She was initially created as a supporting character for the superhero Matt Murdock / Daredevil, to whom Elektra has functioned as a villainous adversary, love interest, and later, a heroic ally.

[7] Some critics have also compared the character to Catwoman, who has a similar ambivalent relationship with Batman, although Elektra is portrayed as much more dangerous and violent.

[10] Miller collaborated with Bill Sienkiewicz on Elektra: Assassin, a surrealistic, satirical miniseries that ran from 1986 to 1987, with unclear relation to mainstream continuity.

[11] Mary Jo Duffy, the editor who initiated the project, writes that Sienkiewicz was the chosen artist because of his skills: "the fine drafting, the loony caricatures, and the high-style infusion of sex-and-drugs-and-rock'n'roll.

Daredevil writer D. G. Chichester recounted that he and editor Ralph Macchio had discussed the character's return several times: We'd bandied about the idea [of bringing back Elektra] in a casual fashion now and again, but neither of us wanted to do it as a gimmick.

As a spin-off of this storyline, in 1996 she starred in an ongoing series that lasted nineteen issues, initially written by the same author along with Peter Milligan and illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.

In an interview concerning his approach to these characters, Rucka comments on Elektra's allure as tied to her mysterious and enigmatic nature, and states that for this reason she is very difficult to write or to identify with.

[29] In 2007, in the Secret Invasion storyline also written by Bendis, Elektra is kidnapped and replaced by a Skrull, an alien being who can shapeshift to impersonate others.

[40] In her new persona, Elektra is also the main protagonist of Zdarsky's three-issue miniseries Daredevil: Woman without Fear, the first issue of which appeared in March 2022.

"[6] After her resurrection, in the 1996 ongoing series written by Peter Milligan, she has a more conventionally heroic disposition,[50] but in subsequent stories her moral character continues to vacillate.

[51] When nine-year-old Elektra was assaulted by kidnappers, the men were all killed by Orestez, who had grown into an accomplished martial artist after leaving home.

Elektra managed to crawl to Daredevil's house before dying in his arms as Bullseye watched the two, hidden among a crowd that had gathered to see what was going on.

[64] It was revealed that when Elektra was resurrected, the evil aspect of her soul had physically split apart from her and had been placed in its own body by the Snakeroot (a part of The Hand), as a consequence of the ritual performed by Daredevil.

[65] Erynys was tasked to get the About Face Virus for the Snakeroot so that the merger of the corpse and Elektra's essence would become permanent, allowing them complete control over an obedient version of the assassin.

She proved to be a poor leader, however, and the entire Ryu was killed trying to prevent the Snakeroot from assassinating a set of pure souls for their cause.

During this time, a villain named the Architect was calling all super-villains to meet in New York City, for a competition to have Elektra kill him so that he could be reborn in a new host body.

[70] She was hired by Nick Fury to assassinate Saddam Abed Dassam, the leader of Iraq who was in league with HYDRA, and retrieve the Scorpio Key.

[73] Based on her relationship with Logan and her ties to the Hand, Fury hired Elektra to lead the mission, paying her in excess of $200,000, more money in one day than the (then) yearly salary of the President of the United States.

[75] Along with the X-Man Northstar and other superhumans killed and resurrected by the Hand, Elektra attacked Fury, injuring the latter badly and causing the destruction of a S.H.I.E.L.D.

[77] Gorgon, however, attacked Elektra and threw off her mental blocks, enabling him to read her thoughts and see where Fury was being treated for his injuries (he also discovered that the Vatican also hired her, to kill him).

[78] In an email to Kitty Pryde, Fury says that Elektra has survived albeit missing and probably in Eastern Europe, creating her own militia group which intends to be her own version of The Hand.

[volume & issue needed] Daredevil meets up with Elektra, the Black Widow, and the new White Tiger in front of the building that holds the "Murdock Papers" (the evidence Kingpin was talking about).

Elektra jumps into the alley and battles Nico, only to find that another hit man named Carmine is also attempting to kill her with a sniper rifle from a rooftop.

[99] During Chip Zdarsky's run on Daredevil, Elektra seeks out Murdock to help form an organization called The Fist to take down The Hand once and for all.

[102] Elektra is an Olympic-level athlete, strong in gymnastics and swimming, with superior strength, speed, agility, reflexes, stamina, endurance, dexterity, reactions, coordination and balance.

[106] The Elektra: Assassin miniseries is a satire on American culture and politics, in which idealistic justifications for US policy have hidden, obscene motives of dominance, lust, and self-destruction.

Murdock initially wants to take Elektra into custody, but she warns him that with the Kingpin putting a bounty on her head, she will die at the hands of his agents if she is sent to prison.

[volume & issue needed] The infected Wolverine from this incident travels to another Earth where he kills the human Elektra with his claws, impaling her through the stomach in the manner of Bullseye.

[volume & issue needed] She was later put into a coma when Moon Knight threw one of his crescent blades at her, hitting her in the head when she was about to kill Black Cat.

It is revealed that Elektra was secretly hired by Kingpin's ex-wife Vanessa to assassinate him for failing to prevent the murder of their son Richard.