Jennifer Garner Is Back As Elektra in Marvel's 'Deadpool 3'

Jennifer Garner will take up her sai and reprise her iconic role of Elektra in the upcoming Marvel Studios sequel, "Deadpool 3."

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the actress is returning to the role of the assassin Elektra Natchios, aka Elektra, for the upcoming film. This will be Garner's first outing as the character after nearly 20 years.

THR reports that "Deadpool 3" is still currently shooting, with a SAG-AFTRA deadline with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) looming. Garner joins the cast opposite Ryan Reynolds, who reprises his role as the zany Merc with a mouth known as Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson. Hugh Jackman also reprises his iconic role of Wolverine, aka Logan, in the upcoming film, despite the character's fate in the 2017 movie.

The production will see Garner once again re-team with Reynolds and director Shawn Levy, who she previously worked with on the 2022 movie, "The Adam Project." It looks like the movie is bringing together multiple franchises of the Marvel Comics properties that previously had their film rights owned by 20th Century Fox before The Walt Disney Company acquired the studio and the film rights to all their Marvel IPs that were still under different studio banners.

Earlier in 2003, 20th Century Fox had produced a "Daredevil" movie based on the Marvel comic book and character of the same name. The film starred Oscar-winner Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, opposite his eventual future wife, Garner, who portrayed Elektra. The film was only a moderate success at the box office, making $102 million domestically and $179 million worldwide off of a $78 million budget. It did not fare well with critics either.

However, the film managed to spawn one follow-up in the form of an "Elektra" spinoff film, where Garner took the starring role. The film was released in 2005, bombing both at the box office and critics. The "Daredevil" and "Elektra" properties languished at 20th Century Fox for years until the rights ultimately reverted back to Marvel Studios.

That allowed Marvel to form a co-production deal with Netflix, producing a series of new premium television shows that included "Daredevil," reintroducing the character on the small screen. The show starred Charlie Cox as Matthew Murdock, aka Daredevil. The show later introduced actress Elodie Yung as the new Elektra Natchios, who appeared in the second season of the show and the later spinoff miniseries, "The Defenders."

More recently, Cox reprised the role of Daredevil/Murdock in Marvel's "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" series. He's also set to star in his own series once again, with "Daredevil: Born Again" currently in the works.

Garner's appearance as Elektra in "Deadpool 3" suggests that the film will be exploring the MCU's Multiverse or possibly alternate timelines or dimensions in the sequel. The second movie already started dabbling in time travel and characters meeting alternate versions of each other, showing Deadpool attacking and killing the greatly maligned version of the character in the reviled 2009 film, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Considering the "Deadpool" film series leans more heavily into comedy and parody of comic book films, it's possible that Garner's appearance could be a gag or meta-reference. However, the nature of her role as Elektra in the film remains to be seen.

Garner scored her breakout role, starring as the CIA spy Sydney Bristow in the hit ABC series, "Alias." The show ran for five seasons and 105 episodes from 2001 to 2006. More recently, she appeared in the 2021 Netflix film, "Yes Day," and she starred in and executive produced the Apple TV+ limited series "The Last Thing He Told Me."

"Deadpool 3" currently has a release date of May 4, 2024. Levy is directing the project and producing it along with Reynolds and Kevin Feige. Reynolds co-wrote the script with Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Zeb Wells.