Characters / MCU: Hand

aka: MCU The Hand

Main Character Index > Villainous Organizations > Hand

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The Hand

Appearances: Daredevil | Iron Fist | The Defenders

"Free from the fear of death, these pieces of shit step up, kill their master, take over, and paint the shores of the Far East with the blood of anybody who stands in their way. They grow in size, power, wealth, spread across Asia, and finally give themselves a name. Yami no te (闇の手). It means, 'The Hand'."

— Stick

A mysterious organization based in Asia; initially believed to be Yakuza, they are eventually revealed to be something much worse. In Daredevil Season 1, through their agent Nobu Yoshioka, the Hand are helping Wilson Fisk secure control over the New York underworld in exchange for control of a specific block in Hell's Kitchen, as part of something they call "the Rising".

Subsequent seasons including Daredevil Season 2 and Iron Fist Season 1 reveal more about them, with Nobu merely being part of one faction, whereby multiple other Hand factions show up including those led by Madame Gao and Bakoto.

The Defenders finally goes into full detail on their origins. The Hand were five leaders exiled from Kun'Lun, and these five would form "the Five Fingers" of the Hand, with the overall leader being Alexandra.

In General

• Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, the leaders of each faction of the Hand is called Daimyō, the title bore by Japanese feudal lords. In the MCU, they are called "the Five Fingers".
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In the Marvel Universe, the Hand was originally a nationalist ninja clan from Japan, and only became corrupted when the Snakeroot, the worshippers of the Beast, infiltrated the clan. In the MCU the founders of the Hand were five members of the Order of the Crane Mother—Alexandra, Gao, Bakuto, Murakami and Sowande—who wanted to use the bones of dragons to resurrect themselves. The elders of K'un-Lun felt this was desecration, and exiled them. These five exiles became the Five Fingers of the Hand, dedicated to "serving life itself" by never dying.
• Adaptational Wimp: While the Hand is a force to be reckoned with here, they are nowhere near as powerful as their mainstream comic counterparts. In this version, aside from a degree of Mind Control and the Resurrective Immortality the highest level members are given, the Hand are just a very powerful secret crime organization full of Badass Normals or higher level fighters. In contrast, the comic book version are a demon-worshipping Death Cult that can explicitly use magic and mystical rites, revive their members easily from a shared life force ritual even if they've been reduced to ash, and have all manner of beings from those with superpowers to straight up Humanoid Abominations. This version is also led by long-lived evil humans, while the comic version is controlled by a powerful demon called the Beast and its equally diabolic supernatural servants.
• The Ageless: Those resurrected by the Hand do not age beyond the time they were first killed. Harold Meachum has remained the same way for 13 years and though Madame Gao's true age is unknown, she mentions being alive at least since the 17th century. In fact, the Hand was founded for the purpose of discovering a way to keep its founders alive forever.
• Ancient Conspiracy: The Hand have been around for centuries, if not millennia. When Stick explains the Hand's origins to Matt, he's forced to admit that even he doesn't know how old the Hand is, but does describe them as "ancient".
  • Stick offhandedly credits them with the destruction of Pompeii, suggesting that at the very least they've existed for over 1900 years.
• Applied Phlebotinum: How they manage their Resurrective Immortality. It's a supply of Shao-Lao's bones the founders acquired when they were kicked out of K'un-Lun, but bringing Elektra back used up the absolute last of it, save the stuff lying underneath Midland Circle.
• Arc Welding: The first season of Iron Fist retcons Madame Gao and her Steel Serpent operation into a faction of the Hand operating in parallel to that of Nobu's.
• Audible Sharpness: Actually an important plot point, as due to their supernatural silence, Daredevil has to rely on the sounds of their weapons to track them.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The most frustrating thing about fighting them: they always get what they want.
  • Season 1 of Daredevil: Despite the death of Nobu, the Hand ultimately got Elena Cardenas' tenement building, and Nobu's death was just a temporary setback.
  • Season 2 of Daredevil: While Matt is able to convince Elektra not to join the Hand, Nobu accidentally killing her allows the Hand to recover her body and begin resurrecting her with the sarcophagus Nobu had. The only real victory is that Stick causing Nobu's permanent death has left the New York Hand leaderless, and that is just until someone strong enough emerges.
  • Season 1 of Iron Fist: Although Danny is able to drive the Hand out of Rand Enterprises and stop Bakuto's attempts to take control of the New York Hand, Gao manages to escape, while the Hand still have influence in the Roxxon Corporation and Midland Circle Financials. Additionally, Danny abandoning his duty as the Iron Fist left K'un-Lun open, allowing the Hand to launch an attack.
  • Deconstructed in The Defenders: while they managed to secure those wins, the fact is that they lost a lot of manpower, capital, and most importantly, the last of their reserves of the Substance. The Hand still operates like nothing is wrong, but it's clear that the Five Fingers are actually getting worried.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Suits and ties seem to be a standard outfit for them. You know, along with the Technicolor Ninja garb. Crossed with Hellbent For Leather, as their non-ninja Mooks wear suits but with leather jackets and leather ties.
• Big Bad:
  • Murakami's faction, led by Nobu Yoshioka, serve as this for Season 2 of Daredevil, emerging from "hibernation" now that Matt and Frank Castle have taken out their potential rivals.
  • In Season 1 of Iron Fist Gao and Bakuto are vying for control of the Hand's New York operations, and want to use the Rand corporation to achieve this. Harold Meachum, their proxy and the Final Boss, is responsible for killing Danny's parents through poison provided by Gao.
  • The Five Fingers take central stage in The Defenders, led by Alexandra and later Elektra.
• Came Back Wrong: If someone is resurrected by the Hand, they will be unkillable unless their head is removed, meaning seemingly mortal wounds will just heal or not be a problem for them. However, each time they come back, they become less and less human, eventually going completely insane.
• Characterization Marches On: What we saw of the Hand when Matt was fighting them in Daredevil were exclusively ethnically Asian. Seemingly, criticism over falling into Orientalism and racial stereotypes led to the Hand being retooled as more ethnically diverse in Iron Fist, and a full example of Equal-Opportunity Evil in The Defenders, where most of the henchmen that participate in fight scenes are either Caucasian or African-American and the leadership is a Cosmopolitan Council. Possibly justified in that the Hand members shown in Daredevil were just the faction led by Nobu and Murakami.
• Child Soldiers: Some of their members are teenagers (occasionally controlled, sometimes indoctrinated for years).
• The Clan: Madame Gao refers to them as such in "Nelson v. Murdock".
• Combat Pragmatist: The Hand are much more pragmatic about their use of weapons in the MCU than the Marvel Universe. They seem to prefer traditional feudal-era Japanese weapons, but if the situation calls for it they'll use guns.
• Corporate Conspiracy: The Hand has wormed its way into dozens of companies like Rand Enterprises and Roxxon Corporation, just to name a few, allowing them access to large amounts of cash and the ability to move their resources and operatives wherever they need to go.
• Cosmopolitan Council: Their leaders consist of a Japanese man, a Chinese woman, an African man, an Ambiguously Brown man portrayed by a Puerto-Rican with a Brazilian name, and a Caucasian woman. The latter two of indeterminate origin.
• Covert Group with Mundane Front: They operate using front companies such as Midland Circle Financials and Asano Robotics or taking over already existing ones such as Rand Enterprises or the Roxxon Oil Corporation.
• The Dreaded: Fisk quite clearly fears angering them. Nobu just mentioning them in a few arguments with Fisk is enough to get Fisk to start being more agreeable. The hatchet-men of New York are terrified when Danny Rand mentions them, and immediately acquiesce to their demands.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Murakami and Gao's factions of the Hand play small roles in season 1 of Daredevil as backers of Fisk, but are never referred to as the Hand, and their ultimate plans are never revealed. Nobu's red ninja outfit (their comics getup) is the only hint as to who they are. They go on to be the Big Bads of season 2, as well as the first seasons of Iron Fist and The Defenders.
• Elite Mooks: Their ninja are more than a challenge even after Matt learned to track them.
• Enemy Civil War: In Season 1 of Iron Fist: with Nobu's permanent death and inability to capture Elektra alive, the New York Hand is in the midst of a power struggle between Bakuto and Madame Gao's opposing factions for control.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Hand has many members of different races and nationalities which includes Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Korean, English, and even Black, White and Hispanic Americans.
• Evil, Inc.: Part of their plan for domination: the Hand have wormed their way into dozens of companies like Rand Enterprises and the Roxxon Corporation, just to name a few, allowing them access to large amounts of cash and the ability to move their resources and operatives wherever they need to go. They also use the corporations to give scholarships to members to get them into places in the community, like hospitals and City Hall.
  Bakuto: We are living in a new age where governments aren't the true controllers of man's destinies. It's corporations like Rand Enterprises that govern the world.
  • They also have their own shell company in the form of Midland Circle Financial, which is mentioned in Iron Fist and is promonently featured in The Defenders
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Averted. The Hand do in fact have their own internal disputes, with Madame Gao being on the outs with Bakuto due to her drug-dealing activities. Ironically enough, Bakuto does play this trope straight, using a more friendly and peaceful approach, treating its members with love and respect rather than acting like a crime syndicate.
• Evil Power Vacuum: When Daredevil took down Wilson Fisk, the Hand realized that something was changing and went into "hibernation", thinking this would eliminate potential rivals. The subsequent campaigns by Daredevil, the Punisher, and Luke Cage against crime allowed the Hand to end up becoming the dominant power in the New York underworld, to the point that their word was more or less law among the people who knew about them.
• Faceless Mooks: In typical ninja fashion, their clothing covers their entire faces except for their eyes.
• Foil:
  • Of HYDRA. While they both are ancient criminal organizations dedicated to the acquisition of power, the Hand uses corporations and mysticism to expand its influence, contrasting HYDRA's preferred use of advanced technology, governments and intelligence agencies. While HYDRA espouses fascistic ideology and seeks to remake the world in its image, the Hand has no political project to speak of.
  • The subsequent release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings allows for comparison with the Ten Rings led by Wenwu / The Mandarin. Both are similarly led by functional immortals (influenced by East Asian-derivative supernatural cultures) and devote themselves to criminal and terroristic activity. Both the Hand and the Ten Rings seems to have integrated well into modern society and expanded its influence in business. However, while its leadership (the Five Fingers) has taken towards backstabbing each other (bringing in their followers into the mess), the singular leadership of Wenwu (as well as their tangential respect of his offspring, Shang-Chi and Xialing) meant there was never any contest in leadership.
• Grave Robbing: They take Elektra's corpse out of its casket and place it into a sarcophagus to resurrect her as the Black Sky.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Nobu and Madame Gao are the only members to appear in Season One of Daredevil, yet their presence is definitely felt. Fisk certainly doesn't want to get on their bad side. More specifically, in Iron Fist Season One, Gao and Bakuto indicate that there is someone else pulling their strings, but they don't mention any names. They were likely referring to Alexandra, the "first among equals" of the five leaders of the Hand.
• The Heavy: Their presence is heavily felt across the Netflix MCU shows, in a similar way to how HYDRA or Thanos are in the movie side of MCU.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Their motives are hard to determine until the end of The Defenders:
  • In exchange for helping Fisk, they want ownership of a specific block in Hell's Kitchen, which happens to be the site of Elena Cardenas' tenement building. They will accept only that block, and nothing else. According to Season 2, it's part of something called "the Rising", and involves significant amounts of excavation.
  • It pops again in Iron Fist when they demand that Rand Enterprises gain control of a pier for possibly the same reason.
  • Their ultimate goal is to activate a "Black Sky", the ultimate living weapon. What happens after that is unknown; according to Stick, the Hand has never been able to successfully activate one.
  • Their ultimate goal, and the purpose of the Black Sky, are eventually revealed in The Defenders: the Hand use dragon bones to resurrect themselves, and the city block they want sits on top of a fossilized dragon skeleton, the last known skeleton on Earth. The purpose of the Black Sky is to be a living weapon who can kill the Iron Fist and allow the Hand to conquer K'un-Lun to claim Shou-Lao, whose body is reborn after death, allowing them an infinite supply of dragon bones.
• Human Resources: On two occasions, it's been shown their bases have basements where people are drained of their blood for... something, implied to have something to do with their resurrection rituals.
• Keep It Foreign: Stick suggests that the full, original name of 'The Hand', when not translated into English, is Yami-no-te (闇の手). For what it's worth, it literally translates to "Hand of Darkness", which is pretty-on-the-nose.
• Immortality Seeker: The goal of the organization as a whole is to find a way to keep their leaders alive indefinitely.
• Killed Off for Real: By the end of The Defenders, the group as a whole is finished, with three of their leaders explicitly dead, and the other two buried deep underground or outright dead, while Elektra is likely dead as well, leaving the organization in tatters, if not completely obliterated.
• Made of Iron: While lowlier thugs and soldiers of the Hand are as mortal as anyone else, the higher-ups, especially the Five Fingers, are able to withstand wounds that would kill any normal human being, even before one considers their Resurrective Immortality. Madame Gao, for example, regularly survives blows that would pulverize the bones of anyone her size and apparent age, and Bakuto walks away from multiple impalements and ignores gunshot wounds. Even lieutenants of Hand leaders like Nobu survive injuries that would be instantly fatal to most people, like getting thrown off the roof of an apartment building. This is likely due to the dragon's blood they've been using for immortality.
• Man of Kryptonite: Their ability to consciously control their bodily functions enables them to vanish from Matt's "world on fire". This naturally makes fighting them significantly more difficult. In Daredevil Season 2, Matt initially tracks them through their swords, but when they realise this and stop using them, Matt can't locate them until Stick tells him to start listening for their breath.
• Master of Your Domain: Nobu can slow his heart rate and lower his body temperature, and his dialogue indicates that this is standard tactic for the Hand.
• Monochrome Casting: The first two seasons of Daredevil render them essentially identical to the Yakuza, with all of their members (apart from some brainwashed teens) being Japanese. However, they get more fleshed out in Iron Fist and The Defenders, showing that they are a truly global organization and their leaders reflect much of the western hemisphere (a Russian white woman[Alexandra], a sub-Sahara black African man [Sowande], a west Asian man [Bakuto], a south Asian woman[Gao], and an east Asian man [Nobu]) and their membership expands to reflect that as well, particularly Bakuto's facility in New York.
• More than Mind Control: While some are forcibly controlled, others are just mindlessly devoted to them after being manipulated by them for years.
• Nebulous Evil Organisation: They are a criminal syndicate whose whole goal is immortality at any cost.
• Necessary Evil: Fisk tells Wesley that working with them is such but does not elaborate.
• Ninja: An evil cult full of them.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Because the MCU is less fleshed out with nowhere near the accumulated history of the comic books not to mention the fact that the heroes are street level fighters, means that The Hand is more a secret Nebulous Evil Organization that influences the world from the shadows and, aside from the ritual to grant immortality using dragon bones, doesn't have all the magic and Super Natural Martial Arts that the mainstream version has.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The Defenders reveals that, for all their The Bad Guy Wins moments in previous shows, the Hand's confrontations with Daredevil and Iron Fist have left them significantly crippled and compromised: resurrecting Elektra cost them all of their remaining Applied Phlebotinum, meaning death is now a very real possibility for them, their losing Rand Enterprises has allowed Danny to collect information on their illegal activities (though he doesn't get to use it), and while they've successfully eliminated the Chaste, the multiple deaths they caused trying to cover their tracks have attracted the attention of law enforcement, and eventually causes Luke Cage to go after them. They still try to keep the facade of an all-powerful shadowy organization, but it's pretty clear they are getting desperate.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their primary colors seemed to be black and red.
• Resurrective Immortality: Stick claims that the secret to their "immortality" is bringing their dead back to life. One of their ninjas had clearly undergone an autopsy previously, and Nobu returns from the dead after burning to death and being kicked off from a rooftop. In Iron Fist, it's shown that as long as the heads are attached and bodies aren't too mangled, they can keep resurrecting indefinitely three days after being killed.
  • The plot of The Defenders (and ultimately the entire overarching plot of the first two Daredevil seasons and the first Iron Fist season) hinges on this: the Hand were running low on the Substance, collected from dragon bones, used for each resurrection, which fueled their attempt to acquire the specific properties in Hell's Kitchen which were directly over the last known grave of a dragon.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant:
  • The Hand are traditionally Daredevil villains and have scarcely gone up against Iron Fist, while in Iron Fist their entire origin is connected with the Iron Fist and K'un-Lun, where they are sworn enemies of the city of K'un-Lun and it's the holy purpose of the Iron Fist to protect it from the Hand.
  • Serves as this In-Universe too, where they start off as adversaries to Matt, before Danny Rand faces off against them, though granted they mostly deal with different factions of the Hand (Matt had to fight Murakami/Nobu's faction, while Danny had Gao and Bakuto's factions).
• Secret War: Engaged in one with Stick and his organization, the Chaste. And with the city of K'un-Lun, which the Chaste is revealed to be servants of.
• Stealth Expert: The Hand are so good at masking their footsteps and heartbeats that Matt can't track them. He tries tracking the noise made by their weapons, but they quickly get wise to it and stick to unarmed combat with Matt helpless against them. Stick manages to get through to Matt that the Hand have to breathe like everyone else and that he should listen for the sound of exhaling breaths.
• Superhuman Trafficking: They were the ones who smuggled the Black Sky to New York for Nobu to pick up. The following episode indicates that they are doing the same to other children.
• Super Natural Martial Arts: Significantly downplayed from the comics, but there are hints that they and the Chaste both have elements beyond merely Charles Atlas Superpower abilities. Bakuto even starts teaching Danny Rand to harness his chi, bringing this trope more to the fore.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: There are only few differences between them and HYDRA. They are an ancient, cult-like criminal organization with connections to supernatural forces, a massive network of agents hidden in positions of power and leaders prone to competing and sabotaging each other.
• Technicolor Ninja: Nobu's outfit from Daredevil Season 1 (pictured above) is bright red with black, traditional Hand attire in the Marvel Universe. In Season 2 the assassins that Matt fight in Ninja garb wear a version that is black but with red highlights and inner liner, so the red may just be ceremonial, or reserved for higher ranked members like Nobu.
• The Undead: One ninja examined by coroners is shown to have autopsy marks in his chest, indicating he was already dead and brought back to life before being killed again. Given that Nobu was resurrected in Season 2, it's implied that the Hand members are undead revenants. Iron Fist confirms they can indeed resurrect people, and The Defenders confirms that they do so through the blood of dragons, harvested from their fossils. The initial process of resurrecting a person appears to cost significant amounts of the blood, but afterward they only need miniscule amounts, and then only if they're dying of old age. If they're healthy, they resurrect on their own after death so long as they're not decapitated. The Chaste and other followers of K'un-Lun regard them as no longer really being alive, though other than increased violence and sociopathy they're indistinguishable from living humans.
• We Are Everywhere: Iron Fist reveals the Hand have managed to worm their way into nearly every part of New York's infrastructure. Hospitals, the NYPD, the mayor's office, even Rand itself. With the latter, they've been there for years.
• With Friends Like These...: Starting coups and outright civil wars seems to be a normal thing for them, over the centuries.
• Yakuza: What outsiders think they are. The Chaste know otherwise, and it's implied that Fisk might as well.
• You Have Failed Me: The Hand have zero issues with executing underlings and agents who fail them in action. Especially since they can just resurrect them when they die and bring them back even stronger and more ruthless.
• Yubitsume: A standard practice for the Hand. In Daredevil, when Stan Gibson's bodyguards fail to protect him, they tie strings on their fingers in anticipation of receiving this. Hirochi has them shot instead. In Iron Fist, Harold Meachum is to be subjected to this for defying Madame Gao. Harold kills them before they can, but still goes through it anyway to avoid Gao's worse punishments.

Leadership

The Five Fingers

In General

The Five Fingers of the Hand

Appearances: Daredevil | Iron Fist | The Defenders

The five founders of the Hand. Originally members of the Order of the Crane Mother and residents of K'un-Lun, they betrayed the order in their search for immortality.

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• Adaptation Name Change: In the comics they are known as Daimyos, as the Hand is mostly led by Japanese nationals.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Each of the Fingers is a skilled martial artist with centuries of training, powerful enough to be capable of going toe-to-toe with any single one of the Defenders, even the superhuman Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Though, most of the Fingers don't exactly live up to their reputation when push comes to shove.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Together, they serve as the main antagonists of The Defenders.
• Canon Foreigner: With the exception of Bakuto, all of them are completely original to the MCU.
• Composite Character: In the MCU, they are former inhabitants of K'un-Lun and members of the Order of the Crane Mother. In the comics, the Daimyos have no link to either.
• Cosmopolitan Council: They run the Hand as equals - though Alexandra holds a position of Primus Inter Pares among them - and belong to different ethnicities: a Japanese man (Murakami), a Chinese woman (Gao), an African man (Sowande), an Ambiguously Brown man portrayed by a Latin American actor (Bakuto), and a Caucasian woman (Alexandra).
• Decapitation Required: Cutting off their heads is the only way to confirm that they are dead for good.
• Demoted to Dragon: The remaining Fingers reluctantly defer to Elektra, after she kills Alexandra.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Averted. After Murakami's faction is all but destroyed in Season 2 of Daredevil, Gao and Bakuto begin a war over whose faction rules over New York and this rivalry affects their actions in The Defenders.
  • Played more straight with the death of Sowande. When Sowande's head is sent to the other Fingers, they are visibly distraught. While Alexandra tries to brush it off, referencing how in the past, they have each made attempts to impede and/or possibly kill one another, the rather quick and dismissive way she delivers her response makes it seem like she's trying to move through the issue quickly without dwelling on it. It may simply be that Sowande's death reminds Alexandra of her own impending doom (with her body quickly breaking down), but one should also keep in mind that these guys have been together for hundreds if not thousands of years, sharing the same homeland, goals and other commonalities. As twisted and messed up as the situation is, no one else can understand them because no one else has been through what they have: the loss of Kun'Lun (to which they desperately long to return), as well as feeling the weight of centuries while the world begins to drastically change around them. The only constants in their lives are each other and suddenly one is now gone forever. It's seems that they do have a bond that's like family...albeit a really messed up version of evil is one big happy, several dysfunction-ridden family.
• Hypocrite: The Five Fingers are motivated by an all-consuming fear of dying and have made it The Hand's mission statement to prolong their lives, but they view anyone and everyone else — including each other and their own subordinates — as acceptable casualties, the rest of The Hand's hierarchy made of either brainwashed civilians willing to throw themselves at their enemies or are raised from an early age under a Martyrdom Culture.
• Immortals Fear Death: Their main drive is to ensure their supply of dragon bones, which they use to concoct "the Substance" that makes them immortal and is used for resurrection in case they are killed.
• It's All About Me: They insist that they have vaguely benevolent motives and that their true purpose is to serve the cause of "life itself", but in practice what they mean by this is that they are simply afraid of death and they, personally, want to live forever , and they don't care how many people they have to kill to achieve this. Quite possibly they rationalise their actions by thinking that since they are the oldest human beings on the planet (so far as they know at least), they are the only "life" that truly matters.
• Really 700 Years Old: The five are extremely old, as a result of achieving Resurrective Immortality through their use of "the Substance".
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The fingers seem to only tolerate each other at best and they have spent untold number of years trying to murder each other. Murakami is very critical of pretty much every decision Alexandra makes as the Hand's leader, while Gao and Bakuto had a bitter rivalry between each other during the events of Iron Fist. Nonetheless by the time of The Defenders all of the members are forced to work together in order to get more of the Substance and fight the Defenders.
• There's No Place Like Home: The Fingers all came from K'un-Lun originally and their stated desire in The Defenders is to eventually return home. Many of them show a fondness for their place of origin and long to return.
• Villainous Friendship: Despite their tension among each other and even numerous coups and Enemy Civil War's in the past, they still share somewhat of a bond, shown best at their shock and mourning when Sowande and later Alexandra are killed.
• With Friends Like These...: Aside from the Chaste it seems like the biggest threat to the organisation is, ironically, its own members. According to Alexandra, the other Fingers have tried multiple times to usurp power from her and skirmish's between factions are common. After Sowande is killed Alexandra brushes off his death and points out that there was little love lost between members, and they are all expandable.

Alexandra Reid

Alexandra Reid

"The more connections you have, the easier it will be to break you."

Known Aliases: "Angelica Fletcher", "Alberta Davis", "Abigail King", "Audrey Thompson"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American, K'un-Lunan

Portrayed By: Sigourney Weaver

Appearances: The Defenders

"It's just a city. You'll get used to watching them fall."

The ringleader of the Hand, who oversees the entirety of the Hand's operations in New York City.

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• Alternate Company Equivalent: Bears a number of similarities to Ra's al Ghul. The technically immortal leader of an ancient organization of assassins with untold influence, depends on a mystical substance to preserve their immortality, and exerts some kind of control over a hero's love interest (Elektra for Alexandra, and Talia for Ra's).
• Arch-Enemy: To Stick. Being the leaders of the two opposing organizations at war. They know each other well enough to refer to each other by name and have been at it for a very long time.
• Big Bad: She serves this role for the events of The Defenders, and is the overarching villain behind most of the events in Daredevil and Iron Fist. Ultimately, she's killed in the sixth episode of The Defenders and Elektra takes her place as leader of the Hand.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Her control over the other Fingers is tenuous at best, and she's killed and usurped by Elektra shortly after she tries to reassert her dominance.
• Canon Foreigner: Alexandra is a completely original character brought in for the Netflix series, along with most of the Hand's leadership.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: Her very first scene is being told she only has months or even weeks to live. She is in fact centuries old, but The Substance that keeps her alive has largely run out, and she is hoping to cheat death again by finding more of it under New York.
• Decomposite Character: In the comics, Nobu is the one behind the Hand's creation. In the Netflix shows, Nobu is a lieutenant of Murakami's while Alexandra is portrayed as the group's ancient founder and leader.
• Disc-One Final Boss: She's killed by Elektra in episode six, leaving the heroes to battle her and the three surviving Fingers in the final act.
• The Dreaded: Kinda. Madame Gao is seemingly fearful of her, but it's just an act and all of the other members of the Hand make it clear that they're willing to challenge her rule.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Her company Midland Circle assists the Hand in Season 2 of Daredevil. She also has a deal going with Rand Enterprises in Iron Fist.
• Establishing Character Moment: Two in her introduction episode; the first shows that she is dying and the second is a conversation with Gao, who can only be described as servile and scared, much in the way Fisk was when dealing with Gao herself.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She claimed that she once had a daughter who passed away long ago with K'un-Lun being unable to save her. She clearly views Elektra as some sort of daughter substitute, though she insists that if Elektra proved to be a failure or disloyal, she wouldn't hesitate to kill her.
• Evil Counterpart: Just like Danny, she has a considerable amount of influence over an ancient, mystical organization and lives as a powerful resident of New York City in the present.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Tries to keep Elektra under her thumb by raising her as a surrogate daughter and even implying that she'll kill her if she's ineffective in her role. Elektra kills her and ousts her as leader of the Hand instead.
• Exposition of Immortality: Alexandra reminisces about the distant past a lot in The Defenders such as the time when Manhattan was a forest before being urbanized and visiting Constantinople before becoming renamed Istanbul.
• Fatal Flaw: Her absolute fear of death is her motivation for hastening carefully laid out plans into a wild west shooting gallery.
• The Friend No One Likes: It's clear that most, if not all of the other Five Fingers strongly dislike her and take issue with her tactics and decisions, and Murakami makes zero attempt to hide that he thinks she's an idiot and a liability and is sick of her shit.
• Greater-Scope Villain: For the Hand arcs of Daredevil and Iron Fist. While Nobu, Madame Gao, and Bakuto were part of the Big Bad Ensembles of those shows, they were all reporting to Alexandra, who leads the Hand as a "first among equals" with regards to the other four "Fingers". The building built by Nobu becomes the headquarters of Alexandra's front company Midland Circle Financials.
• I Have Many Names: According to Stick, Alexandra Reid is simply the identity she's taken up in the current era. Based on the documents Jessica manages to find at the New York City archive of public records, she's been through many names since 1820, and has resided in Manhattan since around the time the Dutch colonized the island. Though she's always stuck to first names that start with the letter 'A'.
• Immortals Fear Death: It was what kicked off the events of The Defenders in the first place. When her immortality started fading and leaving only few months or even weeks to live, her desperation to live led to her rushing the search for the dragon bones just to prolong her existence, provoking the earthquake in Manhattan that led to the heroes teaming up.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Elektra impales her from behind with her sais, then decapites her with her remaining sword.
• In the Back: Elektra stabs her through the chest from behind.
• Informed Ability: She is described as being extremely dangerous to fight, but ultimately the only thing she does in direct combat is disabling Elektra after she is resurrected. Most of her threat comes instead from her connections, knowledge, manipulation skills, and her willingness to go to extreme lengths to get what she wants. This could be justified in that, as noted above, she's terrified of dying for good and her body was already on the verge of giving out with the doctor that examined her saying many of her vital organs were close to failing. Given her situation and the fact that without her they may not be able to get the substance needed to resurrect her should she die or that the other fingers might leave her dead to take her postion and consolidate their power, she would most likely try to avoid any physical confrontation at all cost.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Elektra impales and decapitates her in the midst of speaking to the other three Fingers.
• Light Is Not Good: She wears mostly white dresses and is the leader of the Hand.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Although her medical condition has taken its toll on her abilities as a fighter, she was at one point at least capable enough to disable a wary Elektra.
• Non-Action Big Bad: She never gets physical with the heroes. This is her Fatal Flaw that her subordinates repeatedly point out. Murakami mocks her for not liking to get her fingers dirty and Gao praises only her skill as a manipulator and deal-maker. This leads to much discontent within the Hand ranks, and she is quickly killed by Elektra when she regains her memories and her violent impulses as the Black Sky. Her disabling a wary and recently resurrected Elektra shows that, at one point, she was a skilled or at least capable hand-to-hand fighter, but her medical condition has eroded even that away.
• Off with Her Head!: As with all of the other high-ranking Hand members, she can only be killed by decapitation. After being mortally stabbed by Elektra, she's then beheaded to finish the deed.
• Really 700 Years Old: The reason she knows so much about ancient civilizations is because she was there when they existed.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Marco Ramirez describes her (or rather, Weaver) as "the kind of person you can buy as the smartest person in the room, who you can also buy as a person holding a flamethrower."
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Killed mid-conversation by Elektra.
• Theme Naming: All of her known aliases are names that begin with "A".
• Tragic Villain: To a degree. Her Start of Darkness was the death of her daughter. Now she's just a ruthless tyrant determined to live forever.
• The Unfought: Never fights any of the Defenders, and with her death, we'll never know how skilled she was.
• White Shirt of Death: Note that white is a color associated with death in some Asian cultures. This aspect is later emphasized when she's stabbed in the back by Elektra.
• Wicked Cultured: She's shown to have a refined taste and knowledge in many areas, such as cuisine, art, and music. She's also been a ruthless killer for hundreds of years.

Madame Gao

Madame Gao

"It is the clever man who plays the fool. And a foolish woman who does not recognize it."

Species: Human

Citizenship: K'un-Lunan

Portrayed By: Wai Ching Ho

Appearances: Daredevil | Iron Fist | The Defenders

"Man cannot be both savior and oppressor, light and shadow. One has to be sacrificed for the other. Choose and choose wisely. Or others shall choose for you."

The second Finger, Madame Gao runs a faction of the Hand under the guise of being a member of the Chinese Triads. She runs the drug trade in Hell's Kitchen, primarily dealing in heroin with the assistance of Wilson Fisk and Harold Meachum. She's also known for using the blind as couriers and workers. Though appearing to be a frail old woman, she is in fact the most feared of the crime bosses, with the others clearly terrified of crossing her.

---

• Ambiguously Human: She's capable of knocking Matt on his behind in one hit, claims to speak "all" languages, and obliquely mentions to Owlsley that she's from "far away". The Steel Serpent markings on her heroin give a good indication as to where she's from. During Iron Fist, she confirms she is from K'un-Lun.
• Bad Boss: She has no problem mutilating or murdering underlings for minor transgressions and failings, ruling by fear motivating them not to fail her.
• Badass Boast: She claims to be several centuries old and fluent in all languages, among others.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: When Owlsley asks if she killed James Wesley, she honestly says she didn't, because he treated her with respect, and seems genuinely appalled by the idea.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Of Iron Fist Season 1, along with Bakuto and Harold Meachum. Of the three, she's the most dangerous, and controls the Hand's influence in Rand Enterprises. She also supplied the poison Harold used to kill the pilots of the Rands' plane.
• Bilingual Bonus: In Chinese her name can translate to "tall" or "high", which matches her position of authority.
• Break Them by Talking: It's a bad idea for any one person to be alone in a room with her, as she will use words to get in their heads and target their sensitive areas.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As she comments to Wilson Fisk, she's fully aware of how odd her somewhat mystical trappings make her seem to others, which sometimes lets them underestimate her as a shrewd, intelligent businesswoman.
  Gao: [mockingly, in Mandarin] Did I divine the location [of your penthouse] from bones and spells, chanted beneath the moonlight? No. I discovered it because you have grown sloppy. [clicks tongue] And emotional.
• The Bus Came Back: After leaving New York in the later half of Daredevil Season 1, she returns in season 2, now competing with "The Blacksmith" for control of the New York heroin trade.
• Canon Foreigner: There may be inspirations from existing characters, but there is no character in the comics who goes by the name Madame Gao.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Madame Gao isn't exactly a fighter (anymore), given she walks with a cane, but if she absolutely must defend herself, she can easily send a grown man flying with a single palm strike.
  • The Defenders shows that she actually is still a fighter despite her age, and powerful enough to take on both Jessica Jones and Luke Cage simultaneously.
• The Chessmaster: One of the most impressive examples shown in the series. Not only does she have Wilson Fisk under her thumb, she has full control over the powerful Rand enterprises through blackmailing Harold Meachum. She is also able to run rings around Danny and his allies keeping ahead of him all season, and even when she gets captured she still has the last laugh.
• Clairvoyance: Has some level of this. In several instances she is aware of people hiding around her location before she should be, and later in the season she communicates with Danny through a one-way video feed, instantly knowing he's watching and can somehow hear what he's saying.
• Connected All Along: Iron Fist reveals that she is actually part of the Hand, a connection never mentioned or even implied in either her or the Hand's previous appearances, even when they had shared scenes.
• Cult: She claims that the blind heroin workers willingly serve her through faith, and that they blinded themselves in the name of faith. And said cult is part of the Hand.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Her heroin can be administered via patch and also stops the body to build a tolerance. Not only would it be cleaner than infected syringes lying in parks but will be a miracle for palliative care (one of her spokespeople even going to a doctor's office). Instead she uses it to give junkies an eternal high.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Is captured in the eighth episode of Iron Fist.
• Dirty Coward: Despite calling Danny to an official duel, she has no problem breaking the honor of the duel she appointed by holding an innocent girl hostage to force Danny to back off. Then again, she only said her master agreed to Danny's terms. Gao didn't say she herself agreed to Danny's terms.
• Dragon Ascendant: She starts off as one of the members of Fisk's crime ring in Daredevil, before going on to become the Big Bad in Iron Fist.
• The Dreaded: Fisk treads very lightly around her, more so than any of his other associates, and when she makes it known in "Shadows in the Glass" that she's uncertain about his handling of things (by seeking him out in his own penthouse), Fisk is clearly terrified — lashing out in rage after she leaves.
• Elderly Immortal: She's the oldest-looking of the Fingers despite all of them being hundreds of years old.
• Enemy Mine: She makes a single appearance in Daredevil Season 2, when Matt discovers she's a major competitor of the Blacksmith, the one responsible for the deaths of Frank Castle's family and asks her to help take him down, not even trying to do anything against her for the moment.
• Evil Cripple: She walks with a cane. She doesn't really need it. And it conceals a sword.
• Evil Is Petty: According to Danny her heroin deals double as a middle finger to Kun Lun, as she uses one of their logos as a drug brand.
• Evil Old Folks: She and Leland have this in common. The difference is Gao is far more dangerous than Owlsley could ever hope to be.
• Evil Versus Evil: She's the head of a faction of the Hand, and is involved in a personal war against Bakuto and his own faction.
• Eviler than Thou: Not that the other villains in Iron Fist are pushovers but Gao is the darkest and most despicable one out them all.
• The Exile: She was born in K'un-Lun and there's not a day she doesn't long to return... but can't. Being a high ranking member of their mortal enemy might have something to do with that.
• Face Death with Dignity: As one of the last standing members of the Five Fingers, she calmly accepts her imminent demise as Midland Circle is blown up.
• Faux Affably Evil: Her sweet little grandmotherly Chinese woman facade is extremely convincing right up until the second she drops it.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • While Fisk doesn't directly work for her, she's the only crime boss he answers to, since her heroin is the backbone of his criminal dealings. And he's genuinely distraught by A) her ability to find out where he lives, and B) her disapproval of the way he's handling things.
  • She gave Harold Meachum the poison he used to kill Danny's parents, and brought him into the Hand.
• Hannibal Lecture: She excels at giving these, as Danny, Claire, and Colleen can attest.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: We have no idea why she was in the city, dealing drugs, or working with Fisk. In her last scene, she implies that the whole thing was little more than a game to her, and seems unconcerned with her losses.
• Ironic Name: "Gao" means "tall". She barely clears five feet.
• Karma Houdini: She is the only one of the villains of Daredevil to get away intact, with Matt's actions having barely inconvenienced her. And again in Iron Fist, where she escapes from her enemies with absolutely no consequences whatsoever.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: The Defenders finally appears to kill her off, albeit in a vague enough fashion that some fans still aren't convinced. Considering Matt survived despite not even trying to get out from the rockfall, it's entirely plausible that she and Elektra did too.
• Ki Manipulation: Gao can manipulate and project her Chi as concussive force to blast away objects, which makes it appear as if she has Mind over Matter powers.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After her and Owlsley's attempted murder of Vanessa fails and Matt destroys her warehouse, she concludes that Fisk's obsession with Vanessa and Matt's interference are going to bring him down and gets out while the getting is good.
  • During the final fight below Midland Circle in The Defenders, when it's become clear that things aren't going her way, she slips into the shadows and doesn't appear for the rest of the fight. As such, by the end, she's the only finger of the Hand still alive and uninjured - at least until the building collapses on top of her.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: She knows pretty much everything there is to know about everyone she talks to, which makes her an extremely effective negotiator and adept at breaking people by talking. It's never explicitly stated whether her intelligence network is just that good or if it's tied to her mystical origins.
• Mistaken Nationality: Was believed to be Chinese by Owlsley. She's actually K'un-Lunan.
• Nerves of Steel: She isn't remotely bothered by Matt getting the drop on both of her guards, or advancing on her. Nor is she bothered by being face to face with Danny Rand. The only time she ever comes close to losing her cool is when it looks like Danny is about to hit her with the Iron Fist.
• Never Mess with Granny: An old, polite woman who walks with a cane — yet she's perhaps the most dangerous of Fisk's partners, and when she comes up against Matt, she lays him on his ass with a single hit. And again with Danny Rand, she taps him and sends him flying into a wall.
  • Cranked up to eleven in The Defenders, which shows that her telekinesis is strong enough to blast down doors and shift cars. And then she takes on both Jessica Jones AND Luke Cage by herself, briefly overwhelming them.
• Oh, Crap!: Despite otherwise having Nerves of Steel, she appears genuinely scared for a few seconds when Danny finds out she killed his family and is ready to hit her with the Iron Fist.
• Omniglot: She demonstrates fluency in Mandarin, Japanese, and English. And maybe more.
  Wilson Fisk: How many languages do you speak?
  Gao: All of them.
• Proverbial Wisdom: She tends to speak in riddles and Koans, creating an aura of Eastern mysticism around herself. Subverted in that she is actually a ruthless criminal who merely puts on a sagacious facade.
• The Queenpin: She's the boss of the heroin trade of Hell's Kitchen, which is initially assumed to be just the Triads and Tongs but turns out to be a faction of the Hand under her leadership.
• The Rival: The Blacksmith is her rival in the heroin trade of Hell's Kitchen.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: In-Universe. She starts off as an enemy for Daredevil, before Iron Fist has to deal with her.
• Really 700 Years Old: She's several centuries old.
  Gao: Did you really think your drugs would affect me? I spent most of the 17th century being interrogated.
• Sherlock Scan: She can instantly tell that Fisk is faking not being able to understand her Chinese, but plays along with the ruse until it's no longer of use to her. She also manages to zero in on Claire and Colleen's insecurities in seconds, though it's helped with Colleen that she knows about her past.
• The Starscream: She loves playing the part of the ever loyal adviser slash partner, but she is usually also scheming behind her allies' backs to take power. Alexandra is rather amused when Gao calls herself her most loyal ally when in the past Gao led a coup against her.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: She can do this on Matt, who typically does it to other people. Despite his enhanced senses, she disappears the moment he loses focus on her.
• Supernatural Martial Arts: Her palm strikes are capable of sending people or objects flying, presumed to be enhanced by her chi. She first demonstrated this when meeting Daredevil, sending him skidding across the floor, and later managed to send Danny Rand flying with a light tap. In The Defenders, it's potent enough to not onlu move cars but allow her to solo Luke Cage and Jessica Jones in a fairly even fight. Only the Iron Fist is shown to be more powerful.
• Sword Cane: The true purpose of the cane she has, since she doesn't need it.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: She wasn't a nice person to begin with in Daredevil, but her portrayal in Iron Fist really exemplifies her more corrupted and twisted side. She's now portrayed as a Bad Boss who lives off the suffering of others, a Manipulative Bitch who keeps people in check through fear and is fond of breaking others with words.
• Uncertain Doom: She was caught at the bottom of Midland Circle when it collapsed, but seen as how Matt survived, she may have as well, especially since she was not exhausted or injured like Matt or Murakami, respectively.
• Villains Never Lie: She prides herself in always telling the truth and she is extremely apt at using it to mess with people's heads.

Bakuto

Bakuto

"I think you'll find I'm much more easygoing than Gao. You see, she leads through fear. I find partnership to be a much more effective method."

Species: Human

Citizenship: K'un-Lunan

Portrayed By: Ramon Rodriguez

Appearances: Iron Fist | The Defenders

"The world we live in now is run by corporations, not governments. Oligarchies of the rich and powerful. But that's not gonna last much longer."

The third Finger, Bakuto runs a compound in New York City that recruits disadvantaged young people off the streets and offers them sanctuary and training. He then uses them to infiltrate institutions to spread the Hand's influence.

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• Affably Evil: Is very calm and polite with people, especially those loyal to him or that he thinks he can get to work for/with him.
• Ambiguously Brown: He has a Japanese-sounding name, but is played by a Puerto-Rican. In The Defenders, Alexandra refers to him and his forces as "reinforcements from South America."
• Arch-Enemy: To Colleen, his former student.
• Ascended Extra: In the comics, Bakuto is a minor villain, who only appeared in three issues of Daredevil in 2010, in the Left Hand Path storyarc.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: A Master Swordsman and literally the only Finger who can match their fearsome reputation on screen. In virtually every fight he's in, whether it be in Iron Fist or The Defenders, he largely dominates, and was even responsible for cutting off Misty's arm.
• Big Bad Ensemble: One of the first season's major antagonists, along with Harold Meachum and Madame Gao, in Iron Fist.
• Big Good: What he initially pretends to be to Danny, and believes himself to be.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Is defeated and (seemingly) killed in the penultimate episode of Iron Fist.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He cares greatly about his subordinates. During his fight with Danny in episode 12 he becomes distracted when Colleen cries out in pain, showing that even after trying to kill her he still cares about her on some level.
• A Father to His Men: He treats his subordinates with respect and patience.
• Foil: To Madame Gao. His way of leading the Hand is to inspire loyalty by giving young people with nothing a place to belong. Gao's way is to find those in the high arcs of society, feed their greed and lust for power and later control them through blackmail and fear.
• Healing Factor: Though not outright stated, no injuries seem to stick, even outside of the Hand's infamous Resurrective Immortality. He outright tells Colleen that there's nothing she can do to him that he can't recover from, and shortly afterward, he completely ignores his wounds when Misty shoots him in the chest. The only way to make an injury stick is to completely decapitate him.
• Hero Killer: He cuts off Misty Knight's right arm before Colleen is able to decapitate him.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Twice. First by Colleen, who wins her fight with Bakuto by stabbing him through the gut with her broken katana. The second time occurs when Davos stabs him through the heart while Danny and Colleen are debating what to do with Bakuto.
• Immune to Bullets: He pretty much just ignores it when guns are pointed at him. He's apparently able to either heal from or just completely ignore Misty's bullets.
• Katanas Are Just Better: His weapon of choice is a katana, which he's seldom seen without in a fight.
• Made of Iron: Even moreso than other Hand members, Bakuto can take hits that would drop normal humans. At the climax of The Defenders, Misty shoots him three times in the chest and he doesn't even flinch. It takes Coleen gutting him, slicing his throat, and then completely chopping his head off to finally end him.
• Meaningful Name: The name he goes by, Bakuto, is obviously not his real one as he's vaguely South-American. The name he chooses - bakuto - is a title given to gamblers and illicit peddlers who were the precursors to the modern yakuza. Given that she's Japanese, perhaps Colleen should've been a bit more careful in choosing a guy whose name literally means "criminal ringleader" as her sensei...
• Never Found the Body: Danny and Colleen discover that Bakuto's body disappeared while he and Davos were fighting. Colleen assumes that Bakuto's people took it, but Danny notes that Harold managed to come back from the dead. Sure enough, he is revived, and Colleen even finds herself fighting him again in The Defenders.
• Off with His Head!: Colleen decapitates him the next time she faces off with him, but not before he manages to partially cut off Misty's right arm.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Bakuto is a Benevolent Boss in a huge contrast to Gao, inspiring loyalty from his underlings and sparing them when they fail instead of executing them, because he views this as a more effective manner of control than using fear. Make no mistake, he is no Anti-Villain and shares the same end goals as the Hand.
• Really 700 Years Old: Like the rest of the Five Fingers, he's at least several centuries old.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Like most of the Hand, Bakuto is a Daredevil villain in the comics. Here he predominantly fights against Danny and Colleen, with him even being an Arch-Enemy for Colleen.
• Tranquil Fury: When he gets angry, it is like this.
• Walking Spoiler: His role as a leader of the Hand is a major plot twist in the second half of the first season of Iron Fist.

Murakami

Murakami

"If you knew anything about me, you'd know I hunt the wolf."

Species: Human

Citizenship: Japanese, K'un-Lunan

Portrayed By: Yutaka Takeuchi

Appearances: The Defenders

The fourth Finger of the Hand, Murakami is the most secretive of the Hand leaders.

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• Bilingual Dialogue: Murakami exclusively speaks in Japanese, despite clearly understanding English. Despite speaking English, the other Fingers all also clearly understand what he is saying.
• Challenge Seeker: He regularly hunts dangerous animals in the Japanese forests, including a bear that he stalked for ten days before fighting it to death. Alexandra later notes that testing his strength has always been his "singular focus". When he fights the Defenders, he typically only attacks on his own, without summoning any help from his faction. This is exemplified in the opening montage of "Take Shelter," which shows Sowande and Gao rounding up their respective mooks to attack the Defenders, while Murakami approaches completely solo.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Worf Effect aside, he at least manages live up to his initial reputation at least once by curb stomping Jessica Jones in a few seconds and nearly killing her. Then Matt shows up and assists Jessica in scaring him off.
• The Dreaded: The way Stick describes him while running down the Five Fingers paints him as this, a hermit who prefers to let his underlings run the show, but when he comes out of hiding, bad things happen. He fails to live up to this reputation.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Nobu was just The Heavy and Mouth of Sauron for his faction of The Hand, not the Big Bad as the episodes of Daredevil had led us to believe. It turns out, Nobu answered to Murakami who finally reveals himself in Daredevil.
• The Hermit: Murakami prefers to keep to himself, leaving the operation of his branch to Nobu.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Is impaled on some rebar when he's thrown off the elevator at Midland Circle. The severity of his injury makes it unlikely he survived the collapse of the building.
• The Man Behind the Man: Nobu, whom we believed led his own, Japan-based branch of the Hand, was actually subservient to Murakami.
• Offstage Villainy: Unlike the other Fingers, Murakami does nothing villainous until asked to attack the Defenders, yet Stick says he has a terrible reputation.
• Really 700 Years Old: At least several centuries old, just like the rest of the Fingers.
• The Starscream: He doesn't even try to hide his ambitions to betray Alexandra or Elektra.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After having most of his Hand agents within his faction killed or arrested over the events of the second season of Daredevil, Murakami only fights on his own. Predictably, being a normal human being outside of his immortality, he gets thrashed pretty badly when fighting superhumans like Luke Cage or the Iron Fist.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He mostly takes the place of Nobu (who turns out to have been working for him) in the greater scheme of things. His stoic demeanor and talents are similar to those of his subordinate as well.
• The Worf Effect: Despite taking down a bear, Murakami is constantly seen being hurt or beaten in combat. He does note that he nearly was killed and that this is common of his hunts, and that he prefers a close contest instead of an easy battle.

Sowande

Sowande / "White Hat"

"It won't be long before your plan falls apart. Before the chair I'm on becomes a throne."

Species: Human

Citizenship: South African, K'un-Lunan

Portrayed By: Babs Olusanmokun

Appearances: The Defenders

The fifth Finger of the Hand, Sowande is an African warlord and gun runner.

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• African Terrorists: Stick describes him as a warlord.
• Arms Dealer: Stick also describes him as a gun runner.
• Badass Boast: He really likes giving these out. Although he couldn't back the first one up and got captured for it.
  (To Luke Cage) They say you can't be broken. We'll see about that.
  (To Stick after informing him of his Paranoia Gambit below while tied to a chair) It will not be long before this chair becomes a throne.
• Black Guy Dies First: Of the five fingers, he is the first to die a permanent death.
• Cleanup Crew: He hired young men in Harlem to dispose of the bodies of Chaste warriors the Hand killed. Said method involved spraying the corpses with acid. Once they had finished a few jobs, Sowande would have them killed.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He's heavily implied to have been the militia commander that Father Lantom described to Matt in season 1 of Daredevil as having cut a village elder and his family to pieces.
• Informed Ability: Stick claims that he's able to stop someone's heart in two blows, slowing their pulse until their heart fails. We briefly see Sowande overwhelm Luke with nerve strikes, and later subdues Danny with one hit, but it's otherwise a reputation he never quite lives up to. Downplayed, as those nerve strikes were enough to harm Luke, so it's safe to say any one of them would kill a normal person.
• I Shall Taunt You: He spends his interrogation taunting Luke, Jessica and Danny over their previous failures to protect people and threatening the lives of their loved ones. He knows exactly where to hurt even bringing up sore spots like Kilgrave to Jessica.
• Jerkass: This guy clearly enjoys mocking Stick and the Defenders.
• Minor Major Character: Despite being one of the Five Fingers of the Hand, he has very little appearances onscreen and doesn’t even have opening credit billing.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: Sowande actually manages to stagger Luke with his blows and gives a Badass Boast about breaking him. One off-screen fight later, he is trashed and taken prisoner by Luke.
• Off with His Head!: Stick decapitates him.
• Paranoia Gambit: He once got captured by the Chaste, but his army sealed them in their fortress. Their fear got the better of them, and after ten days they bowed to him to make it all stop.
• Really 700 Years Old: Very, very old, like the rest of the Five Fingers of the Hand.
• Scary Black Man: Being a member of the Hand makes him pretty scary. He is implied to also be the ruthless militia commander Father Lantom described encountering in "Speak of the Devil".
• Undying Loyalty: All the Defenders could do was either hear him talk or knock him out because torturing for information was not happening.

Associates

Elektra Natchios

See her page.

Operatives

Murakami's Faction

In General

• Big Bad Ensemble: With the Blacksmith's organization in Season 2 of Daredevil.
• Characterization Marches On: They are implied to be the entirety of the Hand, not just a faction, in the first two seasons of Daredevil.
• The Clan: Gao refers to them as such in Season 1 of Daredevil.
• Faceless Mooks: Their mooks fight wearing ninja outfits that cover everything except their eyes.
• Yakuza: They operate under this guise. Some of its members and underlings even believe they are working for a Yakuza syndicate.

Lieutenants

Nobu Yoshioka

Nobu Yoshioka

"I show you respect. You would be wise to return the courtesy."

Nobu's Hand outfit

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Peter Shinkoda

Appearances: Daredevil

"Each man must stand for himself or fall with the unworthy."

Murakami's top lieutenant and the leader of the Hand's New York operations, who serves as their representative to Fisk.

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• Adaptation Name Change: He is named Kagenobu in the comics. Then again...
• Adaptational Wimp: Traditionally Kagenobu is the founder of the Hand, while here's he's The Dragon to one of the true leaders.
• Always Someone Better: Absolutely dominates his fight with Matt, losing only to a sheer stroke of luck on Matt's part. When they face off again season 2, he at first still proves to be a better fighter than Daredevil, although they are a lot closer and Daredevil actually defeats him one-on-one, by kicking him off a great height. During the season finale, Daredevil mainly stands his ground because his new armor keeps Nobu from landing the crippling blows he was able to land before. He's even able to fight off Matt and Elektra at the same time. After he kills Elektra, however, Matt manages to defeat him one-on-one.
• Ambiguously Human: He's able to stand in freezing cold weather wearing only a business suit, and is later shown to be able to slow his heart rate and lower his body temperature. Not to mention his (lack of a) reaction to being on fire. It is later explained that this is the result of the Hand's resurrection rituals.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The local leader of the Hand, and fully capable of fighting both Daredevil and Elektra.
• Back from the Dead: After seemingly burning to death in his fight with Matt in season 1, he is resurrected by the Hand to continue leading their New York operations in season 2.
• Big Bad: As the leader of the Hand he becomes this for season 2, following the reveal of his Back from the Dead.
• Blade on a Rope: Nobu expertly wields a kyoketsu-shoge during his fight with Matt.
• Composite Character:
  • He kills Elektra with her own weapon, an action done in the comics and the Daredevil film by Bullseye, who would not appear on the show until Season 3.
  • His position as the apparent leader of the Japanese faction of the Hand, instead of being the founder of the Hand itself, seems to be taken from the comics version of Hirochi.
• Costume Evolution: Favors light suits sans ties in season one, or wears his red ninja gear. In season 2, after pulling a Back from the Dead, he wears darker, heavier outfits and gloves, likely to cover his burn scars. He also avoids the ninja gear, even as other members of the Hand wear theirs.
• Decapitation Required: Because of the Hand's resurrection ritual, this is the only way to actually kill him.
• Disney Villain Death: He gets thrown off a rooftop by Matt during Season 2's climax, seemingly breaking his no-kill rule. It turns out he survived, but not long before running into Stick, who quickly beheads him.
• Dragon Ascendant: In Season 1 he was a partner and subordinate of Fisk, while Season 2 he is upgraded to the Big Bad, or at least The Heavy.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Nobu oversaw and commanded Murakami's men. While Murakami still outranks him, it is pretty much Nobu running the show.
• Foil: Shown as one to Fisk. Nobu is abrasive and stern, but also has a strict code of honor and respect towards his opponents. Wilson Fisk spends much of his screen-time as stuttering and reluctant, but he is ruthlessly pragmatic and fearsome when dealing with his opponents (while Nobu would rather fight Daredevil fairly, Fisk doesn't mind ambushing him when he's weakened).
  Wilson Fisk: Nobu didn't mind, he meditated for hours. I find it difficult to meditate. My mind won't quiet.
• Foreshadowing: Nobu is initially seen on a freezing-cold rooftop, completely unaffected by the temperature, causing Owlsley to mutter "You can at least pretend to be cold. It's unsettling." Later, Matt identifies his heartbeat as being "Different. Stronger."
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Every single other remaining member of the crime bosses is either totally apathetic to his presence or despises him. Wesley even asks why they tolerate him, and Fisk responds that he is a "Necessary Evil".
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: During season 2, he has burn scars on his face and neck. Exactly how far those go isn't shown.
• The Heavy: While high ranked enough to be the leader of the New York group, Nobu makes it clear that he ultimately answers to superiors in Japan. The Defenders reveals his direct superior is Murakami, and his efforts to find and recruit the Black Sky were on behalf of Alexandra.
• Hero Killer: A formidable adversary able to dominate the fights regularly. He gives more than pause to Daredevil and Elektra.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: His organization wants control of an entire, specific block in Hell's Kitchen, which is part of their terms with Fisk. No explanation for this is given, not even to Fisk. The Defenders reveals the site contained the buried skeleton of a dragon, which the Hand harvests for their resurrection rituals.
• Hidden Depths: He seems to hold fighting worthy opponents to the death in high regard. When facing the man in the mask, he becomes much more polite and even bows to his opponent for the good fight before landing the finishing blow.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: His attire during his duel with Matt in Season 1 is a red ninja outfit, and the biggest hint as to who he and his yet unnamed forces were, as this is their classic comics attire.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: More of a indirect example as the gasoline from a barrel that he accidentally pierces ends up setting him alight after he falls into the puddle leaked from it and then sparks ignite his gasoline-soaked clothes.
• I Have Many Names: Stick claims that "Nobu" is just the name he's currently using, and has gone by many names over the years.
• Interim Villain: The Big Bad of the only season of Daredevil to not feature Fisk in the role.
• Jerkass: Dying and coming back repeatedly has made him all-round abrasive to everybody.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As much as it was Pride that compelled him to face the man in black himself, Nobu wasn't lying when he said that he had the skills to take down Daredevil.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's much faster than Matt. During their fight, he's able to strike Matt before he gets his guard up several times. Even when Nobu is on fire Matt can only just barely dodge getting hit. Nobu is also stronger and tougher than Matt. He gets terribly close to killing Matt in a one-on-one fight. Even in their rematches in season 2, Nobu is only defeated in the season finale after Matt gets into a rage-driven Heroic Second Wind after Elektra's death. He spends most of the fight previously fighting Matt and Elektra at the same time. Matt does defeat him fair and square in the previous episode, but even then Nobu loses mainly because he is kicked off a great height.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Thanks to whatever the Hand does to its members he barely registers major wounds that Daredevil causes him; he might not have even been aware he was on fire until his body gave up.
• Man on Fire: Which doesn't seem to bother him, since he doesn't even cry out in pain; he just rushes Matt, and then quietly smoulders.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Quite understated, and definitely not out of remorse, but he's quite disturbed when he runs through Elektra in his attempt to kill Daredevil, depriving him of the Black Sky he's been seeking out for 2 seasons.
• Mythology Gag: He is named after Kagenobu Yoshioka, the founder of the Hand in the Marvel Universe. Stick mentions that Nobu has used several names over the years.
• Ninja: Of the Hand, judging by the getup.
• Off with His Head!: His fate at Stick's hands in the Daredevil season 2 finale, thus preventing any future resurrections.
• Pet the Dog: Gives Matt a measure of respect he rarely gives anyone else.
• Rasputinian Death: After Daredevil throws him off a building, Stick finds him, stabs him through the chest, and then cuts his head off. So far at least this has proven to be his last death.
• Really 700 Years Old: After the reveal that he came Back from the Dead in season 2, Elektra says he's lived at least 3 lifetimes.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: You wouldn't know it unless you spoke Japanese, but Nobu has an absolutely filthy mouth. At one point he gets fed up with Wesley's Tactful Translation and voices his opinion in obscenity-punctuated English.
• Stealth Expert: He's able to control his body's functions (heart-beat, breathing, etc.) so well that he's the only one who's ever been able to sneak up on Matt.
• Technicolor Ninjas: His ninja outfit is notably colored brightly red, which is traditional Hand attire.
• Walking Spoiler: The revelation that Nobu was a member of the Hand was a huge spoiler for Season 1, considering that Daredevil at this point had no supernatural elements. Although he's killed in Season 1, he is resurrected and serves as the primary antagonist of Season 2.
• Worthy Opponent: Outright says that Matt is one, saying that killing him is an honor. Nobu shows nothing but respect towards him, in stark contrast to his manner around Fisk which is full of Japanese cuss words.
• Yakuza: His faction of the Hand operates like the Yakuza and seems to promote this belief in others, like the Kitchen Irish and even some of their underlings.

Hirochi

Hirochi

"Who said I was Yakuza?"

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Ron Nakahara

Appearances: Daredevil

"The Rising is coming. You are but one man, akuma-san. You cannot stop what we have started."

A senior executive of the Roxxon Corporation and high ranking member of the Hand.

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• Affably Evil: Hirochi is a cheerful, polite fellow who cuts off fingers.
• Creepy Souvenir: He has a little box in his office filled with the fingers of people who've displeased him.
• The Dragon: Seems to be this to Nobu.
• Foreshadowing: Before we know of his connection to the Hand:
  Hirochi: Who said I was Yakuza?
• You Have Failed Me: He has Stan Gibson's bodyguards killed for failing to adequately protect him.
• Yubitsume: Indulges in this, as shown by the box in his office.

Tyler

Tyler

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Maya Rosewood

Appearances: Daredevil

A member of the Hand who primarily assists Nobu.

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• The Dragon: Serves as Nobu's top enforcer and leads the Hand's ninja mooks in a series of kidnappings.
• Evil Redhead: Has red hair and has no problem kidnapping and executing people.
• Girl Friday: To Nobu.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Is mostly an assistant for Nobu but also takes point during the Hand's mission to kidnap people that Daredevil helped.
• Smurfette Principle: The Hand's only female member shown during the second season of Daredevil. The first season of Iron Fist expands on this, showing that the Hand was shown to have other female members but Tyler was the only female shown in Nobu's faction of the Hand.
• Token White: The only white person shown working for the Hand willingly, initially. Iron Fist reveals other factions of the Hand are pretty multiracial and include white people as well. Tyler is still this trope to an extent, given that she's the only white person serving directly under Nobu.

Underlings and Collaborators

Aito

Aito

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Yasu Suzuki

Appearances: Daredevil

A member of the Hand active in Japan involved in the smuggling of the Black Sky.

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• A Hand And A Leg: Stick cuts of his hand to interrogate him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a member of the Hand, he has a family whom he loves.
• Off with His Head!: Stick ends up beheading him after Aito reveals the Black Sky is en route to New York.

The Specialist

The Specialist

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Takeo Lee Wong

Appearances: Daredevil

A torturer serving under Hirochi.

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• Deadly Euphemism: The name of the character, while not addressing his job description stresses how adept at it he actually is.
• Evil Old Folks: While not as old as Stick, the Specialist is clearly past middle-age.
• Torture Technician: He's brought in to torture Stick.
• No Name Given: His actual name is never mentioned even in credits.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He don't know what happens to him after getting knocked out by Daredevil.

Stan Gibson

Stan Gibson

Species: Human

Portrayed By: John Pirkis

Appearances: Daredevil

"I'm not like them."

An accountant for the Roxxon Corporation, as well as the Hand. He believes to be working for the Yakuza, however,

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• Forced into Evil: He might have been greedy, but he only started cooking the books for the Hand after they kidnapped his son.
• Hope Spot: He is forced to serve the Hand because they kidnapped his son Daniel. Daredevil rescues Daniel, and Stan promises Daniel that things will be different. Then Daniel kills Stan, as he had been brainwashed into serving the Hand.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Gibson thinks he's working for the Yakuza, essentially believing he's trapped in a criminal thriller, and ignores he's actually serving an occult organization straight out of Dark Fantasy Wuxia.

Daniel Gibson

Daniel Gibson

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Lucas Elliot Eberl

Appearances: Daredevil

The son of Stan Gibson, kidnapped by the Hand.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: The Hand has brainwashed him into a loyal acolyte, willing to kill his own father.
• I Have Your Wife: He's the proverbial wife, imprisoned by the Hand to force Stan Gibson into working for them.
• Patricide: After his father took him to the hospital, he stabbed him with a scalpel!

Philip Cabroni

Philip Cabroni

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Joe Forbrich

Appearances: Daredevil

A NYU professor hired by the Hand to write a matrix to encode their ledger.

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• Cunning Linguist: He speaks a number of Asian languages, including Korean and Japanese.
• Hookers and Blow: His Establishing Character Moment has this: after seeing out some hookers, he's about to snort some cocaine with a rolled up dollar bill before Daredevil and Elektra interrupt him.
• Race Fetish: He has a fetish for Asian women.
  Philip Cabroni: I know I'm into some sick shit but next time I swear all I want to do is eat moo goo gai pan off your bodies. All. Day.
  Prostitute: We're not Chinese!
  Cabroni: Whatever, it's all hot to me.

The Black Sky

Black Sky

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Bonale Fambrini

Appearances: Daredevil

A mysterious child smuggled by Nobu into the United States from Japan.

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• Ambiguously Human: Stick calls Black Sky a very rare and dangerous weapon, but he appears to be a young boy and nothing else, even to Matt's senses. Stick insists that he's not a person. Nobu also insists that Black Sky was "very valuable" and will be "difficult to replace" after Stick kills the boy, and seems upset enough to lend a lot of weight to Stick's argument. According to Nobu when talking to Elektra in "The Dark at the End of the Tunnel", the Black Sky is actually a Child Soldier trained to the pinnacle of being a human killing machine.
• Creepy Child: Mostly due to how Stick talks about him rather than anything he does.
• Enfant Terrible: According to Stick.
• Humanoid Abomination: According to Stick, while he looks human he's something powerful and quite evil.
• It Is Dehumanising: Stick only refers to the boy as "it", never as "he", even after he no longer has to obfuscate the nature of Black Sky to Matt.
• Killed Offscreen: Courtesy of Stick.
• No Name Given: Nobu's complaint to Fisk implies that Black Sky is a species or type of metahuman rather than the boy's name.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The audience is deliberately kept in the dark on what the boy is. His only appearance on screen has him sitting calmly in a shipping container and being moved to a car. The only hints to his powers or abilities are Stick's ominous references to him as a "bringer of shadows".
• The Plan: Its importance to Nobu's plan is hinted by the writing of 'Black Sky' on his map in Japanese.
• Slave Collar: Which keeps him bolted to the floor of the container he's in.
• Superhuman Trafficking: It's implied that he is a superhuman of some kind and he was purchased by Nobu's organization.
• There Is Another: In Season 2, we find out that Elektra is a Black Sky herself.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Onscreen once, then dies off-camera.

Gao's Faction

In General

• Arc Welding: Gao's organization is retconned into a faction of the Hand in Season 1 of Iron Fist
• Cult: Gao states that her blind followers actually blinded themselves as an act of faith.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Season 1 of Iron Fist reveals that not all of its members are Chinese and Chinese-Americans, with Gao employing mooks of other ethnicities as well.
• Enemy Civil War: Involved in one with Bakuto's faction in Iron Fist.
• Triads and Tongs: In Seasons 1 of Daredevil it seems to be entirely composed of Chinese and Chinese-Americans. In Season 2, they have moved from Hell's Kitchen and into the Manhattan Chinatown.

Lieutenants and Underlings

Harold Meachum

See the Rand Enterprises section

The Veznikov Brothers

Andrei and Grigori Veznikov

Andrei (top) and Grigori (bottom)

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Nikita Bogolyubov (Andrei) and Stan Demidoff (Grigori)

Appearances: Iron Fist

A pair of Russian brothers whom Danny Rand fights as part of a challenge by the Hand.

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• Bash Brothers: Two brothers who work together to kill people.
• Canon Foreigner: The two characters are not based on any characters from the comics and are exclusive to the show.
• The Dividual: "It's a tag team, except we are not two. We are one."
• Twin Telepathy: While they're not twins, they seem to have some form of telepathy given they communicate wordlessly in-between themselves.
• Underestimating Badassery: They have trouble believing that Danny is the Iron Fist, thinking he's just some rich guy. Danny fixes their perceptions.

Bride of Nine Spiders

Alessa / The Bride of Nine Spiders

"A gift I freely give."

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Jane Kim

Appearances: Iron Fist

An assassin of the Hand who uses spider venom to kill her opponents. She fights Danny as part of a challenge by the Hand.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, the Bride was a incredibly creepy Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette whose torso is revealed to be a hollow shell filled with vicious spiders. Not only she lacks this characteristic here, but is more conventionally attractive.
• Adaptational Nationality: Is Nepalese in the comics, but Korean in Iron Fist.
• Adaptational Villainy: She was always on the heroes' side in the comics, being a Immortal Weapon and a defender of one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. Here she's an assassin of the Hand.
• Adaptation Species Change: From Ambiguously Human in the comics to a regular mortal woman in the MCU.
• Animal Motif: Spiders, obviously.
• Faux Action Girl: Initially gets the upper hand using trickery and poison, but when Danny actually recovers enough to fight her, she goes down laughably easily in seconds.
• Goth: Her outfit when facing Danny.
• Master Poisoner: Uses spider venom when fighting.
• Underestimating Badassery: Subverted; unlike the Veznikovs and Scythe, the Bride doesn't dismiss Danny as some rich guy playing fighter.
• The Vamp: When she first comes face to face with Danny, she doesn't try to attack him, she tries to seduce him. It was part of a ploy to stab him in the neck with some needles laced with spider venom.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Has Danny at her mercy for an extended period of time after poisoning him, and instead of finishing him she taunts and plays with him, giving him a chance to recover.

Scythe

Scythe

"When does the real warrior get here?"

Species: Human

Portrayed By: David Sakurai

Appearances: Iron Fist

"I serve the one who called me here. Without question. Without doubt. With a desire to serve... until death."

One of the assassins of the Hand, sent to battle Danny Rand as part of a challenge by the Hand.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: After Scythe wonders when the real warrior will arrive, Danny says that with the childish insults, it's like the Hand's champions all trained on the same playground. Scythe can't help but chuckle.
• Adaptational Nationality: He appears to be Japanese in this version. He's a white American in the comics.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He underestimates Danny due to his hubris.
• Beard of Evil: An assassin of the Hand with a goatee.
• Blood Knight: Anyone who breaks into karaoke mid-bloodbath is clearly very much enjoying himself.
• Establishing Character Moment: Scythe's first scene has him singing karaoke, then the camera pans down to reveal the bodies of people who had been partying that he killed. Then Scythe walks over to the last guy living, and uses the cord of the microphone to strangle the last guy.
• Final Boss: He's the last opponent of the grand duel and by far the toughest.
• Psycho for Hire: He's a sadistic assassin in the Hand's employ.
• Race Lift: He was a white guy in the original story.
• Undying Loyalty: When the Hand calls, he answers without question.

Zhou Cheng

Zhou Cheng

"Care for a taste?"

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Lewis Tan

Appearances: Iron Fist

"I am Zhou Cheng, disciple of my master Chi'n-Lin, sworn defender of the Hand."

A guard at one of the Hand's factories in China. He is also an alcoholic. A really big alcoholic.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: The Zhou Cheng of the comics is just a emotionless killing machine willing to kill any innocents in his path. This Zhou Cheng is a lot more civil and Affably Evil.
• Affably Evil: Pretty nice guy for a Hand assassin. He even offers Danny a drink during their fight.
  Zhou Cheng: Care for a taste?
• The Alcoholic: Oh and how. Given he's a Drunken Master he has to.
• Berserk Button: When Danny smashes his booze recipient, Zhou Cheng noticeably starts fighting with more anger.
• Deadpan Snarker: He mercilessly snarks at Danny's expense.
• Drunken Boxing: His primary fighting style.
• Drunken Master: The fact he's absolutely shitfaced does not keep him from trashing Danny.
  Danny: What would your master say if he saw you drinking so much?
  Zhou Cheng: Oh he insists upon it!
• Evil Counterpart: He's to the Hand what Danny Rand is to K'un-Lun: a man sworn by oath to protect and serve his master by guarding a path.
• Functional Addict: Being an alcoholic doesn't impede his fighting. If anything, he's made it part of his fighting style.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Sports a nasty, massive burn on the left side of his face that makes him look almost Two-Faced.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: Uses his bottle as a flail during his fight with Danny.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Zhou Cheng serves the Hand, no matter what. He points out to Danny he's made a vow that cannot be broken.
• Mythology Gag: Zhou Cheng saying that his master is named Ch'i-Lin and his claim that he's perpetually drunk to keep something very dangerous inside of him from being awaken are references to how in the comics Zhou Cheng is the host of a mystical dragon monster named Ch'i-Lin, who seeks to kill every Iron Fist on the day of their 33rd birthday to absorb their chi in order to open a door to K'un-Lun.
• Noble Demon: As he points out he's a man of honor acting under a sacred oath. He just happens to have made it to the evil people.
• Restraining Bolt: Zhou Cheng implies he's perpetually drunk not just because of his fighting style, but also because he has to be otherwise something very dangerous inside of him will awaken.
  Zhou Cheng: Some chase the dragon. I've got to keep him sedated. Bad things happen if I don't.
• Troll: He mocks Danny relentlessly, which is aided by his mocking fighting style.
• Undying Loyalty: He has sworn an oath to serve The Hand, and takes it very seriously.
• Unexplained Accent: Zhou Cheng speaks with what sounds like an awful mix of Chinese and cockney. Many fans assume its Lewis Tans natural accent due to him bein British born ^note  Tan is born in Manchester so he wouldn't even have a cockney accent but a Manchester accent similar to Sacha Dhawan who plays Davos with his natural accent But Tan in real life grew up in Los Angeles and has an American accent.
• Weirdness Coupon: Why does the Hand tolerate such a drunken lout? He's unquestionably loyal, and is a very good fighter because of his alcoholism.
• Villain Has a Point: Zhou Cheng is actually correct in his assessment that Danny has abandoned his oath to protect K'un-Lun in the search for vengeance and his own interests.

Sophia

Sophia

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Jeanna de Waal

Appearances: Iron Fist

A follower of Madame Gao infilitrated within Rand Enterprises.

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• Faux Action Girl: She has some martial arts training but is no match to Danny Rand.
• Mouth of Sauron: She's one of Gao's three "sales representatives" offering the synthetic Steel Serpent.

Radovan Bernivig

Radovan Bernivig

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Olek Krupa

Appearances: Iron Fist

A chemist kidnapped by the Hand to engineer their synthetic heroin.

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• Cold-Blooded Torture: Is implied to have been subjected to this.
• I Have Your Wife: The Hand have taken his daughter captive to force him into service.

King

King

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Sala Baker

Appearances: Iron Fist

A follower of Madame Gao tasked with guarding Radovan Bernivig.

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• Beard of Evil: Has a thick and large beard and is a member of a vast evil organization.
• Decapitation Presentation: His head is put on a pike to deliver a challenge to Danny.
• Elite Mook: Gives Danny one hell of a fight.
• You Have Failed Me: Madame Gao executes him for failing to keep Radovan captive.

Alexi

Alexi

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Solomon Shiv

Appearances: Iron Fist

A follower of Madame Gao tasked with punishing Harold Meachum and partnered with Vando.

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• Mouth of Sauron: Acts as an envoy from Gao to Harold to get info on Danny Rand and inform him of his punishment.
• Foil: While Vando is silent and physically imposing, Alexi is slimmer and talkative.

Vando

Vando

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Brett Chan

Appearances: Iron Fist

A follower of Madame Gao tasked with punishing Harold Meachum and partnered with Alexi.

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• Bald of Evil: He's the member of an evil organization. and bald.
• Beard of Evil: Sports a goatee and is a member of vast evil organization.
• The Brute: He's one of the many underlings of Madame Gao who serve her as muscle.
• Foil: To Alexi, who is slim and talkative whereas Vando is silent, large and imposing.
• Tongue Trauma: Gao had his tongue removed as punishment. And two of his fingers, too.
• The Voiceless: As a result of his mutilation, he doesn't speak.
• You Have Failed Me: In the past, he had his tongue and two fingers removed as a form of punishment.

Bakuto's Faction

In General

• Cult: Bakuto runs his faction as a cult and an educational facility that brainwashes young people into loyal followers of the Hand.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Bakuto employs mooks from various ethnicities.
• Enemy Civil War: Involved in one with Gao's faction in Iron Fist.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Unlike Gao's and Murakami's factions, who operate as crime syndicates, Bakuto's faction runs as an educational organization for underprivileged kids and tries to instill in them the notion that the Hand is a peaceful, loving organization where they can belong to something bigger than do good.
• The Fundamentalist: Some underlings like Becca Yoo, Mary, and Brian have become so loyal to the Hand that they'll betray their own sensei, Colleen, to Bakuto.
• Naïve Newcomer: Several younger underlings like Gil and Ciara don't seem to have a clue he's being inducted into a fanatical cult

Lieutenants

Spoiler Character

Colleen Wing

See the Defenders and Allies page

Underlings

Becca Yoo

Becca Yoo

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Samantha Herrera

Appearances: Iron Fist

A former student of Colleen who went on to become a doctor thanks to Bakuto and works at the Metro-General Hospital.

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• Canon Foreigner: There is no Becca Yoo in the comics.
• The Mole: She's one of the hundreds of Hand disciples infiltrated throughout New York.

Brian

Brian

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Patrick Walker

Appearances: Iron Fist

A former student of Colleen and one of the loyal Hand followers under Bakuto.

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• Scary Black Man: His size and devotion to the Hand make this African-American man an imposing and scary presence.

Darryl

Darryl

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Marquis Rodriguez

Appearances: Luke Cage | Iron Fist

A former student of Colleen who is up for a scholarship.

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• Canon Foreigner: Has no comic counterpart.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite failing to stop Danny and Davos from escaping, Bakuto forgives Darryl and tells his men to get Darryl patched up, saying that Darryl is part of the Hand's future.
• Fight Clubbing: He was the one who told Colleen about the fight club, originally doing it for money to help support his mother and two brothers.
• Unwanted Assistance: He was at Colleen's first cage match, taping it and posting it online, on the belief that it would show people how skilled Colleen was and so they would want to train at the Chikara Dojo. Colleen was not pleased to learn this.

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