Just because a popular comic book character is being adapted for a movie or TV show doesn’t mean their creator will approve. Case in point: when writer Frank Miller was asked last month what he thought about Elektra appearing in Daredevil Season 2, he made it clear he didn’t approve of her inclusion whatsoever. To be fair, Miller has no interest in the Netflix series as a whole, having never watched it, but his words were nonetheless biting. Now, one of Daredevil’s producers and showrunners has jumped to Elektra’s defense.
Doug Petrie, who co-runs the new Daredevil season alongside Marco Ramirez, opted not to fire back at Miller during a recent interview , instead saying how much he respects the creator and wants to do justice to his creation, who is being played by G.I. Joe: Retaliation’s Elodie Yung. As Petrie put it to EW:
God bless him, it’s his prerogative. I’m a huge fan of what he did, so the [criticism] doesn’t go both ways. I wouldn’t say, ‘What does Frank Miller know?’ I’m so inspired by him and what he achieved and I’m trying to take it further and enrich her. She’s an empowered woman with her own agency, she’s nobody’s victim.
Since Miller doesn’t like watching other adaptations featuring any of the characters he’s worked on (including the Batman movies), there was really no way for the Daredevil folks to adapt Elektra in a way that would please him. Miller created Elektra in 1981 as Matt’s new love interest, who also happened to be a talented assassin and in bed with the wrong people. She was eventually killed by Bullseye, but was later resurrected, despite an agreement promising not to do so without Miller’s permission. She’s had a consistent presence in the Marvel universe since then, but Miller clearly will never like what’s being done with her. Outside of the printed page, she was played by Jennifer Garner in the 2003 Daredevil movie and her own 2005 spinoff, though from what little we know about the TV show’s Elektra, it sounds like she’ll be more faithful than the cinematic version.
Not much has been about how Elektra will factor into Netflix’s Daredevil. Those who watched Season 1 know that Elektra was referenced (though unnamed) in Season 1 as one of Matt Murdock’s girlfriends at law school. She’ll work her way back into his life right as he’s dealing with competing vigilante Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, played by Fury’s Jon Bernthal. She’s also been described as “Matt’s wild side,” causing him to be both “repulsed and deeply drawn” to her crazy antics. Since Elektra will also be wielding her trademark sai, she’ll also be deep in the action of the Man Without Fear’s sophomore outing.
Daredevil Season 2 will premiere all 13 of its episodes Friday, March 18 on Netflix. To see when everything else is premiering over the next few months, check out our midseason TV schedule.
