Crime Lords Month: It’s Elektrafyin’!

Time for another Crime Lords article, you rambunctious scallywags

I’ll confess right off the bat that there’s no way I can do this character justice. I can goof around with D-listers and minor characters all over the place, but once a character’s reached the point where they’ve had their own self-titled movie (even it it’s a piece of malarkey), then I have to acknowledge that it may be a little too big for my little blog…

… but by the power invested in my by Beta Ray Bill, I’m here to ramble on about the hottest thing to come out of Greece since someone burnt the baclava.

And just think how much better the movie would have been if she’d dyed her hair black?

Yup, today’s ramble’s about Elektra.

Now, it’s be really easy to turn this post into a cheesecakefest image gallery worshipping everyone’s favourite red-clad ninja, but you’re going to have to be satisfied with a pic from Alex Horley here as the only “glamour” shot I’ll be showing you. Google can help you find more if you’re that hard up for pictures of women in clothing that one would think would make for uncomfortably cold winters in Japan, New York, and any other number of places where Elektra’s been known to hang out.

Seriously, with the number of female characters operating out of New York City in the Marvel universe, you’d expect to see more in full costumes rather than barely modified swimwear.

Ah well, I guess it keeps a full industry of aestheticians and bikini waxers in business.

Aside from being the subject of an unfortunately lacklustre movie (despite Jennifer Garner’s best efforts), Elektra’s been a mainstay of the Marvel Universe since the 80’s. 1981, if you want to be particular.

Thanks to an assortment of retcons, her history currently has her shacking up with the future Daredevil, Matt Murdock, when they were at university. Events conspired to leave her an orphan, and as is common after an emotional ordeal or great loss in the Marvel universe, Elektra abandoned the life she left behind and went looking for answers. Dr Strange ended up in Tibet, Elektra ended up in Japan. Go figure.

Just like all good westerners trained to be ninjas, she returned to the Americas and began a career vascillating between hero and villain, working with Daredevil one day and Kingpin the next, one week leading the Hand and the next working with Wolverine and SHIELD. Dear Lord, and you thought your mother had mood swings…

She’s been blessed with good writing over the years just as often as she’s been cursed with bad.

Just like Jean Grey, she’s died and come back and died and come back. Revolving door policy in full effect.

During one of the attempted resurrections it turns out that the “darker” aspects of her soul were removed… but this being one of the dodgier story elements, the “darker” aspects became their own individual, Erynys, who ran around being all evil and emo and other things that start with E, until Elektra, who also starts with E, killed her, thereby reabsorbing her dark side.

In a roundabout way she ended up in charge of the Hand. The exact details weren’t made clear at the time, it was revealed by Black Widow (ah, Natasha… my favourite redhead…) when they were trying to recover information pertaining to Matt Murdock’s identity as Daredevil, before the FBI could get their hands on it. This was later proven when at Elektra’s command, the Hand healed a severely wounded Daredevil and then launched into a fracas with the police and FBI to allow Matt time to get away.

The most intriguing development with Elektra in recent days has been the revelation that at some point she’d been replaced by an evil scum-sucking lumpy-chinned alien.

Yup, she’s a Skrull. Me, I side with the Kree, just to spite Pi.

After killing and then resurrecting Echo with the intention to use her as a weapon, Elektra and her Hand goons tussled with the “New Avengers”, with the end result that, well, once again Elektra took a bladed implement through the midriff and died.

You’d think she’d have developed a new motif by now.

This has of course been the springboard for the whole Secret Invasion event that Marvel’s pumping out for its big event for the Spring/Summer. I can’t say I’ll be jumping all over the assorted variants, but I’ll be interested to see who else is a green skinned shapeshifting slimeball before it’s all said and done.

Okay, so lets bring it around to VS.

Elektra’s one of those characters that’s seen a proliferation of character cards over the years. No less than five, in fact. Let’s take a gander.

	Elektra: Assassin has the joy of being named after probably the most recognised Elektra story arc. Starting the trend of black-bordered red-clad Greek ninja goodness, this card caused some consternation as people tried to figure out how to best utilise a character with 0 ATK. A 5-drop with 8 DEF is a little fragile, but heck, that first paragraph - “While Elektra is attacking, she cannot be the target of non-ongoing plot twists your opponents contol” - may be due for a second look.
	Elektra: Elektra Natchios continues the trend of being rather fragile, with a paltry 3 DEF. This was pretty common in the Marvel Knights expansion, when UDE was still trying to perfect hidden area shenanigans.Did this one ever see play? Ever? 6/3 just doesn’t compare. Even 8/3 if you happened to boost, that low DEF was just too damn fragile in a world with 3-drops like Wolverine: Logan, who’s 6/6 visible with the same recruit restriction (ie, Loyalty: Reveal). Now, if she’d been 6/4, she would have at least been able to dodge stuns from most 2-drops…
	Elektra: Master of the Hand was the third MMK Elektra, and one of the first cards to dabble with the concept of dual loyalty. The first version to bear the Crime Lords affiliation, we’re obligated to bat our eyelids at her and giggle like an 8th grader when the senior cheerleader flirts with you. 14’s an excellent ATK for a 5-drop, 9’s not a completely abominable DEF. Boostable to 17 ATK’s not terrible either, since it’ll allow this 5-drop to take down 7-drop tanks like Thing: TELBET. In retrospect I don’t think I ever included her in a deck. I may have to go deckbuilding later this weekend…
	MTU brought us Elektra: Leader of the Hand. Fitting in with the Spider-Friends theme of paying ATK, this version harkens back to Elektra: Assassin. Barring pumps, she can stun anyone. This time, rather than ramping her own ATK, she nukes her opponent’s DEF. She can be stumped by stuff that stops or negates targetting effects, unfortunately, but although she has a mediocre DEF for a 7-drop, she has a rather healthy ATK should you choose to just smash with her, and she’s the only Elektra that can be recruited in the Visible area. Since her ability only works while she’s attacking, you wouldn’t generally WANT her visible, but hey, it’s an option none of the others have.
	Ah, the darling of the MVL Marvel Knights, Elektra: Masterless Assassin proves just how broken Golden Age is. Turn long pumps make her positively monstrous, but think of this: Recruit Hulk: Savage Hulk. Declare an attack with Elektra. Team Tactics to pump her ATK equal to Hulk’s Smash your opponent with, say, 40+ to the face Laugh. Sure, it’ll only work in Golden Age, but heck… what a way to go.

So in the end Elektra had a rough start to life in the VS System, but the last couple of iterations have really given her some love. Finally we can actually build solid decks that can actually play a decent game. And for that, Lost Hemisphere officially gives UDE the Elektra Stamp of Approval.

A couple of quick Crime Lords Month shout-outs go to our partner in crime, The Brave and the Blog, for their entries on Barracuda and the Cosmic Cube. Full.Body.Transplant also gets a nod for their longing glances at Typhoid Mary. Yes, Rian, we know how you feel.