In Marvel's
Daredevil series, there were four, major organized crime syndicates operating in NYC - the yakuza, the triad, the Russians and the Kingpin's (Vincent D'Onofrio) group. While the Russians and Kingpin's crew are more traditional elements of organized crime, the yakuza and triad only appeared to be.
Daredevil definitely left the door open to explore more of the latter two and their more mystical roots in a second season or....in
Iron Fist.
Stick looks to be reporting to Stone, a member of The Chaste. In the comics, Stone is actually Stick's pupil.
Naturally, the mystic element to Daredevil truly arrives in episode 7, "Stick". In Marvel Comics, Stick is a member of
The Chaste, an offshoot of
The Hand. The spilt between
The Chaste and
The Hand occurs in feudal era Japan when
The Hand veers away from samurai philosophy and transforms into a ninja cult. Those who kept to the traditional, samurai ideology became
The Chaste. As hinted at by Stick (Scott Glenn) in episode 7, each member of
The Chaste possesses supernatural ability. It appears that Stick was just about to teach young Matt Murdock (Skylar Gaertner) these abilities when his sentimental gift caused Stick to abandon Matt as he feared he was too soft for what sounds like an impending showdown with
The Hand. The leader of
The Chaste is Master Izo, an immortal martial artist and original member of
The Hand who is also mentioned in
The Book of The Iron Fist - a sacred tome that contains every martial arts move ever conceived. In addition, the mystical abilities Stick hinted at just before abandoning young Matt sounds a lot like the Chi-based abilities many of the residents of
K'un-Lun posses. Don't be surprised if Marvel's
Iron Fist series attempts to combine the mythology of
The Hand and the
Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. In the comics, the conflict between
The Hand and
The Chaste is generally something that is separate from the activities of the
Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, the two martial arts linchpins of Marvel have intersected with one another before and led to team-ups between
Iron First and
Daredevil.
That's definitely the symbol for Iron Fist villain Steel Serpent.
The next hint comes in the form of Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) and the heroin she manufactures in Hell's Kitchen. According to Ben Ulrich (Vondie Curtis-Hall) the drug is known on the street as the Still Serpent. This is definitely an allusion to "
Steel Serpent" an Iron Fist villain with ties to K'un Lun. This symbol on the drug packet is also a dead on match to the symbol on the Steel Serpent's chest. There's also Gao's cryptic hint that her home is "a considerable distance" farther than China. Many fans are speculating that Gao is really
Crane Mother , the ruler of a different
Capital City of Heaven and adversary of
Iron First. There's definitely more to Gao than meets the eye, given that she dismantled
Daredevil with one palm-thrust.
Is Madame Gao really Crane Mother?
If I missed any, please let me know in the comments and I'll update the article.