Warning: Spoilers for Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1 ahead!
Marvel's Daredevil, and there's one big difference between the former Hand assassin and Matt Murdock that makes her an even better Daredevil than the original. Elektra became the Devil of Hell's Kitchen while Murdock was in prison to protect his neighborhood, but also to gain Matt's trust. Elektra needs him in a big way, so to show her commitment and allegiance to him, she swore off killing while doling out justice in Hell's Kitchen. While she often sees this as a roadblock, it's what unintentionally makes her a better Daredevil than Matt Murdock.
In a preview for Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Rafael De Latorre, Elektra comes face to face with New York City Mayor Wilson Fisk. She tells herself that it would be easier to kill Fisk then and there, but she can’t take that road anymore: Elektra made a promise to Matt not to kill, and she needs Matt's trust, so she has to find a different path. She knows she'd be racked with regret and guilt if she broke her promise now, and Matt being weighed down by his guilt is what got him in prison. In the final issues of the 2019-2021 Daredevil run, also by Zdarsky as well as Marco Checchetto, Matt Murdock goes to prison, as Daredevil, to pay for his mistakes.
While it's uncertain how the courts may have ruled in Daredevil's case, Matt took it upon himself to ensure he went to prison, by refusing to take a deal and pleading guilty to the murder charges he faced. Murdock insisted that, to pay for his crimes, Daredevil must go to prison to show that heroes can be held able when they make mistakes. While this is a noble cause for Murdock to take up, it meant he couldn't be Daredevil. On the other hand, Elektra, who has been an assassin for much of her life, isn't weighed down by that guilt. She knows Daredevil needs to be on the streets to fight crime, not in a prison cell.
What makes Elektra a better Daredevil than Matt Murdock, simply put, is that she isn't dragging around all that guilt with her. Elektra is out to protect the people of Hell's Kitchen, and while she's agreed to not cross the line of killing, she doesn't regret the violence she creates in doing that job. From her perspective, broken bones and bloody noses are the cost of beating back crime, and there's nothing she can do about it. This has been a classic dilemma for Matt Murdock throughout his time as Daredevil, and explored in great detail in Zdarsky's run on the Man Without Fear. The entire series revolved around Daredevil's accidental killing of a street-level gangster, and how Murdock reconciles that accident — and the potential it could happen again — with his need to throw fists with bad guys.
Elektra, on the other hand, doesn't have that baggage, nor does she care to take it on. She is Daredevil because she needs Murdock for a mysterious plot to destroy the Hand. Her goals are clear right now: Take down Fisk, then take down the Hand. She can't, however, put herself in the same situation Matt is in. Despite Elektra's tumultuous history with Matt, she does care for him, so letting him down is the one thing that could sow doubt in her, and make her falter as Daredevil. If Elektra were to kill as Daredevil, that would be tantamount to betraying Matt and derail all her plans.
No matter who is behind the mask, Daredevil will always be one of Marvel's most compelling heroes. Over the years, Daredevil writers have captured the complicated life of a violent vigilante with a strict moral code. Matt Murdock's love for his city and his faith will always make him the heart and soul of Daredevil, regardless of who takes on the mantle. But without the guilt to weigh her down, Elektra has the opportunity to be a better Daredevil than Matt's own nature could ever let him be.
