Daredevil Message Board

[The Overlord]

Who do you prefer, Elektra or Typhoid Mary? I think I prefer Typhoid Mary personally.

I think Typhoid Mary is more compelling then Elektra. Frankly Elektra doesn't have a good reason for what she is doing beyond greed, Mary at least has mental issues that mitigate her actions. Elektra has murdered at least one innocent person for cash, why do super heroes tolerate her? She should be in prison.

I agree with Frank Miller on her, Elektra should have stayed dead. Elektra murdered Urich's contact and tried to murder him and for what, just some more money? Elektra's death was her redemption, her last act was to spare Foggy and then she was killed by Bullseye. She did the right thing in the end, but karma still got her. Now that she is back, that redemption is nullified, she received no real punishment for murdering an innocent man. Heck Miller tried to make her mentally ill in the Man Without Fear mini.

I find Typhoid Mary more compelling, she seems more innocent, more sympathetic and more a victim of circumstances then Elektra is. Elektra had a character arc that ended with her death, bringing her back ruined that.

[Ash-n-Bone]

Hell yeah Elektra should have stayed dead, like you said it was the perfect ending to her story.

However, seeing as how she's been alive for so long I have to say I prefer her a great deal more than Typhoid.

I love what Nocenti did, bringing in characters like Bullet, and exploring some wider social and environmental issues. But as a story I think the Typhoid saga was average.

To me she belongs in the time in which she was created and can't seem to get out of it. Even in a Bendis' run and Shadowlands she seemed way out of place.

Elektra on the other hand can step out of DD's circle effectively and comfortably inhabit the worlds of the Avengers or Xmen for example. She's such a screwed up character and probably one of the most unpredictable characters on the MU.

[LightningandIce]

Elektra's story was excellent. It was one of the most interesting and exciting story arcs I've ever read in a comic, the climax of Miller's run and my favorite DD story ever. Elektra's role was integral to that. However, if you go back and look at it, she never had a lot of personality and characterization. It's as though she existed purely to fill that role in that one particular story. Of course, this may just be because she hasn't really appeared in any particularly memorable storylines outside of Miller's work.

Typhoid, on the other hand, has a lot more personality. She has a more interesting backstory, she gets more "screen time," and dialogue, and has more meaningful interactions with other characters. Her story was also pretty good, but as a character, I found her to be a lot more compelling than Elektra.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I prefer Elektra's story arc but I like Typhoid more as an individual character.

[Mike Murdock]

Typhoid is hard to write. Aside from Nocenti, the only seen that really worked was the Monday, Monday scene. Only an issue later, I thought she was completely out of character going full on crazy (she's usually a simmering half-crazy instead).

I tend to agree that Elektra's story was complete, but, then again, Frank Miller brought her back so I don't know what he was thinking unless it was expected she would appear again. Now that she's alive and Karen is dead, she's not even the one Matt feels guilty about letting die (in fact, it's weird that they keep bringing up how Bullseye killed two of Matt's girlfriends as if she's still dead). She's fine as someone to show up and be badass when the plot requires it. Particularly when she'd cross a line Daredevil wouldn't. But, generally, she doesn't cross that line and both characters come pretty close to it. So, in those circumstances, she doesn't add much.
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