Ellen Pompeo Had Key Marvel Role Before ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Ellen Pompeo was in a Marvel film not long before she became the face of the longest-running primetime medical drama. Two years before Pompeo landed the role of Meredith Grey, she portrayed Karen Page in 2003’s Daredevil. Karen first appeared in Daredevil #1 in 1964 as the secretary at Matt Murdock and Franklin Nelson’s law firm. Pompeo was the first to portray Karen in live-action form. Deborah Ann Woll then took up the role in the Netflix Marvel series Daredevil, The Defenders, and The Punisher.

Ben Affleck starred as the blind lawyer and titular masked vigilante who has to rely on his own senses when Wilson Fisk hires Bullseye to kill Daredevil. The superhero was also tasked with searching out the conspirators against justice, one of those may even include his girlfriend, Elektra. The cast included Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Joe Pantoliano, Jon Favreau, and David Keith.

While Karen Page wasn’t as big of a character in the movie as she was in the show, Pompeo definitely made her mark as the secretary. If only the same could be said for the movie itself. It received mixed reviews but was still one of the biggest February releases and grossed almost $200 million worldwide with only $78 million for a budget. A 30-minute extended R-rated director’s cut was released in 2004, and Jennifer Garner starred in the Elektra spin-off movie. Even though it did include a few other characters and cast from Daredevil, Pompeo as Karen Page was not one of them.

Even though Ellen Pompeo didn’t get huge after Daredevil, her time finally came when she nabbed the titular role in ABC’s up-and-coming medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. Fast-forward almost 20 years, and the series is still going strong. Pompeo may not be a series regular on the show anymore, but she is still very much part of it by way of voiceovers and guest appearances. It’s hard to tell if that will continue for Season 20, but fans will have to wait and see. It will be a while, though, due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which still have no end in sight. 

The 2003 Daredevil film isn’t currently available to stream anywhere, but can be bought on Google Play, Apple TV, and Vudu. Maybe it can even be added to Disney+ since the streamer seems to be adding more Marvel titles. At least all 20 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy are streaming on Netflix, so that’s another way fans can watch more Pompeo.