How Jennifer Garner Got Involved With ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

[This story contains spoilers from Deadpool & Wolverine.]

Deadpool & Wolverine was full of surprises. Besides Blake Lively’s Marvel debut as Lady Deadpool, another unexpected female superhero made a cameo: Elektra.

Now that most spoilers have been revealed nearly two weeks after the film hit theaters, Jennifer Garner has shared how she ended up reprising the role for the first time in 19 years. In an Instagram post, she recalled that while making The Adam Project with Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds, “they gave each other this look they have that can communicate an idea, 20 pages of dialogue, nuclear codes—there is a crazy artistic kismet between those two.”

“Other than trying to convince my kids’ preschool buddies that I was secretly a ninja, I hadn’t picked up Elektra’s sais since 2004; I was fit, but not Marvel fit,” Garner explained. She mentioned that she and her “OG” stunt double Shauna Duggins “amped up our training” to prepare. They trained once a day with Beth Nicely, took boxing classes three times a week from Flvco Pichardo and participated in “lots and lots” of workouts led by Peloton’s Becs Gentry.

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Garner also thanked Levy and Reynolds for bringing Elektra back. “I didn’t know that Elektra and I needed an ending, but Shawn and Ryan did. They are gifted in many ways, but seeing and elevating people around them is at the top of the list,” she wrote. The actress additionally shared that she and Duggins were “in heaven on set with them,” as well as the movie’s other superhero actors: Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keen, Channing Tatum and Wesley Snipes.

She accompanied her message about the movie with a behind-the-scenes video that gives a peek at her extensive training for becoming Elektra again, from weight lifting to trampoline jumping.

Garner debuted as the hero in 2003’s Daredevil, starring alongside ex-husband Ben Affleck. Two years later, her character received a standalone flick. Elektra was ultimately a box-office flop, with critics praising Garner’s performance but criticizing the poor writing.