elektra natchios is not matt murdock’s “dark path” she’s his mirror
charlie cox has said on multiple occasions that karen page is the “love of matt’s life” and that elektra is the one who tempts him, drags him toward darkness. but that whole idea is such a misread of elektra’s character and honestly how the show presents her too. elektra never tries to lead matt astray, when she’s acting on her own choices, she’s not trying to corrupt him, she’s trying to get him to accept every single part of himself, even the parts he hates. the difference is that elektra doesn’t separate the “good” and “bad” sides of matt. to her, they’re all just him. and that’s her way of loving him, even if it’s messy, unconventional, and really unhealthy sometimes.
elektra is so bpd-coded it hurts. she’s not cold or empty like the writers tried to push in season two. she feels too much, she just doesn’t know how to regulate it or show it in ways people recognize as “healthy.” she splits, she lashes out, she clings too tightly and then pushes away. and the fandom (and even charlie cox in interviews) villainize her for that. she gets framed as this evil seductress dragging matt into sin, when in reality she’s a traumatized woman who’s spent her whole life being used by men and authority figures. her moral compass is cracked because of it. she wants to be good, but her definition of “good” is survival, getting things done, making sure the people she loves don’t get swallowed by the same cages she grew up in.
it’s not that elektra excuses everything, she doesn’t. she knows stick was cruel, she knows matt has limits she can’t understand. but her perspective is that people can’t just carve themselves into “acceptable” and “unacceptable” halves. she wants matt to accept the part of himself that likes fighting, that likes hurting, because to her repressing it is the real danger. that’s not leading him astray, that’s her trying, in her own broken way, to save him. and it’s devastating that the show leans so hard into the opposite reading, making her out to be this toxic “dark path” woman while karen gets to be the angel, the safe option.
karen isn’t some perfect saint either. she’s complicated, she’s done terrible things too, and that’s what makes her interesting. she got to have arcs and storylines that existed outside of matt, especially in season three. elektra never got that. her entire story in the mcu is tied to men. she never gets to just exist with her own agency, and that’s partly the writing, partly the misogyny of how fandom treats women differently. and the fact that elektra is a woman of color, played by a cambodian-french actress, makes that double standard even harsher. she gets vilified in ways karen doesn’t.
saying karen is “the love of matt’s life” isn’t just simplifying, it erases what elektra brings to the story. matt shouldn’t even have a “great love of his life,” honestly, because he’s a mess who treats the women in his life badly and both karen and elektra deserve better than being tied to his narrative forever. karen got some space to grow on her own, thankfully. elektra never did. and that’s why i hope, if she comes back, we finally get to see her with her own agency, her own story, not just as matt’s temptation or stick’s soldier. because she’s not a trope, she’s damaged, human, real, and so much more fascinating than the box the show (and charlie cox’s comments) keep trying to shove her into.
this whole rant was inspired by me seeing this video on twitter lmao
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