Daredevil’s Romantic Life is Complicated, But I Think This is His Best Love Interest

Even among other superheroes known for romantic endeavors, like Wolverine and Spider-Man’s tragic love lives, Daredevil has a history of a lot of complicated, disastrous relationships. Matt Murdock has dated all kinds of women during his long stint as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, from a Spider-Man and Mary Jane tier romance to the messiest entanglements you will ever see. There are plenty of options to pick from when deciding on Daredevil’s absolute best love interest. From the classic and beloved Karen Page, to the legally perfect Kirsten McDuffie, to the salacious affair with a crimeboss’s wife Mindy Libris, Daredevil has gotten around. However, even among names like Black Widow and Typhoid Mary, there is only one best romance for Matthew Murdock, and that’s Elektra Natchios.

Fans who only know the ex-assassin from the original Netflix series might not believe so, given her tenure as villain more often than ally, but comic fans know just how deep their history goes. The two originally met in college, with Matt’s first foray as Daredevil being to jump in to fight a group of armed men who had taken several hostages, including Elektra’s father. Unfortunately, Elektra’s father was killed in the incident. Elektra left because she had to find a way to live with the pain, and Matt blamed himself too much to stop her. Afterwards, she was recruited and trained by the assassination organization the Hand, which started the long cycle of her and Daredevil coming to blows over the years.

Still, perhaps even more so than fighting, the two kept coming back to each other’s arms every time they reconnected. Elektra was a cynical woman who saw the darkness in everyone’s hearts, and Daredevil always chose to see the light of hope and potential in everyone, never completely giving up on anyone. These mindsets are totally opposite, with the assassin and the hero representing everything the other thinks is wrong with the world. And yet, they keep coming to the conclusion that they need each other. Even when on opposite sides of the law and morality, they continued to love each other.

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They kept coming back to each other, kept standing beside each other when they needed it. Even at each other’s lowest points. Even after Elektra was murdered by Bullseye in Daredevil #181, upon her return, she and Matt continue to chase around each other. They would occasionally start back up their torrid relationship, but their moral stances always tore them apart in the end.

If They Always Fight, Why Are They Such a Great Couple?

Despite their difficulties seeing eye to eye, they still want to believe in each other. Matt continues to hope that Elektra can change her ways, and Elektra keeps trying to have Matt join her on the morally ambiguous side. The ultimate change comes in Elektra herself, during Chip Zdarsky’s 2019 and 2022 Daredevil runs. She’s also done what she believes to be right, and in Zdarsky’s run, managed to convince Daredevil to work with her to steal from an evil billionaire family and distribute the money to the poor of New York. They truly worked together in a middle ground, with Matt doing something morally questionable, and Elektra helping people. Their new partnership broke apart, however, when Matt learned she kept a large sum of money for herself. But it didn’t altogether end, because when Daredevil turned himself in to be arrested later in that story, Elektra promised to watch over Hell’s Kitchen until he returned, as a favor to him.

Elektra became the new Daredevil of Hell’s Kitchen, and it changed her. She began to understand why Matt protects others, and eventually turned from doing Matt a favor to get him on her side to her wanting to protect the innocent herself. This is what makes Elektra the perfect match for Daredevil. Daredevil is a hero who is constantly struggling with the darkness within himself, but always finds a way to use it as fuel to help the people who need it. He is an imperfect man who uses his rage and pain like a weapon to keep the innocent safe so they never have to feel like him.

Now, Elektra understands exactly how that feels, and even feels the same way. Matt has dated other superheroes before, but none of them understand what it means to be Daredevil like Elektra does. She is just as much Daredevil as Matt now. They are two tortured souls who have seen so much pain, but in doing so, connect and bring out the best in each other. Matt is Elektra’s guiding beacon of light, and Elektra is the person Matt can focus on as proof that his belief, the work he does, has impact. They’ve fought, they’ve betrayed each other, and they’ve broken apart more times than they can count, but they always come back to each other. That’s what makes them the perfect Daredevil relationship, because they are better Daredevils together.