Explaining Black Sky from Marvel’s The Defenders

Black Sky was first introduced in the first season of the Marvel show Daredevil where it was described as ‘the bringer of shadows’. It appeared as an incarnation of a young boy that was killed by Daredevil’s mentor Stick.

There was also mention of Black Sky being vary rare and when it was killed it seemed as if the story was over until Elektra appeared again at the beginning of the second season and was revealed as a black sky.

Elektra was raised by Stick to be a weapon against the Hand but ended up being tempted by him instead. She was told that she was the Black Sky that the Hand would die to serve but in the end she sacrificed herself to save Daredevil. It seemed as if that was the end of the story even though there were still many questions that had been still been left unanswered.

When The Defenders begins Elektra has been dug up by the Hand but she is not alive. Her body is being preserved but her heart is not beating. Daredevil is aware that she is alive, even though he is not completely sure that alive is the right word to use.

During the first season of The Defenders we are shown the process that Elektra had to go through in order to be resurrected. This looks to be something that is very unpleasant and she has no memories of her life before. She can’t communicate at first because she has to learn language from scratch again.

Helping Elektra After Resurrection

It is Sigourny Weaver’s character of Alexandra that helps Elektra after her resurrection, but this is done to make her into a weapon for the Hand. She helps her to learn to talk again and takes care of all her other rehabilitation.

It soon becomes clear that she has lost none of the fighting instinct that she had before. She explains that she knows what is on the ‘other side’ after you have died and that it is something she doesn’t want to see again anytime soon.

Alexandra has been through the process herself and so understands what Elektra is going through. It is possible that she also believes there will be a greater opportunity to turn Elektra to the side of the Hand when she has no memories of her previous life and the loyalties that she had.

There is no indication that Elektra has any special powers in the same way as The Defenders do. The fact is though that she has been trained as an assassin since she was just a young girl. It soon becomes apparent that she is a very capable fighter but it is not made clear whether this is an attribute of her own or of Black Sky.

There is a clue given that she is not quite human anymore when Daredevil senses her presence for the first time and tells the others that something is here but he is not sure ‘what’ it is.

What Powers Does She Have?

There are still many questions about exactly what power the Black Sky has and what it will be used for by the time The Defenders had ended. It is clear that the Hand thinks that Elektra is worth more than other incarnations of Black Sky.

There was no attempt that we know of to resurrect the boy that Stick killed in the first season of Daredevil. Alexandra also seems prepared to sacrifice her own immortality to keep Elektra, despite her fear of what will happen to her after she dies. The Hand is defeated in the season finale although this doesn’t necessarily mean he has gone for good. It remains to be seen what will become of Elektra and Black Sky now.

The Defenders was only a mini-series and so there was no guarantee that a second season would ever be made. At this time there has been no official confirmation that the series has been cancelled but it is looking less likely that it will ever be made. However, there are still seasons being made of some of the individual Defenders such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones. This means that fans don’t have to give up hope that they will someday get all the answers about Black Sky.

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