Jessica Jones debuted in the Marvel MAX imprint series Alias in November 2001. The character and series were created by Writer Brian Michael Bendis and Artist Michael Gaydos. Alias ran for 28 issues from 2001 to 2004, with most covers drawn by David W. Mack. After the end of the series, Jones and other characters from the series moved to Bendis' subsequent series, The Pulse. In a 2005 interview, Bendis claimed:

Jones has since starred in three ongoing series, Alias, The Pulse and Jessica Jones. Alias ran for 28 issues before ending in 2004, while The Pulse ran for 14 issues from April 2004 to May 2006. Jessica Jones debuted in October 2016. She became a member of the New Avengers, alongside her husband, Luke Cage, during Marvel's 2010 Heroic Age campaign. She has used various aliases throughout her history, including Jewel, Knightress, and Power Woman.

Multiple versions of Jessica Jones have appeared in Marvel's multiverse. In the 2005 "House of M" storyline, Jessica was apparently dating Scott Lang.

In Marvel's 2006–2007 crossover storyline "Civil War", Jones and Cage reject Iron Man and Ms. Marvel's offer to join the Superhuman Registration Act. As part of the New Avengers, Jones moved into Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, but after an attack involving the demonic villain the Hood, Jones, shaken by the experience and desperate to protect her child, left the New Avengers and registered for the Superhuman Registration Act, ending her relationship with Luke Cage for the time being. Jones is among the heroes who emerge from the crashed Skrull ship wearing her Jewel costume, although it is later revealed this Jones was a Skrull. The real Jessica Jones appears in Secret Invasion #7, in which she joins in the heroes' fight against the Skrulls and was able to be reunited with her husband. After the Skrull surrender, the Skrull impersonating Jarvis disappears with their daughter, leaving Jessica desperate.

During the storylines of Marvel's 2010 "Heroic Age" branding campaign, Jessica returned to her costumed identity of Jewel and became a member of the New Avengers when the title relaunched in June 2010. She and Luke began searching for a nanny, interviewing characters featured from other comics set in the Marvel Universe. Ultimately, Squirrel Girl was chosen as Danielle's nanny. In New Avengers #8, Jessica took the name Power Woman to both honor her husband, Power Man (Luke Cage), and to be a role model for their daughter. However following several incidents revolving around Thule Society attacking Avengers Mansion, and Norman Osborn's threat, Jessica quit the team and went into hiding, realizing that it was too dangerous for Danielle to remain in Avengers Mansion due to the numerous potential threats.

Midtown High student Jessica Campbell goes to school with Peter Parker, on whom she has a crush and is present when he is bitten by the irradiated spider which gives him radioactive powers. Jessica's father receives tickets for Disney World from his boss Tony Stark. On the way home, their car collides with a military convoy carrying radioactive chemicals. Her family is killed, and she spends several months in a coma. Upon waking, she is placed in an orphanage and adopted by the Jones family. Jessica later discovers that her radiation exposure granted her super strength, limited invulnerability, and FLIGHT. Jessica's adoptive parents re-enroll her at Midtown High, where she is ostracized by her classmates, especially Flash Thompson. Peter Parker (who has since become Spider-Man) senses in Jessica a kindred spirit—someone who has also lost her family due to a tragic circumstance. Jessica mistakes his kind attention for pity and lashes out at him. She later witnesses a fight between Spider-Man and the villain Sandman in her school. This inspires her to use her abilities for positive ends.

On November 20, 2015, Jessica Jones was released on Netflix, with the title character portrayed by Krysten Ritter as an adult and by Elizabeth Cappuccino as a teenager. As a child, she was in a car accident that killed her parents and put her in a coma. After she regained consciousness, Jessica was legally adopted by talent agent Dorothy Walker, therefore becoming the adopted sister of Trish Walker. As an adult, Jessica crosses paths with Kilgrave and spends a year under his control, snapping out of it after she kills Luke Cage's wife Reva Connors on Kilgrave's orders. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of what Kilgrave did to her, and drinks to excess to numb her pain and guilt. Her Jewel costume from the comics appears briefly in the fifth episode of season 1, "AKA: The Sandwich Saved Me", although she refuses to wear it and rejects Trish's suggestion of Jewel as an alias, saying "Jewel is a stripper's name, a really slutty stripper. And if I wear that thing you're going to have to call me Camel Toe." In the eighth episode of Iron Fist, Joy Meachum indirectly mentions to her brother Ward that she hired Jessica in the past to take compromising pictures of members on the Rand Enterprises board of Directors. Ritter reprised her role in The Defenders, a 2017 crossover miniseries. A second season of Jessica Jones was released on Netflix on March 8, 2018, on International Women's Day.

In October 2016, a new ongoing series featuring the character, titled Jessica Jones, began. In 2017, a new ongoing Defenders series was launched, featuring Jessica as one of the main characters.