Matt Murdock was always a bit of a player. The accomplished lawyer has had many flings over the years. Although many of these relationships were quite casual, there were a few women that Matt fell deeply in love with. Among these relationships, two women stand out as Matt's most prominent love interests: Elektra Natchios and Karen Page.
These two women could not be more different. An everyday woman vs a master assassin, DD fell in love with each of these women for very different reasons. While there are many reasons either woman is the love of Matt's life, it's very hard to compare the two. Here are the top five reasons Karen Page is Daredevil's soulmate, and five reasons why it will always be Elektra.
10 10. Karen - Workplace Romance
The very first employee fired for the law firm Nelson and Murdock, Karen Page quickly became a vital character to the Daredevil story. From the moment she walked in the doors of Nelson and Murdock, it seemed that Karen and Matt were fated to be with one another.
Throughout his many adventures, Matt had to save Karen from danger many, many times under the guise of his alter-ego, Daredevil. As time went on, Murdock eventually reciprocated Karen's feelings, realizing that he was as deeply in love with her as she was with him. As with many of the closest relationships, it all started in the workplace.
9 9. Elektra - College Sweethearts
While Matt met Karen within the office of Nelson and Murdock, he met his other great love Elektra back in college at Columbia University. The two lovers dated throughout their college days, having quite a hot and heavy relationship.
Although they split up after leaving school, the two former classmates would return to each other time and time again. While it is true many great relationships are started in the workplace, it might be even more common for people to meet the love of their life during their college years. That seems to be how things worked out for Elektra Natchios.
8 8. Karen - Love At First Sight
It became very clear from early on in Daredevil comics that Karen Page was in love with Matt Murdock from the very first moment she laid eyes on him. Although the two would not become romantically involved for some time, this sexual tension defined the early years of their relationship.
Karen's girl next door quality helped make her the easy choice to be Matt's love interest early on in the character's history. Although he had many hot and heavy flings with Elektra, his love with Karen began with much purer intentions.
7 7. Elektra - Can Defend Herself
Any superhero would prefer to have a love interest that can defend himself/herself. Since supervillains, especially in the Marvel world, are so willing to threaten the lives of their enemies' loved ones, it becomes very difficult for said heroes to ever get close to anyone.
With Elektra, however, Matt was never afraid. Maybe he should have been since Elektra was eventually murdered by Bullseye. That being said, Elektra had a much better chance of surviving than Karen did. Karen would go on to eventually be murdered by Bullseye as well, although, given her lack of training, she didn't put up nearly as good of a fight.
6 6. Karen - Doesn't Kill
Daredevil is notorious for being a hero with a no-kill policy. This has brought him into conflict with many dangerous villains and even vigilantes such as the Punisher. While he is deeply in love with Elektra, this creates lots of problems with their relationship, given that Elektra is an assassin.
From time to time Elektra has shifted from villain to hero back to villain again. While it seems like now she is a full-time hero for good, over the course of those many flip-flops Elektra killed many, many people. This doesn't sit great with Daredevil.
5 5. Elektra - Couldn't Kill Foggy
Hired by the Kingpin, Elektra set out with the assignment of terrifying reporter Ben Urich on the crimelord's orders. In the process of doing so, Daredevil intervened and fought Elektra, stopping her. After failing that assignment, Kingpin sent the assassin back out with the goal of killing non-other than Foggy Nelson, Matt's best friend and law partner.
As Elektra was about to finish off Nelson, he recognized her as the college girlfriend of his best friend. Knowing how much her actions would hurt her former lover, Elektra relented and refused to complete her assignment, failing the Kingpin yet again.
4 4. Karen - The Baby
During Kevin Smith's Guardian Devil storyline, Daredevil is forced to look after a baby that is said to be the anti-Christ. By the end of the story, this is all revealed to have been a ruse by the Spider-Man villain Mysterio.
After all the trauma Daredevil had been through over the course of the story, there was one bright light he had to take away from these events. He had saved the baby. Finding it home with loving parents to look after it, Daredevil's last action with the child was naming it Karen, after the love of his life.
3 3. Elektra - Became a Hero
Although Elektra began as an assassin for The Hand, and later for Kingpin, she eventually was able to turn her life around. Mostly due to the influence of Matt Murdock, Elektra decided to go down a more noble path and become a superhero.
While at times her methods can be morally gray, there is no doubt that Elektra is now one of Marvel's most popular superheroes rather than supervillains. Most of that change was due to her love of Daredevil.
2 2. Karen - Rehabilitates and Reconciles With Matt
Karen Page had an extremely tough life. After falling off the deep end and becoming addicted to drugs, Karen began a career as a porn actress in order to sustain her high. Eventually, she stooped so low that she even sold Daredevil's secret identity for another couple bucks.
Despite all of this, after Daredevil learned about how Karen had betrayed him, the first thing he did when next seeing Karen was hug her. Matt knew that Karen was suffering, and he went on to help her get through recovery. That sort of grace really shows how strong their love is.
1 1. Elektra - What If Elektra Had Lived?
Perhaps the most famous Elektra story in the comics is her death at the hands of Bullseye. In one of Marvel's popular What If? comics, readers were shown what life would have looked like for the two vigilantes if Elektra had lived.
After Elektra betrays the Kingpin and decides not to kill Foggy Nelson, the crimelord puts out a hit on her. Seeking help from Matt, after much deliberation he decides to run away with her. Both of them then retire and live a happy life together.