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Deadpool and Wolverine isn't afraid to lean into fan-service. In fact, a great many of the best Deadpool and Wolverine cameos are love letters to the days before the MCU ruled the world, harkening back to the first era of Marvel movies and the Fox glory days. While these appearances are ultimately intended to delight an audience that understands the history behind the various references, they also give the stars of forgotten or maligned movies a chance to take another bow, as was the case with one of the big cameos.
Although it was anticipated as the next step in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's evolution, Deadpool and Wolverine is really more of a loving tour through the uneven history of the Marvel movies that Fox Studios made before Disney acquired the company in 2019. One of those stops brings back an actress who appeared in two largely maligned '00s superhero flicks.
Attention readers: This story spoils a cameo and some plot details from Deadpool and Wolverine, so maybe don't read it if you haven't seen the movie and care about those kinds of things.
Deadpool and Wolverine has the two title characters (played by Ryan Reynolds and a returning Hugh Jackman) trying to stop the TVA, an organization that debuted in the Disney+ Loki series dedicated to "pruning" timelines, from destroying Deadpool's universe. In the process, they find themselves banished to the Void, a hodge-podge reality where anyone and everything that's been pruned ends up.
They meet characters from old Fox movies like X-Men villains Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford), plus Chris Evans making an unexpected reprisal as his Fantastic Four character the Human Torch rather than Captain America. Following a fight, Deadpool and Wolverine find themselves in a hideout that some pruned heroes call home – the first of which is none other than Elektra, played for the first time in nearly 20 years by Jennifer Garner.
Who Does Jennifer Garner Play in Deadpool and Wolverine?
Elektra Natchios made her comics debut in 1981's Daredevil #168. A love interest to the blind crimefighter who has been a villain, antihero, and straightforward hero herself, Elektra is a highly trained Greek assassin. Her weapons of choice? A pair of sais.
Garner, star of the TV show Alias and films like 13 Going on 30 and Juno, first played Elektra in the 2003 movie Daredevil, where she starred opposite her future husband Ben Affleck. (Garner and Affleck later divorced, which is likely why Elektra tells Deadpool not to be upset that Daredevil died in the Void in one of Deadpool and Wolverine's funniest meta jokes.) Garner also starred in the 2005 spin-off Elektra.
The early- and mid-'00s were an interesting time for superhero movies, as while there were classics like the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films and the early X-Men movies, there were also a lot of movies that aren't remembered fondly — in part because the were overshadowed by the launch of the MCU and Christopher Nolan's Batman films a few years later.
Daredevil and Elektra aren't especially beloved superhero movies. The first film did pretty well at the box office, but Elektra was a critical and commercial flop – though it's notable for being one of the first female-led superhero movies. Garner's performance as Elektra was generally well-regarded, though if it weren't for Deadpool and Wolverine, odds were that she'd never don a superhero costume again.
Will Elektra Appear in the MCU Again?
Although she came back to reprise the role, Garner will almost certainly not be playing Elektra again in the MCU. A new version of the character, played by Élodie Yung, appeared in Season 2 of Netflix's Charlie Cox-led Daredevil TV show back in 2016. An upcoming new series, Daredevil: Born Again will make Cox's title character a proper part of MCU canon, though at this point it's unclear if Elektra will appear in the series (or if Yung would reprise her role.) In any case, it feels safe to assume that Deadpool and Wolverine was Garner's final time wielding the sais.
Here's the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to check out after Deadpool and Wolverine.
