The Hand
Everybody was kung-fu fighting...
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 1 #168 (September 1981)
An ancient organisation of Japanese nationalist ninja, The Hand were corrupted from the inside by the Snakeroot, a clan of demon worshipers who aimed to bring their master, Kemono (The Beast), into the world. They have opposed Daredevil on many occasions, aiming always to increase their own power and free The Beast from its imprisonment.
Famously, the Foot Clan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise are an Affectionate Parody of them.
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In General
In General
- Ancient Conspiracy: About 400 years old.
- Arch-Enemy: Of the organisation known as The Chaste, of whom Matt's mentor, Stick, was member. The group as a whole is third on Daredevil's hit parade after Wilson Fisk and Bullseye. They've fought him many times, a number of his enemies (Elektra, Lady Bullseye, Kingpin) have been members of the group or have tried to take control of it, they're linked to his mentor, and they want Matt to be their leader.
- Black Magic: Fond of this. Upon the mutinous murder of Yoshioka (first father of the group), the Snakeroot ninja clan took control of the Hand and corrupted it by imposing the cult of a demon known as The Beast, which imparted them with dark magic. One of these black spells causes a Hand ninja's lifeless body to return to dust and prevent another from directly gazing at the Beast itself.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: A favorite tactic of theirs; they kill you, and then resurrect you as a Straw Nihilist Ax-Crazy Blood Knight loyal to them. Elektra went through this twice, though the second time she apparently had developed a resistance to it and Out-Gambitted them. They've also done it to Wolverine and Northstar, and tried doing it to Echo.
- Came Back Wrong: Invoked. They resurrect you to be one of their evil warriors.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Played dead straight. The group is almost nothing but cannon fodder. The willingness to die seems to be more important in membership consideration than skill, considering how many hundreds (perhaps thousands) of these guys characters like Wolverine and Elektra have waded through.
- Their earliest appearances, during Frank Miller's run on Daredevil, more or less codified the trope. Daredevil and Elektra would periodically face whole armies of Hand mooks and win fairly easily, then the Hand threw a few elite swordsmen at them and gave them a serious fight, and a little after that they produced a named super-ninja for a downright difficult boss fight.
- The trope was later somewhat handwaved in a Wolverine comic "... [the mooks] have to be careful they don't chop one of their own by mistake. While I can hit anyone I please."
- Speaking of Wolverine, the Hand averted this one once by ambushing him with enough ninja to cripple his movement and leave him defenseless, allowing the Gorgon to chop his head off. He gets better, then plays the trope straight for six issues of glorious payback that practically wiped the ninja clan out.
- Cult: A demonic one.
- Elite Mooks: Fist, a reanimated corpse powered by the souls of 100 fallen warriors.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Beast, aka Jakkaru No Musuko (Son Of Jackal), their evil master. He has only appeared in two stories, and most of the time he uses Demonic Possession rather than his true form (a large, green, ogre-like monster with a bit of a hunchback).
- Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy: They have a long, complex history with HYDRA and the latter is more or less a breakaway group of the more politically minded members, though they still co-operate from time to time. They often ally with other evil groups, and a branch are controlled by the Kingpin.
- Night of the Living Mooks: They have undead mooks.
- Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: Undead brainwashed demon-worshiping ninja cult.
- Off with His Head!: What you have to do to the corpse if you don't want the Hand to get their hands on a new toy.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: All Hand warriors and their demon masters have red eyes (Depending on the Artist).
- Religion of Evil: They worship an ancient demon known only as The Beast. In the Wolverine story arc Enemy of the State, their Jounin, their highest ninja masters, are clearly non-human and implied to be demons as well.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: They've fought pretty much everyone at this point, from Matt and Elektra to Wolverine, The Avengers, and beyond.
- Status Quo Is God: External heroes and villains alike have tried to reform or at least co-opt the Hand into a less volatile paramilitary force, finding the notion of an army of highly-trained, disciplined infiltrators and combatants who are seemingly fanatically loyal to whoever's in charge by default tantalizing to further their own ends both well-intentioned and selfish. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the medium and the Hand's own inherent baggage as an insane cult of demon worshipping ninjas, these attempted takeovers always fail.
- Straw Nihilist: What you become if the Hand brings you Back from the Dead.
- Take Over the World: Their main goal.
- Tyke Bomb: They allow outside assassins to join, but it's implied a lot of their members are raised within the Hand. A Wolverine story showed that female members can be made to basically becoming breeding machines, while Fallen Angels showed that any child a Hand member produces is taken by the Hand.
- The Undead: Members of the Hand are practitioners of powerful occult magic and can murder a person and bring that person back to life as a servant of the Hand.
Members
Lady Bullseye
Lady Bullseye
Evil's biggest fangirl
Alter Ego: Maki Matsumoto
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 2 #111
A Japanese assassin and member of The Hand, Maki Matsumoto was inspired to take her current path when, as a child, she witnessed Bullseye's massacre of the slave traders who had kidnapped her. A lawyer in her civilian identity, she has manipulated both Daredevil and Kingpin in order to move up the ranks of The Hand.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: A Japanese female successor (well, more a copycat) to a white male villain.
- Alliterative Name: Just like Matt her name and last name begin with 'M'.
- Ax-Crazy: She's not more mentally stable than her male counterpart.
- Badass Bookworm: Lawyer by day, psychotic ninja assassin by night.
- Badass Normal: She has no apparent superhuman powers, but she is an expert martial artist. It has been noted that she is faster than both Bullseye and the Kingpin. However, she is also less powerful.
- Big Bad Wannabe: In "Return of the King" when she lures Fisk back to New York in order to play he and Matt against each other. In the end, she's outmanoeuvred by both Kingpin, Daredevil, and Master Izo and forced out of The Hand.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Betrays The Hand, Daredevil, and The Kingpin.
- Combat Pragmatist: She has little patience for Hand ritual, and she will take advantage of enemies who expect her to fight like a typical Hand ninja.
- Dark Action Girl: She is a master of several martial arts and a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, and specializes in using both a katana and shuriken.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As a young girl, she was imprisoned by the Yakuza, who planned to sell her and many others into sexual slavery. However, Bullseye, on an unrelated errand, arrived to slaughter the mobsters. The sight of Bullseye effortlessly killing her captors inspired the girl to escape and become a killer.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Bullseye as says her name.
- Does Not Like Men: The side effect of her past where she would have been forced to be a Sex Slave. The only man she seems to respect is Bullseye.
- Fragile Speedster: Comparatively. Matt notes that while she's faster than the likes of Bullseye or Kingpin, she can't take a hit the way they can.
- Freudian Excuse: Captured by slavers as a child and saved (accidentally) by Bullseye.
- Guns vs. Swords: Like Elektra, she is proficient in both. She prefers swords and shuriken but will pull out firearms if the situation calls for it, such as when she shot Pepper Potts with a sniper rifle.
- Hates Being Touched: Touching her without permission is her Berserk Button. In any way.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Bullseye, but a Lady.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Her reaction to seeing Bullseye in action.
- Legacy Character: An odd case; she is inspired by Bullseye (when he accidentally saved her from Yakuza sex slavers), but unlike other examples Bullseye was still very much active and didn't train her or anything.
- Manipulative Bitch: As a lawyer, she targets Daredevil by assisting the parents of Murdock's mentally-ill wife Milla Donovan in gaining custody of her.
- Painted-On Pants: You see that outfit there? And how you could be forgiven for thinking she wears nothing? It is consistently drawn that way. The thing never, ever has any kind of loose fabric of any kind.
- Psycho for Hire: Much like the regular Bullseye, she's a psycho who kills people for money.
- Professional Killer
- Secret Identity: Her alter ego is a lawyer, opposing Matt Murdock in the courtroom, thereby attacking Daredevil on two fronts.
- Unwitting Pawn: For most of her life. Master Izo told her she would lead the Hand, but never intended for that to happen.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of the very first things we see her do is murder the Kingpin's newest adopted family.
Bakuto
Bakuto
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 2 #505
Bakuto was the ignoble leader (Daimyo) of a branch of The Hand based in South America who stood against Daredevil after he took control of the Hand.
- '50s Hair: Greased back in a typical '50s punk fashion.
- Enemy Civil War: While acting leader of the South American branch of the Hand, he attempted to assassinate Daredevil, who was the leader of the New York City branch at the time, causing a brief civil war amongst the group. Once he is killed, his death is announced as an honorable suicide so as to bring the two sides together.
- Killed Off for Real: Killed in battle by White Tiger.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: His murder was staged to look like an honorable sacrificial suicide (a common practice amongst the Hand), so as to bring in his followers to Daredevil's side without starting a gang war.
Ikari
Ikari
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 3 #25
A man who was given Daredevil's powers, but retains his sight. The Dragon to Bullseye during his elaborate revenge scheme, where he is shown to be at the very least equal in skill to Matt.
- The Dragon: Acts as Bullseye's top fighter.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: His severed head is shown among Kraven the Hunter's trophies in Waid's Captain America.
- Dual Wielding: Dual-wields Kusurigama blades.
- Evil Counterpart: Blatantly and intentionally an evil version of Daredevil, right down to the costume.
- Handicapped Badass: Averted. Matt assumes he's blind, but it turns out, he can see.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Is only ever called Ikari, which means Fury in Japanese.
- Secret Identity: Nothing is known of his life before he became Ikari.
- Super-Senses: Ikari is basically Daredevil with sight.
- Wham Line: "Try the red one." To elaborate, after dealing with a group of criminals who are blind but with heightened senses like himself, Daredevil, upon fighting Ikari, assumes him to be blind as well. After being on the receiving end of a lengthy beatdown, Daredevil hides in a sporting goods store and turns the sprinklers on, knowing it will effectively cancel out Ikari's radar sense (but also his own). After getting within striking distance of his foe, Daredevil reaches for a rack of baseball bats, upon which Ikari says the above line, revealing to Matt that he could see the whole time.
Tenfingers
Tenfingers
Alter Ego: Unknown
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 5 #1
A Chinatown crime boss with ten fingers on each hand. He runs the Church of the Sheltering Hands, which primarily targets the Chinese American community. He was a former member of the Hand before he left, stealing some of their magic.
- Body Horror: Has ten fingers on each hand.
- Bus Crash: Revealed to have been killed between issues by Muse.
- Dangerous Deserter: He was a former member of the Hand.
- The Don: He's a Chinatown crimeboss.
- Extra Digits: The Tenfingers is not just a title.
- Fingore: He cuts off his henchmen's fingers as a reward. They'll even beg him to remove them.
- I Banged Your Mom: Sam walks in on him having sex with Lu Wei.
- Leave No Witnesses: Tenfingers orders the Eights to kill the entire congregation after they witness him failing to defeat the Fist.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: He steals magic from the Hand and sets up his own organization.
- Sinister Minister: He's a crime boss that runs a church as a front.
- The Worf Effect: Proves no match for his former Masters when they come to reclaim the powers he stole from them.
- You Have Failed Me: Averted. He is patient and understanding towards henchmen who fail in their tasks. He even gives Samuel a second chance after he disobeys a direct order in the name of the church's interests.
Lu Wei
Lu Wei
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil Vol. 5 #3
Blindspot's mother and a member of the Church of the Sheltering Hands. She is one of the "Eights", warriors who have been given a portion of Tenfingers' powers.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: She's old enough to be the mother of Blindspot, who is in his late teens or early twenties, but she doesn't look like it.
- Body Horror: While not to the degree of her master, her and the other Eight's, as their name suggests, have eight fingers on each hand.
- The Dragon: One of three to Tenfingers.
- Dual Wielding: Carries two swords.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Tenfingers orders her to kill Blindspot, who she just realized is her son. She kills the other two Eights at the last minute, saving his life.
- Painted-On Pants: Her outfit does an excellent job of showing off her curves.
- Redemption Rejection: Blindspot tries to get her to leave the Church by showing her all the good he's done as Blindspot. She refuses.
Kirigi
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance:
Though neither a samurai nor ninja, Kirigi is a skilled warrior and assassin. His enemies include Daredevil and Elektra.
- Giant Mook: He's a huge Hand ninja.
- The Faceless: His face beneath the mask is unknown.
- Purple Is Powerful: Unlike regular Hand ninjas, he wears a purple suit.
Jonin
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance:
- Giant Mook: A huge, sumo-like enforcer of the Hand.
- Mook Lieutenant: Being a Jonin means he leads a small group of ninjas.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only ever referred to by his title.
Genin
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance:
An unnamed genin, or low-ranking member of the Hand, killed Alphonse Dechanteaux in Paris.
- The Faceless: His real face is never seen.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Only appears in one issue where he's killed.
Izanami
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil #293
- Giant Mook: Just like Kirigi, they're huge ninjas.
- Legacy Character: Apparently there were two Izanami.
Erynys
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases:
First Appearance: Daredevil #322
A virtual clone of Elektra created by the Hand. She was eventually merged with Elektra herself.
- Dark Action Girl: She represents Elektra's dark essence, so she's obviously this.
- Dual Wielding: Just like the real Elektra, she fought with dual sais.
- Literal Split Personality: Erynys was created out of Elektra's dark essence and thoughts through a ritual performed by the Snakeroot, an organization associated with the Hand.
