' experiments.