<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Elektra
Gender	Female
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Origin	An unspecified Greek island.
First Appearance	Daredevil #168 (1981)
Creator(s)	Frank Miller
Alter ego	Elektra Natchios
Aliases	Little Amber, Perfect Death, Epsilon
Abilities	Master of all the martial and mystic ninja arts.
Affiliations	The Chaste, The Hand.

Elektra is a fictional comic book character owned by Marvel Comics. She is both the ex-lover and nemesis of Daredevil. Its difficult to know what to make of Elektra, as she continues to work as a professional assassin, and yet has been allied with Daredevil as well as Wolverine. Lately, she has been associated again with the Ninja assassin cult, the Hand, which it is rumored that she leads. She is clearly, at least on some level, a popular anti-hero, who has supported several of her own comic book series, limited series, and graphic novels. She was portrayed by Jennifer Garner in the movies Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005).

Elektra is trained as a master ninja, and has all the powers thereof. She is an expert at Ninjutsu and various other martial arts, as well as gymnastics. She can control her autonomic nervous system, which allows her to control bleeding and fight infection. She can move within the shadows so as to remain unseen, even in broad daylight. She can mesmerize others, and make them experience illusions. She can communicate telepathically with people with similar ninja training. Her fingerprints have been removed, making her even more a shadow figure.

Elektra is proficient long swords, shuriken, and especially the sai. The sai is a special three pronged dagger. She is also experienced with more modern weaponry, such as firearms and military artillery.

Character Origin

Elektra was the second child born to young Greek ambassador Hugo Natchios and his wife Christina. When Christina becomes pregnant with Elektra, her husband and son, Orestez , suspect that Hugo is not the father. Feeling anger and humiliation for his mother’s condition, Orestez hires men to kill her. The assassin’s bullets kill his mother and wound his father. Christina lives just long enough to have the baby, who is named Elektra. When medical tests prove that he is Elektra’s father, Hugo accepts his daughter. Driven by guilt for his crime, Orestez leaves the family and becomes a martial arts master.

At the age of nine, Elektra encounters her brother for the first time when he rescues her from a violent assault. This event has a profound influence on Elektra, who immediately begins martial arts training by a Japanese sensei. She is a black belt by the age of twelve.

While living in the United States with her father, Elektra attends Columbia University, where she meets young law student, Matt Murdock. Matt at the time was also a bit of a martial artist and acrobat, secretly training for the life he would have as Daredevil. The two engage in a torrid affair, rendered even more romantic by having to keep it a secret from her over-protective father. During this time, she meets Matt’s best friend, Franklyn “Foggy” Nelson.

When her father is held hostage in a building on campus, Elektra and a disguised Matt defeat the terrorists. Unfortunately, Elektra’s father is accidentally killed by a policeman’s bullet. Elektra is traumatized, and flees the United States and her lover, seemingly forever. She tracks down the man who arranged the assault that led to her father’s death. She is defeated by his bodyguards, but is saved at the last minute by someone in the shadows who throws her a sai, which she uses to defeat her opponent. She adopts the sai as her weapon of choice. She was to find out years later that the person who saved her was an agent of the Hand, a cult of ninja assassins who had already been watching her as a potential recruit.

In Japan, her sensei recommends that she contact a warrior cult called the Chaste, whom he thought could help her heal from her trauma and give her purpose. The Chaste’s leader, the blind martial arts master Stick, rejected Elektra, sensing the pain and hatred that still drove her. The Chaste were at war with the Hand, so Elektra decides that she will infiltrate the hand and destroy them, to prove her worthiness to Stick.

The Hand, of course, already know who she is. They devastate her further emotionally by tricking her into killing her old sensei. Taking advantage of her shattered psyche, they fully train and indoctrinate her to become a master assassin. Eventually, she is able to break free of the Hand. Having no other purpose in life, she becomes an assassin for hire.

Years later, she takes a contract in New York. There she encounters Daredevil, whom she soon recognizes as Matt. The two ex-lovers still care for each other, but Matt cannot accept what Elektra had become, and Elektra feels that her love for Matt died with her father. The two become fierce combatants, though their battle is never conclusive.

Later, Elektra becomes the chief assassin to the Kingpin. Ordered to kill Foggy Nelson, Elektra hesitates when he recognizes her as Matt's old girlfriend, and calls her by name. Seeing his opening at Elektra’s failure, Bullseye steps in. He wishes to gain back his lost status as Kingpin’s chief assassin. He ambushes Elektra and defeats her in battle, impaling her with her own sai. Mortally wounded, Elektra crawls to Matt’s apartment, and dies in his arms.

After the funeral, the Hand exhumes the body and begins a ritual to resurrect her. Before completing the process, they are interrupted by Daredevil and a member of the Chaste called Stone. After defeating the Hand, Daredevil tries to complete the ritual and seems to fail. Later, Stone brings Elektra’s body back to the Chaste. There Elektra awakens, and, now seemingly purified, is able to join the Chaste.

This was not to last. Elektra’s dark aspect returns to her, and she has to leave the Chaste. Purposeless again, Elektra falls back into the life of a professional assassin.