Affleck, on the receiving end of Garner's attacks, was frequently awestruck with Garner's ability.

"Jennifer, she has had so much training from the Alias thing and she's a dancer, so she shames me everyday," he says. "That's not being self-deprecating. That's true."

Garner says filming Daredevil was more demanding than Alias.

"The hardest part for me is that it's so much more specific," she says. "On Alias, I basically learn it on Sunday and shoot it in one or two days. Ben and I worked on this fight we're shooting for six weeks, often three hours of the day, every day of the week. There's a big difference between this and Alias, I think it's safe to say.

"We're taking a lot of care to make sure things are true and specific and really fun."

To prepare for the role, Garner says she read everything that could get hands on with Elektra in it - then immediately dropped it all and moved on.

"It's tricky," she says. "Elektra still has to be a real person. She can't be in such a bold direction the way the comic has been. Elektra was specifically written with more subtlety than you see a lot times."

The costume, while not matching the one from the comics, certainly is a head-turner.

"Actually, Elektra has two different costumes in the comic," Garner says. "The one that's more well-known is the red (one) with the sashes and apparently nothing underneath. I have to say, I had nothing to do with changing the look. She also does wear a black leather costume throughout some of the comics.

"The costume is not something I would choose to wear in life, but you kind of just have to go for it. And Ben's in tights, pretty much, so it's fun! The costume designer, Jim Acheson, has done an incredible job of taking something that could be so embarrassing and making it as cool as possible. All of the super-hero looks have a real hip element to them and they are not your average kind of man in tights. Mine is no exception to that. It's not average. It's fun."

Elektra is the latest strong female to come to the big screen - a trend Garner encourages.

"I do hope that women continue to play action roles," she says. "It's incredibly empowering to do and I hope it's incredibly empowering to watch. As long as there's a character behind them the way I've been lucky in both of my action things, where they are rooted in story and in character. As long as that's there, I hope for any woman that she gets to kick ass for a couple of weeks. It's pretty rewarding."

COMING NEXT: Static Shock gets a makeover!

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Rob Allstetter, Deputy Sports Editor for The Detroit News, has been a comics
journalist for the past decade, having written for numerous publications. He
currently publishes The Comics Continuum (www.comicscontinuum.com). He can be
reached at RobAlls@aol.com.