WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Daredevil #25, by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Marcio Menyz and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Hell's Kitchen is a Manhattan neighborhood often targeted by nefarious supervillains and organized crime in the Marvel Universe. And most of the time, one of its most capable residents, Matt Murdock, often stands alone as its greatest defender under the guise of his superhero alter ego Daredevil. However, Murdock has been preoccupied by atoning for his actions recently, and his old neighborhood needs a different guardian superhero.
And in Daredevil #25, Elektra Natchios, Matt Murdock's most famous love and a lethal antihero in her own right, takes his place as the hero of Hell's Kitchen, complete with her own Daredevil costume.
Matt had recently been spiraling in a cycle of self-destruction after he accidentally killed a common criminal named Leo Carraro in a routine patrol. Initially refusing to believe himself responsible, attributing it to another plot by the Kingpin, Matt eventually accepted he had committed manslaughter. Despite having a strong chance to emerge from the high-profile criminal case without a conviction, Matt surprises his legal team by deciding to accept a plea bargain provided by the prosecutors for a lighter sentence in exchange for confessing to second-degree manslaughter and is sentenced to two years in prison while being allowed to keep his mask and secret identity.
Matt's decision to accept the plea bargain was largely informed by the quiet assurance that Elektra would watch over Hell's Kitchen in his absence. The two on-again/off-again lovers previously staged a daring heist on the Stromwyns, a nefarious family of Manhattan socialites that were financing supervillains to attack Hell's Kitchen, drive out the residents and buy up the real estate at a significantly lower rate. Matt convinced Tony Stark to buy Hell's Kitchen and sell it back to the rightful residents without taking any sort of profit only to be outmaneuvered by Elektra, who outbid him through a shell company and hijacked his servers before Iron Man could rally the funds to make a counteroffer. As Matt arrived in the courtroom, Elektra whispered just audible enough for him to hear her confirm she was the mystery buyer.
With Matt behind bars, Elektra now protects the streets and rooftops of Hell's Kitchen in her own makeshift Daredevil costume, bearing the familiar horned, crimson cowl and monogrammed logo with her own flourishes reflecting her martial arts and ninjitsu origins. While Elektra is sorely tempted to employ lethal force as she had much of her life while keeping the Manhattan neighborhood safe, she stops herself just short of killing criminals that cross her path out of respect for the Man Without Fear. This restraint carries over when Elektra breaks into prison to reunite with Matt, with the trained assassin assuring that she didn't murder any guards to reach Daredevil's cell.
Matt Murdock hasn't seen the new Daredevil in action in her new costume just yet but, with Elektra and Stick pushing for a new team-up to destroy the Hand as it rises from the darkness once again, the two Scarlet Swashbucklers may be patrolling the roofs of Hell's Kitchen alongside one another before too long. Matt Murdock is far from the only superhero to wear his signature cowl in defense of his neighborhood -- with Iron Fist being one of the more noble figures to temporarily take on the mantle -- but none have filled the role with as much potential lethality as Elektra. But in the meantime, she certainly seems set to make good on her courtroom promise to make sure her lover's neighborhood is under her protective watch.