Elektra and the Punisher, explained

Vengeance, punishment, death and rebirth

Matt Murdock is Daredevil, a hero who tries to uphold a personal morality that it is wrong to kill criminals, even ones who are truly horrible. But he lives in a world where many people don't agree, and two of them are showing up in season two of Netflix's Daredevil series: Elektra Natchios (Elodie Yung, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Frank Castle, the Punisher (Jon Bernthal, The Walking Dead).

One is an assassin and expert martial artist who enjoys the sai and using vaguely defined mystic talents; the other is a U.S. Marine who's into wearing shirts with skulls while he kills mobsters and other violent criminals. So if you're curious about the comic book mythos of these two morally ambiguous warriors, here's your crash course.

Elektra

Who Is Elektra?

Elektra was never supposed to be famous or popular. She was meant to be a one-off character: a female assassin whom the hero Matt Murdock recognizes as his college girlfriend.

Her debut in Daredevil #168 (1981) was a filler story meant to introduce an old love interest who had lost her way since breaking up with Murdock (ain't that always the way with vigilantes and their exes?). But during this run, Frank Miller built up the mythology of Daredevil, revealing that he'd been mentored by Stick, one of several warrior mystics called the Chaste who regularly opposed the demon-worshipping, ninja assassin clan known as the Hand. Miller would eventually reveal that Elektra trained under the Hand after she wasn't accepted into the Chaste.

later creators brought Elektra the depth and agency hinted at in early stories but rarely explored

In Elektra's debut story, however, we just got a few pages to fill us in on her background. Elektra Natchios is the daughter of Hugo Kostas Natchios, Greek ambassador. (Her mother is not mentioned, but later comics reveal that Christina Natchios died giving birth to her only child.) Elektra's father has her guarded at all times, even as she attends classes at Columbia University, because he fears terrorists will take her hostage. According to her, this means she has "no friends" at all. Matt Murdock asks her out, but she turns him down and he figures it must be because he's blind, so, despite knowing her for less than a minute, he reveals his superhuman senses and acrobatic/fighting skills in order to impress her. The two fall in love, but one day Elektra and her father are taken hostage on campus by armed radicals. Oddly, the hostage takers don't actually make any political demands to the police, only asking for "a car and a plane out of town." Clearly, their plan was: Step 1, hold the Greek ambassador and his daughter hostage; Step 2, ???; Step 3, profit!

Teenage Matt has a red scarf he was going to give Elektra (which suspiciously looks like the bandana she wears with her costume in later years), and uses it as a mask while he takes on the armed radicals. When he accidentally knocks one of them out a window (presumably killing the guy, considering the height), the police panic about what must be going on and open fire, killing Hugo Natchios in the process. Elektra doesn't cry at her father's funeral, but decides she must leave Matt and America behind, as she is not "as strong" as Matt is and no longer has faith in laws and government after a police officer killed her father. It's after this that she winds up becoming an assassin.

The issue ends in the present, with Elektra realizing that Daredevil is her old lover Matt and then crying for the first time ever, we're told. Because finding out your college boyfriend from a decade back likely objects to you now killing for money and sport is a lot more of an emotional hit than watching your father shot by cops who freaked out after said ex knocked someone out a window. It's a tale as old as time.

In any event, it was meant to end there, with Matt and Elektra going back to their separate lives. But Miller changed his mind and brought Elektra back in the very next issue for a single page that had her break into Matt's apartment, become jealous upon realizing he had a girlfriend, then leave. Several issues later, Elektra takes a job as assassin for the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, who by this point has become Daredevil's main enemy. But she winds up holding back on account of her feelings for Matt, so Kingpin sends the assassin Bullseye to kill her. The confrontation happens in Daredevil #181 (1982): After a heated battle, Bullseye mocks Elektra, cuts her throat with a playing card, stabs her with her own sai, then follows her as she weakly makes her way to Matt Murdock's apartment and bleeds to death in his arms. After barely a handful of appearances, Miller's femme fatale was dead, leading into a few issues exploring Matt's grief and guilt over the event — feelings he didn't share with his fiancée and friends.

Elektra

The Hand later decides to use dark magic to revive Elektra and turn her into a loyal undead warrior; the Chaste recruits Matt to help stop this and, in the process, reveals more of her backstory. Readers learn that after the death of her father, Elektra trained with the Chaste but was denied membership for being too emotional, as she was not over the death of her father. She joined the Hand to impress the Chaste by dismantling the evil assassins from within, but then became corrupt herself after being asked to kill her sensei as part of her initiation. The Chaste informed Matt that her love for him was another emotional weakness, and it led to her death.

Matt and his allies foil the plan to turn Elektra into a zombie ninja, and in the process his love apparently purifies the darkness in her soul. Her body vanishes and the story ends with Elektra dressed in white at the top of a snowy mountain peak, one that she had failed to climb before in a test of worthiness for the Chaste.

After Death

Elektra

This mountaintop ending was taken to be metaphorical — the issue even said that Elektra and Daredevil would never encounter each other again. Marvel editor Ralph Macchio personally told Miller that she would not be resurrected. Instead, Miller explored Elektra in prequel stories. The 1985 miniseries Elektra: Assassin (written by Miller with art by Bill Sienkiewicz) was a hit with many readers, showing how interesting the assassin was even without Daredevil around. The story explored her origin in more detail, contradicting some of what Miller had written before, as Elektra now trained with the Chaste before her father's death (and was still rejected for being too emotional). Miller tackled the character again in the 1990 graphic novel Elektra Lives Again, working with Lynn Varley. The surreal story was arguably more about Matt Murdock's grief, focusing on haunting dreams he has of the fallen assassin.

"Under the circumstances, I think we did a really good job of bringing her back"

Finally, Miller retconned Elektra into always having been a borderline sociopath in the 1993-94 miniseries Daredevil: The Man Without Fear. While she's dating Murdock, she throws herself into dangerous situations just for the thrill of surviving them, and secretly provokes men into attacking her so she has an excuse to use her fighting skills to hurt them. Wow.

In 1993, Elektra Natchios truly returned from the dead in the Daredevil storyline "Fall from Grace," by D.G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel. What about the promise to Miller that this wouldn't happen? Pat Garrahy was assistant editor on Daredevil during "Fall from Grace," and had this to say: "[Ralph Macchio] meant to keep his promise. But he made the promise when Marvel was a close-knit company, and Marvel the corporation had no intention of leaving Elektra an unturned stone. The orders for Elektra's return came from above — they wanted to play with her potential as an action figure. Under the circumstances, I think we did a really good job of bringing her back."

Elektra

"Fall from Grace" reveals that the mountain climbing scene we saw after the Hand tried to resurrect Elektra was literal, not a metaphor regarding her soul. After the Hand's magic and Matt's love resurrected her as a pure-souled woman, she'd finally been allowed to join the Chaste, leaving her old life behind her. In "Fall from Grace," the now white-clad and more mystically empowered Elektra returns to New York City to help Daredevil fight evil forces, including Erynys, the living embodiment of the darkness that Daredevil's pure love removed from her soul.

Elektra kills Erynys, but winds up unwillingly absorbing her darkness back into herself. Feeling tainted once again by emotions like guilt, she cries over the peace that she's lost. Daredevil then pretends to punch her in the face, only to stop his fist at the last second, in order to prove through her adrenaline rush that life is about passion and feeling rather than living on a mountaintop with no emotional attachments. Elektra sobs in Matt's arms. And if you think all of this sounds pretty messed up, you're not alone. Ironically, "Fall from Grace" resulted in Daredevil faking his death (not for the first time) and deciding to cut himself off from all emotions, even pretending not to know old friends and loves, including Elektra. So the resurrected assassin set off to find a new path elsewhere in the Marvel Universe. Fortunately, later creators truly brought Elektra the depth and agency often hinted at but rarely explored in previous stories.

Modern Elektra

Elektra

Following "Fall from Grace," Elektra bounced around the Marvel Universe for a while as an antihero without a real calling. In 2000, she got an ongoing series with creators Brian Michael Bendis (creator of Jessica Jones) and Chuck Austen. Bendis largely took her back to her roots, but put her on the side of the angels (in this case, SHIELD). His Elektra believes in harsh solutions but wishes to protect the world and innocents, and remains disconnected from feelings and thoughts that would only make her job harder. She takes down dictators and terrorists, aids trauma and rape victims, and accepts a world of moral ambiguity. This has been the Elektra that we've largely known since: one who isn't defined primarily by her relationship to Daredevil and his response to her death. In the 21st century, she's been an even bigger part of the Marvel Universe, fighting alongside groups such as the Thunderbolts, the Heroes for Hire, Code Red and SHIELD.

In 2014, she got a new ongoing series by Haden Blackman and Michael del Mundo, and let me tell you, it is great. Whether you've never read an Elektra comic before or you're an old fan, Elektra is a must-read that welcomes you to her mythos. It absolutely shows why this woman stands out from the other assassins and warriors inhabiting the Marvel Universe. Sadly, the series ended in 2015, but with Elodie Yung portraying her in Daredevil's second season, it seems likely we'll be seeing her in comics again in big ways.

Got it? Good. Now on to the somewhat more convoluted history of the Punisher!

The Punisher

Frank Castle is dead

Frank Castle, the U.S. Marine who became the Punisher, first appeared in 1973's Amazing Spider-Man #121, by writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru. He was created by Gerry Conway to be a morally ambiguous Marine-turned-lethal-vigilante, one who would start as an enemy to Spidey before becoming an ally. This original version of the Punisher — whose costume was designed by Conway and John Romita Sr. — was an introspective warrior. In his first story, the Punisher explains that he takes no joy in his "lonely war" against major criminals, and wonders if killing them means he's infected by their evil too. He also argues that there are honorable ways to face and kill foes, and to ignore this would make him simply a murderer.

After four appearances where he was a recurring foil in Spider-Man's life, the Punisher finally starred in his first solo story in Marvel Preview, a black and white magazine intended to deliver more adult-oriented comic book stories, ones that did not necessarily take place within the canonical Marvel Universe.

"Revenge... a tawdry, emotional response no better than the act that provokes it"

Marvel Preview #2 (1975), written by Conway with art by Tony DeZuniga, was the first reveal of the character's origin. A flashback shows Frank Castle as a Marine recently returned home from tours in Vietnam. While visiting Central Park with his wife and two children, his family stumbles upon a gang execution in a secluded area (really, you'd think mobsters would be a little more discreet than to perform executions in such a place in daylight). The mobsters open fire on the family of witnesses, and Frank Castle is the sole survivor. Traumatized, the Marine decides that Frank Castle died with his family. Now there's just the Punisher, a walking avatar of death using all his military training and experience to eliminate those he deems the enemy.

Frank Castle's origin was explored in greater detail in the 1994 miniseries Punisher Year One, by writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and artists Dave Eaglesham and Scott Koblish. The story shows Castle lost and suicidal after the deaths of his family, hoping that the American legal system will deliver justice. Only after more trauma and defeats does he decide to take matters into his own hands, recording in his first "war journal" entry: "Revenge is not a valid motive. It's a tawdry, emotional response no better than the act that provokes it. I'm talking about... punishment."

The Two Franks

The Punisher

The introspective warrior created by Gerry Conway may seem at odds with the more merciless version readers are more familiar with today. This version of the Punisher, who did not question his actions, first came to life in the early 1980s, in Captain America #241, written by writer Mike Barr and drawn by artists Frank Springer and Pablo Marcos. In that story, the Punisher says he admires Cap, but then opens fire on the hero for getting in his way. In the 1982 Daredevil issues #183 and #184, Frank Miller portrayed Castle as a harsh foil against Daredevil's morality, a man who argues that vigilantes who don't kill are part of the problem.

The Punisher

When the Punisher got his own miniseries in 1986, followed by his first ongoing series in 1987, the character was closer to the Conway version, wishing to end criminals permanently but also worrying about causing more fear in the innocent, and acknowledging that some problems couldn't be solved with bullets. But in the mid- and late 1990s, Marvel wasn't sure what to do with him; different creators offered very different takes on the Punisher. Marvel even killed the guy so he could be resurrected as an undead warrior working for heaven, thus rebooting him as a supernatural character. It didn't take.

Then writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon launched a series in 2000 that returned the Punisher to being a human vigilante, following the Barr/Miller interpretation that he did not question his own morality as long as evil people died and innocents and law enforcement did not. In Ennis' interpretation, the Punisher was a serial killer who targeted other killers. This incarnation struck a chord with fans and creators to come, leading to a relaunch under Marvel's MAX imprint, which took place outside of mainstream Marvel canon and allowed for more violent and adult-oriented storytelling. This version of Castle met his end in the Punisher MAX miniseries in 2010, written by Jason Aaron with art by Steve Dillon.

21st-Century Punisher

The Punisher Marvel

Along with Garth Ennis's out-of-continuity Marvel MAX series, Frank Castle returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe during the Civil War crossover after an absence of a few years, joining Captain America's group in opposition to Iron Man and the Super-Human Registration Act. Not long afterward, he wound up being killed (again), only to then be resurrected as an undead warrior (again) called FrankenCastle. I'm not kidding. This bizarre incarnation was dropped in 2010 and Frank became a living, non-supernatural human yet again.

A fantastic Punisher relaunch came in 2011 from writer Greg Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto. While many creators had shown would-be sidekicks and replacements for Castle over the years (many of whom wound up shot), Rucka and Checchetto's run introduced a true partner and protege in the character of Rachel Cole, a Marine who seeks out the Punisher as a mentor after her husband is murdered. Personally, I'd love to see her in a Netflix Punisher series if it happens.

Yet another Punisher relaunch came in 2015 under the team of Becky Cloonan (DC's Gotham Academy) and artist Steve Dillon (Punisher MAX). Time will tell what new and strange adventures Castle will wind up having. Maybe he'll become a white-haired cyborg who fights Cable for the right to own that look. Who knows? It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened to him. But with Jon Bernthal playing him in Netflix's Daredevil, interesting times are definitely ahead.

Update: A previous version of this post listed Frank Castle's apprentice in the Rucka/Checchetto Punisher series as Maria Cole — Maria is the name of Frank Castle's late wife, his apprentice's name was Rachel.