he kicks butt. She's got killer dimples. Maybe it's the wacky mix that's the secret to Jennifer Garner's success. Maybe it's the way she slips so easily into cool, complex characters. Whatever it is, moviegoers are about to see lots more. The Alias star is set to bring her comic book assassin back to life in Elektra, the Daredevil spinoff.

  For fans who discovered Garner through Alias, the whole ninja assassin scene isn't a stretch. She's been playing the tough, self-sufficient-and occasionally deadly-secret agent Sydney Bristow on TV's Alias since 2001.

  Even though Garner's background is more about pirouettes than punches (she spent nine years in ballet as a kid, although she says those years were

driven more by determination than talent), she doesn't find it too hard to get in touch with her inner warrior. In fact, she calls on her dance training to help play a fighter. "Dancing and fighting are actually very similar and I love doing both," Garner said at a press conference for Daredevil. "I love being physical and acting at the same time."

  It was more than kickboxing that drew her to the Alias and Elektra characters. "These women choose brain over brawn, first of all. They can take care of themselves and they don't need a man to make them complete. Sydney Bristow and Elektra are both completely capable and at the same time, not afraid of their own femininity."

  For the fans who first got to know Garner as the goofy, charming Jenna in 13 Going on 30, Elektra's fight scenes will be a whole new bag. Even Garner finds her action-hero status a bit surprising. "It's fun because it's so unexpected," she says. "When I went to college-when I was first deciding to be an actress-it was all about words. I just loved Shakespeare and restoration drama. The fact that now what I'm known for is the physical side of it just cracks me up."

  That "physical side" of her fame requires a ton of dedication. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, physically," says Garner about training for Elektra. "It was night after night, day after day after day of just fighting. I trained last night and got up this morning [to work out] and I'll go again tonight. I love that aspect of it," she says. "[The fights in Elektra] were the toughest fights I've ever done. I kept getting bonked and there was some bloodshed there. It was pretty intense."

  Convincing fight scenes aside, there's another plus to getting into sleek ninja-fighting shape: Fitting into that unforgiving red costume. "I think that the wardrobe [is what comic book fans will] associate with Elektra. She's known mostly for this red outfit that I can't seem to wear any underwear underneath. We could never quite figure out how to make it work…"

  Which is fine, since Garner isn't at all tempted to don her superhero role (or costume) off the movie set. "I do this between 'action' and 'cut,'" she quips. "I wouldn't do any of this stuff unless somebody said, 'action!'"

- Melissa Campeau