Season 1
Season 1
- The sheer amount of drugging that Danny is subjected to in the first half of the season. Two instances stick out in particular- Joy dosing his tea when it seemed like she had finally come around, and the orderly at the psych ward forcing sedatives down Danny's throat.
- When Danny wakes up in the asylum, the very first thing he sees is another patient who somehow managed to slip inside his room. The psycho offers to put Danny out of his misery by plunging a fork into his neck before getting restrained by the orderlies. Very brief, but ultimately disturbing how Danny was completely defenseless and unable to do a damn thing.
- In general, Danny's situation in the psychiatric hospital. There's nothing actually wrong with him (at least enough to justify his being treated there), but because he can't prove his story, he's detained anyway. Particularly chilling is the aforementioned psycho patient's description of the hospital's 72-hour evaluation process. It doesn't matter what's actually going on in the patients' lives — 72 hours later, the hospital will give them a diagnosis that explains why they're there, and then they're done. If no one had stepped in, there's no telling how long Danny might've been getting drugged into uselessness every day.
- The Hand's Resurrection powers as we saw previously in Daredevil (2015). It doesn't matter how many times you die, they can bring you back to life. This may sound cool, but then you're under their control and nothing more than a slave. Harold Meachum died of cancer twelve years ago, and The Hand resurrected him so to have someone on the inside of Rand. It's no wonder they don't care how many men die in battles, they'll just bring them right back.
- And remember, Nobu has died four times and each time they brought him back and he bears the scars on him from each time including the burns from when he attacked Matt on Wilson Fisk's orders. The only sure way to keep them from doing so is to either cut off the head (like Nobu), or leave the body in such a mangled state that they can't resurrect you from (like Harold).
- And the whole resurrection doesn't come without cost. Yes, you still come back knowing exactly who you are and with 100% free will, except with each resurrection takes a piece of your soul, and drives you slowly insane. After Harold returns, Ward is so unsettled that he immediately seeks the help of the Triads to kill Harold. The leader of the Triads relates a story from his great-grandfather's village about a man who made a similar arrangement with the Hand. He died many times in battle, but always returned, to his wife's joy. However, each time he returned, he got slowly worse. Eventually, the man stuck two of his children over a spit and roasted them.Triad: They destroy the ones closest to them first.
- We then get a demonstration of what the Triad leader was talking about in the scene immediately after that, when Harold abruptly kills Kyle. Especially disturbing is the fact that immediately after doing it, Harold abruptly switches from murderous rage to My God, What Have I Done?.
- The way it escalates is pretty unsettling. The two are just about to enjoy eating ice cream until Kyle mentions that he wants vanilla. Harold suddenly gets cold and swears at Kyle. Then hits him with an ice cream scoop. And hits him again, damaging Kyle's head and knocking him over. Kyle is just so surprised and confused, trying to crawl away, whimpering. Harold mocks Kyle's pleas to stop, hitting him with the scoop over and over until he just says "Shut up and die!". After Kyle is dead, he just tells him not to be afraid. Death is just nothingness.
- Speaking of which, the fact that The Nothing After Death is canonically how the afterlife in the MCU works. So much for being more optimistic than the DCEU.
- Though Black Panther (2018) shows that the Wakandans have their own afterlife, so maybe The Nothing After Death is only for Hand Members.
- Moon Knight (2022) reveals that there are multiple afterlives that deceased mortals go to. The fact that an empty void is one option is still pretty scary, but better ones like the Field of Reeds are confirmed to exist.
- Throughout both Daredevil and Iron Fist, Madame Gao has proved herself to rival the Mad Titan as "scariest villain of the MCU". She is stoic, unflappable. Men like Wilson Fisk, James Wesley and Harold Meachum are left terrified of her. So what leaves her actually scared? Danny learning that Gao supplied the poison that killed the pilots of the plane that killed his parents. She's seen Iron Fists before, and knows what they are capable of. And now she has one coming for her. That's how scary an Iron Fist can be.
- How Bakuto plans to punish Colleen for betraying the Hand: they're going to drain her blood, implied to be part of whatever arcane rituals Nobu's people were doing with the sarcophagus in Season 2 of Daredevil.
- Madame Gao visits Danny's office to negotiate with him seems out of character for the woman that is so terrifying to the rest of the underworld. She talks about how Danny's office has terrible feng shui, and offers a deal to let Gao maintain her influence in Rand Enterprises while Danny reaps the benefits of being a Upper-Class Twit, like buying a yacht, or eating at fancy restaurants with his friends, like Claire Temple and Colleen Wing. Danny immediately realizes the thinly veiled threat she's delivering.
- Danny loses control of himself while fighting Zhou Cheng, punching his face to a bloody pulp so badly that it makes May beating Quinn look like a slap. Danny is so horrified by what he has done that he's practically in tears after Claire snaps him back to reality. It's so bad that it's easy to believe Danny thinks he may have just killed Zhou Cheng altogether.Claire: You said you had this under control.
Danny: [breathing shakily] I thought I did. I just... - After Harold sneaks out of his apartment prison to talk to Danny, he comes back to discover "Where did you go?" written on his window. He tries to wipe it off, and discovers it's on the outside of the top floor skyscraper window.
- Turns out, the Hand didn't get a foothold in New York City through Elena Cardenas' building. They have already been in New York City for years. The Hand have a presence in companies like Roxxon, Rand, and Midland Circle. This has allowed them to give younger members scholarships that get them into important places in the community. Corporations, hospitals, the NYPD, even City Hall. And all of them are unquestioningly loyal to a Cult. Remember how scary it was in The Winter Soldier and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to learn that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. so thoroughly that they were almost indistinguishable? Now, you can relive it all at a citywide level.
Season 2
Season 2
- Davos gaining his own version of the Iron Fist and it appears it just as strong as Danny. And even worse, it glows red instead of the usual yellow, signifying his chi is corrupted and has in turn, corrupted the power of the Iron Fist.
- And once he gets it he takes the role of Blood Knight to its natural conclusion as while he starts murdering only criminals (in albeit brutal ways) eventually the line gets so blurred from him that he ends up killing innocent people who just want to stay out of criminal underworld in general
- Once Davos goes full Blood Knight, the squick factor amps up. Its glaringly noticeable when he’s able to hit a guy so hard he leaves blood splatter on the wall behind him. Or... as the coronor put it: "He was hit by something hard enough to cave in his chest, and then his spine shattered and skull caved in when he impacted the wall". It doesn't end with that guy either. A lot of the main characters get injuries bad enough to make you seriously wonder if the show is planning on killing them off permanently.
- The murder of a Golden Tiger by some Triads in public no less
- The sheer apathy of the citizens to witnessing the above with Danny being the only one concerned and willling to help is a sad and disturbing case of Truth in Television.
- Mary believed that Walker saved her from the hell that has her imprisonment in Sokovia, while Walker believed Mary had somehow sweet talked her captors into releasing her. Only after finding a redacted file on her rescue did she discover the truth: A third alt – 'Bloody' Mary, was responsible for killing each and every one of her captors, with her bare hands. And neither Mary nor Walker know how to bring her to the fore, or keep her from coming out for their own safety.
