For those of you who haven't seen Daredevil, stop reading now, because this whole story's one big spoiler.
Of course, if you've read the headline, you already know one thing's for certain now: Elektra survives.
After burning up the screen playing Ben Affleck's sultry sparring partner and meeting what seemed like an untimely end in the hit superhero flick, Jennifer Garner will resurrect her role as leather-clad warrior Elektra Natchio in an action spinoff.
Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises have confirmed they are developing a feature film based on the Elektra character with an eye toward creating a separate blockbuster franchise (that's in addition to an in-the-works Daredevil sequel).
Early word has it the Elektra spinoff will pick up where Daredevil left off. In the movie's climax, our heroine seemingly died during a fierce battle with Daredevil's nemesis, Bullseye (played with devilish Irish charm by Colin Farrell) after he slashed her throat with a playing card and then gutted her.
But as is often the case in comic book (and movie) land, Garner's character will live to fight another day.
At the end of the film, Daredevil returns home, heads up to his rooftop where he had taken Elektra on their first date and finds a good-luck charm--the necklace her mother gave her, giving the blind superdude a sign that perhaps his martial-arts master gal-pal indeed is alive.
Makes you believe in love and sequels, don't it?
Elecktra first appeared in Marvel Comics' Daredevil series in 1980, courtesy of legendary illustrator Frank Miller. The daughter of a powerful Greek business tycoon, she does not possess any superhuman powers, but instead is an expert karate chopper, whose weapons include a pair of three-pronged daggers. Naturally, Elektra falls in love with Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, a blind district attorney who dons red leather at night as a vigilante with super senses.
While he's not exactly your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man at the box office (that film grossed more than $200 million), Daredevil has done well enough (nearly $70 million after just two weeks) that Fox has announced the sequels.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Garner continues her meteoric rise to stardom. After a role on the WB's now defunct Felicity, the thespian has, er, garnered a cult following playing Sydney Bristow in the ABC spy series Alias, which the Alphabet just renewed for a third season. At the behest of Steven Spielberg, Garner also appeared in a small role this Christmas in the director's con-man caper Catch Me If You Can. Other credits include Dude, Where's My Car?, Washington Square and Mr. Magoo.
This isn't the only time a successful movie has spun off a franchise for its leading lady.
Fox's decision to give Garner her own movie comes three months after MGM announced it was crafting a spinoff from last year's hit 007 thriller, Die Another Day, that would feature Halle Berry reprising her butt-kicking Bond babe Jinx.