Daredevil Message Board

[The Overlord]

Is Elektra a hero or a villain? Most people have called her an anti hero, but I wonder if some of her actions cross a moral line. Hasn't Elektra killed innocent people for money? Elektra was willing to kill Foggy at one point and only choose not because Foggy was a friend of Matt's. Killing innocent people for money is pretty villainous, its not really a grey area. She does kill innocent for money, what makes her different then all the other assassin villains out there? Most of them are just considered villains.

[Dimetre]

When she first showed up, I'm guessing Marvel marketed her as a villain, but I don't think it's that simple, and I don't think it has to be.

To me, Elektra is at her best when presented as a problem for Matt to solve. As Ben Urich put it in #179, Matt wants to stop her and caress her at the same time. She is his first love, and he's convinced that somewhere inside of this assassin is the woman with whom he fell in love. She's everything he's against, but if he can break past that, he could save her.

Elektra without Daredevil is intermittently interesting. I thought Zeb Wells did a good job with the Dark Reign: Elektra miniseries. When she's without Daredevil she's definitely an anti-hero, in the same way the Punisher is. You're supposed to empathize with her, although her deeds often make that difficult. That's probably why two attempts at an ongoing series have failed. Nobody has topped what Frank Miller did with the character so long ago.

[The Overlord]

[Francesco]

Villain. She's an assassin, would kill for the right price, and I don't think she would step in to do typical heroic stuff like saving people in danger or stop a supervillain from robbing a bank. Definitely not a hero.

[Ryu Murdock]

Elektra has not killed an innocent since her "evil" was extracted out of her. Or has she?

She is not a hero, but she is not a villain IMO either.
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"I'm only a DEVIL to those who are demonic."

[The Overlord]

[Clayton Blind Love]

[The Overlord]

[Ryu Murdock]

I was pertaining to the "Fall From Grace" arc. The dark soul of Elektra became part of her again after killing it, but like I said, I don't remember her killing innocents after that story line. Which is sorta ironic.

If having darkness in her soul will not work for Elektra's defense, Typhoid Mary's insanity shouldn't either.

Why is Matt Murdock still a hero after telling his ninjas to take his superhero friends "dead or alive". That may not be "kill them all", but he was commanding friggin' Hand ninjas. So he might as well worded it that way. And Bullseye is far from innocent but he still died in the arms of Matt Murdock. It's still murder. Why is Matt not locked up for that?

Bottomline is, Elektra is not really a villain. And say she is, all it takes is a writer to pen a redemption story and that is it. But really, it's her affinity to other heroes and vice versa that gives people the notion she ain't a villain.
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"I'm only a DEVIL to those who are demonic."

[Darkdevil]

She is redemption, or at least I think should be.

Matt wants to save her, to redeem her for the terrible acts she has committed, to bring back the woman that was his first love.

Yes, she is an assassin which means she accepts contracts for payment. But I would also believe that means she has some form of code in accepting such contracts. I don't recall any specific case where she killed an actual innocent as a job. If someone is willing to pay for a termination, then to that employer, the target is not innocent. It's all about perception and whether that perception aligns with what Elektra personally believes.

For if she is just wantonly kills innocents, then she's no better than a sociopath....no better than Bullseye and that I cannot believe.

[AP]