Elektra

Elektra Natchios is the daughter of a Greek ambassador whose life was shattered by a traumatic hostage incident that killed her father. Trained to lethal perfection by the ninja order the Hand and the rival Chaste, she became one of Marvel's deadliest assassins — and a complicated figure in Daredevil's world.

Few Marvel characters have burned as brightly — or as dangerously — as Elektra, who first electrified readers in the Bronze Age pages of The Comics Journal #58 in 1980, brought to life by Milton Caniff and David J. Levine. Over nearly five decades of publication, she's accumulated 227 catalog appearances and four key collector issues, a testament to a character who clearly struck a nerve from the very beginning. Her world is populated by some of Marvel's heaviest hitters — Daredevil, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and their alter egos share her pages regularly — and her most sustained presence runs through Daredevil, her own self-titled series, and Ultimate Spider-Man. If you're drawn to Marvel's darker, more morally complex corners, Elektra is essential reading.