History YMMV / Elektra

* {{Narm}}: The ninja that snaps his own neck is hilarious. Go on. [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=spbfax8dOTk Watch]]

* IronWoobie: Regardless of how you feel about the films she's appeared in, Elektra has not had a good life. She saw her mother murdered when she was a child, grew up with a very strict father who put her through rigorous training since childhood, sees her father murdered, mistakenly injures her boyfriend, is humiliated by her father's killer before being killed herself, resurrected by a former sensei only to be kicked out of the school because of her rage issues and became an assassin for hire while still being haunted by her past. And she is never seen reunited with Matt or getting to avenge her father.

* DesignatedHero: Stick is supposed to be the BigGood of the story. However, his willingness to gamble other people's lives (such as [[spoiler: calling a hit on the Millers while that Elektra won't just kill them despite admitting this is out of character for her]]) and generally being passive in the story makes him come off as a horrible person.

==The Movie==

* IronWoobie: Regardless of how you feel about the films she's appeared in, Elektra has not had a good life. She saw her mother murdered when little, grew up with a strict father who put her through rigorous training since childhood, sees her father murdered, mistakenly injures her boyfriend, is humiliated by her father's killer before being killed herself, resurrected by a former sensei only to be kicked out of the school because of her rage issues and became an assassin for hire while still being haunted by her past. And she is never seen reunited with Matt or getting to avenge her father.

* CompleteMonster: In ''Assassin'', written by Creator/FrankMiller, [[AxCrazy Arthur Berry]] is a brutal ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} operative [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first introduced]] torturing and murdering a possible "subversive" on the flimsiest suspicion of the man being an assassin. Perry's history, which SHIELD deliberately covered up to keep him on as an agent, is far darker, including the murder of his entire family and episodes of rape and murder dating back to the time he was a kid. When he's brought back with an augmented cyborg body after a brush with Elektra, Perry promptly slaughters the man who brought him back and goes about brutally killing every SHIELD agent in his path. Perry's sociopathy attracts the attention of the demonic Beast, and Perry eagerly signs on with the Beast's plans of [[NukeEm destroying all humanity in a nuclear apocalypse]].

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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In ''Film/Daredevil2003'', Elektra was killed by Bullseye. Now, one would believe this is what the spin-off movie would have been about: Elektra would hunt Bullseye down. Combine that with her becoming an assassin solely to have the funds and resources to find, as well as demonstrating more of Bullseye's [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty attraction to her in the first film]] to mess her up and other connections to the first film and you might have had a decent spin-off. Instead, it's a totally different movie, leaving her vengeance plot unresolved. Likewise, this doubles as a missed opportunity for any more HamAndCheese and LoveToHate from Creator/ColinFarrell.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa turned in a very subtle and cool performance as Roshi.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, two of the three credited screenwriters and the composer would later find work in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, with Creator/ZakPenn co-writing ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' and ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Raven Metzner becoming the showrunner for the second season of ''Series/IronFist2017'', and Christophe Beck scoring ''Film/AntMan1'', ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' ''and'' ''Series/WandaVision''.

* CriticalResearchFailure: At one point Elektra says the sai is "An offensive weapon. For killing." While it can be used as a stabbing weapon, a sai's primary purpose is ''defensive.'' It's designed for disarming and breaking swords.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, two of the three credited screenwriters and the composer would later find work in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, with Zak Penn co-writing ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' and ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Raven Metzner becoming the showrunner for the second season of ''Series/IronFist2017'', and Christophe Beck scoring ''Film/AntMan1'', ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' ''and'' ''Series/WandaVision''.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, two of the three credited screenwriters and the composer would later find work in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, with Zak Penn co-writing ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Raven Metzner becoming the showrunner for the second season of ''Series/IronFist2017'', and Christophe Beck scoring ''Film/AntMan1'', ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' ''and'' ''Series/WandaVision''.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Jennifer Garner's bod and her [[GirlOnGirlIsHot making out with]] Typhoid are widely considered the only good parts about this movie.

* IronWoobie: Regardless of how you feel about the films she's appeared in, Elektra has not had a good life. She saw her mother murdered when little, grew up with a strict father who put her through rigorous training since childhood, sees her father murdered, mistakenly injures her boyfriend, is humiliated by her father's killer before being killed herself, resurrected by a former sensei only to be kicked out of the school because of her rage issues and became an assassin for hire while still being haunted by her past. And she is never seen reunited with Matt or getting to avenge her father.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In the Daredevil film, Elektra was killed by Bullseye. Now, one would believe this is what the spin-off movie would have been about: Elektra would hunt Bullseye down. Combine that with her becoming an assassin solely to have the funds and resources to find, as well as demonstrating more of Bullseye's [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty attraction to her in the first film]] to mess her up and other connections to the first film and you might have had a decent spin-off. Instead, it's a totally different movie, leaving her vengeance plot unresolved. Likewise, this doubles as a missed opportunity for any more HamAndCheese and LoveToHate from Creator/ColinFarrell.
* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa turned in a very subtle and cool performance as Roshi.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Elektra's red outfit has been mocked for being a less revealing version of her outfit from ''Daredevil'' while being a bright red in an attempt to be closer to the comics. The end result, as one website put it, is basically a "mom's attempt at looking sexy".

* RetroactiveRecognition: Despite the film's critical and commercial failure, two of the three credited screenwriters would later find work in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, with Zak Penn co-writing ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' and ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', and Raven Metzner becoming the showrunner for the second season of ''Series/IronFist2017''.

!!The comic character:
* BrokenBase: Her ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW2016'' look, which is based off of her Netflix ''Series/Daredevil2015'' look. There are some who are upset that they dumped her iconic look in favor of [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU synergy]] though many see it as a step-up, finally dumping the HighlyVisibleNinja and bathing suit leotard look for something a lot more practical if perhaps boring. Some feel, though, that they could have compromised and given her the uniform she wore at the end of the ''ComicBook/AgentsOfSHIELD'' comic book.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Originally Elektra was just a normal girl who ended up going down a very dark path after the tragedy of losing her father. In the ''Man Without Fear'' miniseries showing how Matt Murdock became Daredevil, she's portrayed as having always been a psychopath, hearing voices and intentionally going looking for trouble so she could murder her assailants. In an odd parallel to [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle's]] prostitute past from ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', this is one part of an otherwise well-regarded series that a lot of fans would prefer to ignore.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In the 2017 series, some fans were surprised to see Screwball help Arcade kill people in his Murderworld. Some think that the plot would have been more fitting if Spider-Man villain Joystick, a vialliness who treats supervillainy as a challenge and a game, was there instead.

!!The film:

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although the special effects in general are hit-and-miss, Tattoo's animated tattoos still look pretty impressive even 15 years later.

* {{Narm}}: The ninja that snaps his own neck is hilarious. Go on, [[Watch https://youtube.com/watch?v=spbfax8dOTk]]

* {{Narm}}: The ninja that snaps his own neck is hilarious. Go on, [[Watch https://youtube.com/v?=spbfax8dOTk]]