Elektra Natchios is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Frank Miller, the character first appeared in Daredevil #168 (January 1981). She is a love interest of the superhero Daredevil, but her violent nature and mercenary lifestyle divide the two.
 The character is a highly trained assassin of Greek descent who wields a pair of bladed sai as her trademark weapons. Elektra is one of Frank Miller's most well-known creations, but subsequent writers' use of her is controversial as Marvel had originally promised to refrain from reviving the character without Miller's permission. She has also appeared as a supporting character of X-Men's Wolverine and in other series and mini-series, as well as adaptations for the screen.
Elektra was ranked 22nd in Comics Buyer's Guide's '100 Sexiest Women in Comics' list. Miller initially based the character's appearance on Lisa Lyon, a female bodybuilder. In the 2003 film Daredevil and its 2005 spin-off, Elektra, the character is portrayed by Jennifer Garner. Élodie Yung portrays the character in the second season of Marvel's Daredevil.
Elektra: Assassin (1986-87)
Elektra: Assassin is an eight-issue limited series published by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, between August 1986 and March 1987. Written by Frank Miller and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, Elektra: Assassin satirizes ultra-violence, politics, comic book clichés like ninjas and cyborgs, and the portrayal of women.
Daredevil (2003)
The 2003 Daredevil film tells of Elektra being the daughter of billionaire Nikolas Natchios and the love interest of Matt Murdock. At a very young age she witnessed the murder of her mother, and since then her father has had her become highly trained in martial arts. For the role of Elektra, many actresses were looked into with considerations including Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Lucy Liu, Jessica Alba, and Katie Holmes. A short-list was eventually made, giving the choices of Jennifer Garner, Jolene Blalock, Mía Maestro and Rhona Mitra, with Garner finally becoming the actress to land the role. Garner said of the character, "I think she's strong and cool and beautiful and smart. She'd be a good role model."
 Garner noted that the costume would be different as Elektra often wears red satin, but in the film she wears black leather. Garner explained "the red would never have worked for hiding a harness, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but you have to protect your skin a little bit. They throw me around so much on the rooftop [that] I got cut through the leather, so imagine if I hadn't had anything."
The course of events in the film begin with Elektra falling for Murdock, then seeing her father murdered by Bullseye. However, she wrongfully accuses Daredevil for his death, seeing only him at the scene of the crime. Elektra was trained by Stick as a child so she practiced intensely with her favorite weapons, sai, which she would use to attack Daredevil. When she finally confronts the vigilante, she stabs him through the shoulder. She goes on to unmask him, surprised to see Matt Murdock. Elektra finally realizes it was Bullseye who murdered her father. She confronts Bullseye who beats her in battle, leaving her for dead. She was able to say goodbye to Murdock before dying in his arms.
Elektra (2005)
Elektra is a 2005 Canadian-American superhero film directed by Rob Bowman. It is a spin-off from the 2003 film Daredevil, starring the Marvel Comics character Elektra Natchios (portrayed by Jennifer Garner). The story follows Elektra, an assassin whose weapon of choice is a pair of sai.
For the screenplay, Zak Penn, Stuart Zicherman and Raven Metzner received "written by" credit. Mark Steven Johnson received credit for "motion picture characters" and Frank Miller for "comic book characters." Filming started around May 2004 in Vancouver. It was the first superhero film released in 2005, followed by Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and Sky High.
In the Elektra spin-off sequel to Daredevil, it was revealed that after Elektra died, her old trainer Stick resurrected her and trained her in martial arts in the Way of Kimagure (the ability to control time, the future, and life and death), a benevolent dichotomy of The Hand. On expulsion from Stick's school – a life lesson for her heart of anger and hate – Elektra became an assassin for hire. She soon became acquainted with a single father and his daughter, Abby. She discovered the two were being hunted down by the organization known as the Hand.
Elektra, with the help of Stick and his assistants, protected Abby and her father. Having been a treasure herself, Elektra was later told that Abby was to be the next Treasure: a powerful weapon that could tip the scales of the Hand's power. Elektra had a final showdown with the leader of the Hand. If Elektra won, Abby would go free; if the leader of The Hand won, then Abby would belong to the Hand. In the battle, Elektra was nearly beaten – then, realizing that The Hand leader was her mother's killer, Elektra fatally stabbed him through the heart with one of her sai, and flipped him down a well where he disintegrated. A final scene shows Elektra resurrecting Abby the same way Stick resurrected her.
Daredevil (2015)
All 13 Netflix Daredevil episodes premiered on April 10, 2015.
Marvel's Daredevil, or simply Daredevil, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is the first in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, DeKnight Prods. and Goddard Textiles, with Steven S. DeKnight serving as showrunner, and Goddard acting as consultant.
Charlie Cox stars as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, a lawyer-by-day who fights crime at night. The series chronicles the character's early days fighting crime, juxtaposed with the rise of crime lord Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D'Onofrio. Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Toby Leonard Moore, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Bob Gunton, Ayelet Zurer, and Rosario Dawson also star. Daredevil entered development in late 2013, a year after the film rights to the character reverted to Marvel, with Goddard initially hired in December 2013. DeKnight replaced him as showrunner and Cox was hired to star in May 2014. Filming began in New York City that July, with production ending in December.
All episodes of the first season premiered on April 10, 2015. The series was released to critical acclaim, with critics praising the action sequences, performances and the darker tone compared to other properties of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise.
Daredevil Episode #1 "Into the Ring"
Matt Murdock begins his vigilante career and opens a law firm with his friend, Foggy Nelson. Their first client is Karen Page, a secretary for constructions company Union Allied who has accidentally uncovered a massive pension embezzlement scheme. Murdock protects Page from an assassin hired by Union Allied representative Wesley to retrieve Page's copy of the file and exposes it through a local newspaper, the New York Bulletin. Wesley covers up the involvement of his employer, Wilson Fisk, in the scandal, while the Russian mafia arranges a young boy's kidnapping to lure the vigilante into a trap. Page volunteers to work for Murdock and Nelson in retribution for their help.
Daredevil Episode #2 "Cut Man"
After being lured into a trap by the Russians, a severely injured Murdock is found by nurse Claire Temple, who tends to his wounds. One of the Russians locates them, but Murdock is able to overpower and then torture him into revealing the boy's location. He then infiltrates the building, fighting off the rest of the gang, and rescues the boy. Meanwhile, Nelson comforts Page in the wake of her traumatic experience.
Daredevil Episode #3 "Rabbit in a Snow Storm"
Murdock and Nelson are hired by Wesley to represent John Healy, an enforcer who was arrested for the murder of one of Fisk's rivals. Suspicious of Wesley's connection to Union Allied, Murdock convinces the jury to acquit Healy of murder and later forces him to name Fisk as his employer, prompting Healy to commit suicide to avoid punishment. Meanwhile, Page enlists struggling reporter Ben Urich to find evidence connecting Union Allied to Fisher's murder.
Daredevil Episode #4 "In the Blood"
Russian mobsters Anatoly and Vladimir are pressured by Fisk to eliminate the vigilante. Upon learning that Temple is connected to him, they kidnap her to lure Murdock into a trap, but Murdock is able to fight them off and rescue her. Meanwhile, Fisk invites art dealer Vanessa Marianna on a date, which is interrupted by Anatoly, making Marianna suspicious. In a fit of rage, Fisk beats Anatoly to death and frames the vigilante for the murder. Meanwhile, Urich begrudingly accepts Page's help to investigate Union Allied, which has been dismantled, and acquire its old computers in an auction.
Daredevil Episode #5 "World on Fire"
Murdock begins searching for Vladimir, who becomes convinced that the vigilante is on Fisk's payroll. Fisk brokers a deal with drug lord Madame Gao to replace the Russians as her dealer, and later pursues Marianna, claiming that Hell's Kitchen needs to be destroyed before it can be reborn, and they develop a relationship. Murdock locates Vladimir's hideout just as Fisk triggers a series of bombings throughout Hell's Kitchen.
Daredevil Episode #6 "Condemned"
Fisk sends corrupt police officers to eliminate Vladimir and the vigilante, but Murdock manages to evade them and carry Vladimir to an abandoned building to tend to his wounds. Vladimir confirms to him that Fisk is trying to take over New York City's criminal underworld and instructs Murdock to locate Fisk's accountant Leland Owlsley to acquire evidence of his crimes. The duo attempts to escape through the underground access tunnels, but Vladimir stays behind to hold off Fisk's men, while the vigilante is blamed for the bombings. Nelson, Page and Temple deal with the fallback from the bombings.
Daredevil Episode #7 "Stick"
Murdock's mentor Stick, who taught him to master his abilities as a child, returns to New York City and enlists Murdock's help to destroy Black Sky, a weapon the Japanese led by Fisk's associate Nobu have brought into the city. Murdock agrees on the condition Stick restrains himself from killing, but Stick breaks his promise and attempts to kill Black Sky, whom is revealed to be a young boy. Murdock stops him and, after a violent fight in Murdock's apartment, Stick agrees to leave the city.
Daredevil Episode #8 "Shadows in the Glass"
Matt is brought into the plan to take down Fisk with Foggy and Karen who also introduce him to Urich. Matt advises them to take down Fisk by the way of the law instead of doing it on the down low like they were. Meanwhile, the vigilante visits Urich and gives him information on Fisk while Fisk himself is haunted by flashbacks that reveal he and his mother were dominated by his abusive father, Bill Fisk. Fisk eventually murdered his father after he saw him beating up his mother, and decided to cover it up. Fisk also goes public on his plans to make the city a better place.
Daredevil Episode #9 "Speak of the Devil"
In the wake of Fisk's public revelation, Urich, Foggy, and Karen begin to think about how to uncover Fisk's past, while Matt still tells them to go through the legal system. Matt meets Vanessa and Fisk, all while contemplating whether or not he should kill Fisk. The firm's client, Mrs. Cardenas, is killed, presumably by Fisk. Meanwhile, Nobu demands a promised city block from Fisk. Fisk asks that Nobu provide him with a "specialist" in return to deal with the vigilante, which turns out to be Nobu himself. Fisk makes a public speech designed to lure the vigilante out. Matt and Nobu fight, with Matt eventually winning. Fisk confronts the injured Matt, beating him nearly to death. Matt barely escapes, only to collapse at his home in front of Foggy.
Daredevil Episode #10 "Nelson v. Murdock"
Foggy discovers Matt's alternate identity and confronts him about his apparent blindness and powers. Foggy removes himself from Nelson and Murdock. Meanwhile, Karen tricks Ben into helping her find Fisk's mother, who they interrogate for information about Fisk's troubling past. Fisk and Vanessa attend a fundraising party after Fisk's successful speeches to the public that earned him the respect of the Hell's Kitchen. People begin to drop because of poisoned champagne, and Vanessa is one of them.
Episode #11 "The Path of the Righteous"
Still recovering from his injuries, Matt finds Melvin Potter, a mentally unbalanced engineer who has been coerced into working for Fisk, and asks him to make a suit of body armor like the ones he has made for Fisk. While Vanessa is recovering in the hospital, Karen and Ben locate Fisk's mother and learn the truth about his father's death. While at the hospital, Wesley receives a phone call from Fisk's mother and learns that Karen and Ben have tracked her down. He confronts Karen and attempts to blackmail her into not exposing Fisk, threatening to hurt her friends. In desperation, Karen grabs his gun and shoots him.
Episode #12 "The Ones We Leave Behind"
Matt dismantles Madame Gao's drug smuggling operation, prompting her to leave the city. While Karen begins drinking heavily to cope with Wesley's death, Matt and Karen make amends, and Ben attempts to publish his expose on Fisk, but is rejected by his editor. When Ben decides to publish the expose online, Fisk breaks into Ben's apartment and strangles him to death.
Daredevil Finale Episode #13 "Daredevil"
Matt and Karen attend Ben Urich's funeral, and Matt reassures Karen that Fisk and his co-conspirators will face justice. Meanwhile, Fisk learns that Owlsley and Madame Gao conspired to poison Vanessa, whom they deemed a distraction, and that Owlsley has been hiding Detective Hoffman as an insurance policy. When Owlsley tries to blackmail him, an infuriated Fisk throws Owlsley into an open elevator shaft, killing him. Matt and Foggy meet at Matt's gym and reconcile their differences, and they begin building their case against Fisk. In his vigilante disguise, Matt finds Detective Hoffman and convinces him to agree to testify against Fisk. With Matt and Foggy serving as his lawyers, Hoffman goes to the police and turns state's evidence. Acting on Hoffman's testimony, federal agents arrest Fisk and his co-conspirators, but Fisk manages to escape custody. Before he can flee the city, Matt intercepts him, wearing the new set of armor made for him by Potter. After a brutal fight, Matt defeats Fisk and leaves him to the police, avenging Ben's death. Fisk is arrested, Vanessa leaves the city, and Matt, Karen and Foggy celebrate their success and resume their work. The vigilante is named "Daredevil" by the media.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Tie-ins
Daredevil is the first of the ordered Netflix series, and will be followed by Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Marvel's Luke Cage, and Marvel's Iron Fist, before leading into the miniseries, Marvel's The Defenders. In November 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that, if the characters prove popular on Netflix, “It’s quite possible that they could become feature films." In August 2014, D'Onofrio stated that after the "series stuff with Netflix", Marvel has "a bigger plan to branch out". In December 2014, Loeb explained that "Within the Marvel universe there are thousands of heroes of all shapes and sizes, but the Avengers are here to save the universe and Daredevil is here to save the neighborhood ... It does take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s all connected. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we would look up in the sky and see [Iron Man]. It’s just a different part of New York that we have not yet seen in the Marvel movies." Dawson later elaborated that "When you've got that level of superpowers, the fighting is different, the stakes are different, and it has a grander feel. In that world, they exist in it, so they know it and it's normal to them. But in reality when people are fighting and doing really bad, elicit crimes on the ground and there are guns and drugs - bones are going to break. People aren't hitting each other and nothing's going to happen because they're indestructible. These are people. They're vulnerable and you get to experience that."
In February 2015, Emma Fleisher of Marvel Television stated that Daredevil takes place in the aftermath of the Battle of New York as depicted in The Avengers. "We are still part of the Marvel Universe, but we are not explicitly in that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. world. We're in our own corner. So the aliens came down and ruined the city, and this is the story of Hell's Kitchen's rebuild." In March 2015, Loeb spoke on the ability for the series to crossover with the MCU films and the ABC television series, saying, "As it is now, in the same way that our films started out as self-contained and then by the time we got to The Avengers, it became more practical for Captain America to do a little crossover into Thor 2 and for Bruce Banner to appear at the end of Iron Man 3. We have to earn that. The audience needs to understand who all of these characters are and what the world is before you then start co-mingling in terms of where it's going." In April, Cox stated that crossing over with the films is "possible. I think there's a way that the worlds can merge. I think our show feels tonally and thematically a bit different from The Avengers movies, but it's all one universe and I feel like there's a way for Daredevil - and other characters, Luke Cage and street level crime characters - to fit into that universe. I think there has to be a way, and I think it's about finding an autonomous tone for that [crossover] film".
The character of Carl "Crusher" Creel, who is mentioned in the show as having fought Jack Murdock in the latter's final boxing match, appears in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Brian Patrick Wade. After his father's death, Matt Murdock is raised in the St. Agnes Orphanage, where Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 's Skye was also raised.
Daredevil Season 2 (2016)
Élodie Yung portrays Elektra in Season 2 of Daredevil. In this adaptation, she is French instead of Greek. She was briefly mentioned in Season 1 by Foggy Nelson as someone Matt dated back in college. In Season 2, she returns to New York City to have Matt help her with taking down the Hand. She was raised by Stick as a young girl and trained in martial arts until the Chaste deemed her too dangerous. Stick has her adopted by a Greek Ambassador to keep her safe. When she's older, she's sent by Stick to manipulate Matt into coming to his side again, but Elektra ends up falling in love with Matt. They break up when Elektra takes it too far by capturing the man who murdered Matt's father and allowing Matt the opportunity to kill him, which Matt refuses.
Matt tries to convince her that she doesn't belong in Stick's war and can be her own person, and they almost get back together before she kills a Hand ninja. At the airport, she is attacked by one of Stick's assassins and tracks him down to finish him, but Matt stops the two from fighting before the Hand arrive and kidnaps Stick. When they go to rescue him, they discover she was destined to be the Hand leader known as "The Black Sky", but Matt convinces her she can choose her own path and they escape. They confront Nobu and his ninjas on the rooftop in a final showdown, where Elektra sacrifices her life to save Matt. Her grave is dug out by the Hand and her body is placed in a large container as single heartbeat is then heard.
The Defenders (2017)
Marvel's The Defenders, or simply The Defenders, is an upcoming American web television miniseries developed for Netflix by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the culmination of a series of interconnected shows from Marvel and Netflix. The miniseries is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, with Petrie and Ramirez serving as showrunners.
The limited series stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, all reprising their roles from their individual series. Élodie Yung also stars as Elektra Natchios, reprising the role from Marvel's Daredevil. Development of the miniseries began in late 2013, with Cox the first actor cast in May 2014, and Jones the final of the title four cast in February 2016. Petrie and Ramirez joined as showrunners in April, after serving in the same role on the second season of Daredevil, and filming began in New York City that October.
The Defenders will consist of eight episodes, and is scheduled to be released in 2017. |
