Elektra Part 12: What If? #35 (October, 1982)

I love this series. Always have. It’s a great concept even though I admit not every story’s a winner. I’m including this issue as Elektra’s twelfth appearance because it shows how her life would have ended had she lived…

I have this story in the Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Vol. 3 trade.

Bullseye is killed during his prison break (from Daredevil #181), which prevents him from killing Elektra after letting Foggy Nelson go. Aware that Kingpin won’t be too happy about Nelson being alive, Elektra prepares to leave the country. She’s attacked outside her apartment, and kills at least three men before she’s shot and surrounded. Matt finds her, alive but bleeding, in his brownstone. He threatens to take her in, and she explains that in prison, Kingpin would see to her death. Elektra winds up spending the rest of her life on a beach somewhere, with Matt, half a world away.

Notes of Interest:
1) I like how this takes place immediately after Daredevil #181, with Uatu approaching Matt as he’s standing over Elektra’s grave. This is why I’m counting this as her twelfth appearance, even though it came out six months later.

2) Allowing any creative team access to any pivotal moment in Earth- 616 history can be dicey, because different people steer storylines in different directions. Frank Miller wrote this story, which gives it credibility, and shows us where Miller could have gone with the character.

3) I wish we saw more of this timeline, because you know Kingpin wouldn’t stop looking for her…

WTF? Moment: Why would Foggy go to Matt instead of the police? Because he’s all freaked out from almost being killed? Because Matt’s the first person he thought of after recognizing Elektra? I always assumed he hid under a rock or something until he got hungry again. But that asks the question – did Foggy go to Matt’s place in the original timeline?