This post contains spoilers for the first season of Marvel’s Daredevil

One of the best episodes in the Netflix series Daredevil was Episode 7, “Stick”, named after the blind mentor that trained young Matt Murdock how to fight and best use his senses. Of course, with one of the best episodes comes one of the biggest questions. At the tail end of the episode, Stick is seen reporting to a hulking figure asking if Matt will be ready “when the doors open.” Exactly who was Stick talking to at the end of the episode? Let’s see if we can find out.

The Answer (or what I think is the answer):

Update 1: Upon viewing the credits (which Netflix happens to minimize for you) it was revealed the character is actually Stone played by Jason Finney. You can read more about Stone below in the original post. – Editor-in-Chief, Bilal Mian

Update 2: I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong. Stupid credits, lol. HOWEVER, I still assert that Madame Gao is from K’un L’un. – Terence

Stone is another leader of the Chaste usually depicted in the comics as the second-in-command to Stick. Stone has extensive training in the martial arts. His core power and his namesake is his ability to become impervious to nearly any attack, as long as he is aware of the incoming threat. This makes his mastery of his senses even more important.

Original Post as follows:

Lei-Kung the Thunderer. Not Stone, who most people are saying.

The Evidence:

One of the biggest misconceptions is about Nobu. If you’ll notice, the Yakuza are mentioned multiple times as the employer for Nobu. However, all of those times that the Yakuza are mentioned, it’s NEVER by anyone in the know. Matt, Karen, and even Ben constantly refer to the Japanese presence as Yakuza, but Fisk, Owlsley and Madame Gao not once speak of Nobu as Yakuza, they simply refer to Nobu and his people as “the Japanese”. Add some mentions of “Nobu and his clan” we can only come up with one answer.

Nobu is part of The Hand.

The Hand is a shadow ninja clan who will become one of the Daredevil’s greatest adversaries. Add in the mention of “the Greek girl” who was in Matt’s Spanish class in college (Elektra Natchios, one of the most iconic characters in Daredevil) and it’s all but confirmed that Nobu and his red ninja outfit are the Hand.

Which of course, according to comic lore, makes Stick part of “The Chaste”, an organization of warriors (a term Stick uses when talking to Matt) dedicated to stopping the Hand and their attempts to take over the world. Most people will answer that Stone is the mysterious figure that Stick is talking to, as Stone is Stick’s ally in the Chaste. However, in the comics, Stick is the leader of the Chaste, it makes no sense that he would be reporting to Stone, unless Marvel is taking some liberties in the cinematic universe which they often do, but a better answer lies ahead.

Madame Gao is the mysterious figure who operates the Chinese arm of Fisk’s criminal empire. Everyone, good and bad, assumes that she’s part of the Triad. However, she alludes to the fact multiple times that she is in fact even older than she looks. When she speaks to Matt about why her workers blinded themselves, she speaks of them having faith in a greater power. Lastly, when she speaks to Owlsley about returning home, he asks if she’s going to China, and she replies that she’s going even further. China is pretty much the furthest you can be away from New York, which leads me to one conclusion.

Madame Gao is an immortal citizen of K’un L’un.

K’un L’un is the mystical city where Danny Rand is taken in after he is orphaned. He is trained in the martial arts under Lei-Kung the Thunderer, the leader of the army in the city. You may know Danny Rand by another name, the Immortal Iron Fist. Look at the marking on Gao’s packets of heroin. Does it remind you of anything else? Oh yeah, the chi marking of the Dragon Shou-Lao the Undying, Guardian of K’un L’un, and the mark of the IRON FIST.

The gates between K’un L’un and our world open once every decade. This makes the perfect opportunity for Madame Gao to make her journey back home, and when the mysterious figure with the scars on his back asks if Murdock will be “ready when the doors open” what do you think that can possibly mean?

Does this mean that the mystical realm of K’un L’un will stand in for The Chaste in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? This writer definitely thinks so, and if it does, I believe that it will serve as an amazing way to tie together the mythology of the street level heroes and the mysticism of Iron Fist. It would make perfect sense that Stick is reporting to Lei-Kung if he is the head of the forces of K’un L’un, readying our realm and standing by to throw back the forces of the Hand instead of The Chaste.

What do you guys think?