The Hand (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

The Hand (also known as Yami no te, translated as "Dark Hand") is a criminal organization in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, consisting of ninja warriors who, for the most part, can bring themselves back to life. They appear in the Netflix-original TV series Marvel's Daredevil, as supporting antagonists in Season 1, and the main antagonists of Season 2, as well as in Season 1 of Marvel's Iron Fist and the Marvel's Defenders series.

Origins

 * "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, it means the Hand."
 * ―Stick explains the origin of the Hand to Matt Murdock

The Hand is an ancient organization which at some point obtained the secret of immortality and resurrection. Initially being a group of ninjas, the Hand's founders used their mastery over death to kill their master and conquer much of Asia. However, the organization became divided over time, with numerous separate factions seeking their own power. To gain more power over the world, the Hand learned of a special reincarnated soul that they called the "Black Sky", giving that person unspecified power that they sought to use. Only two Black Sky characters have been seen so far; an unnamed boy appearing in the first season of Marvel's Daredevil and Elektra Natchios in the second season. Both have met their demise, however, with Stick killing the unnamed boy and Elektra being killed by Nobu.

As time went by, the Hand gained various enemies, powerful or otherwise. The land of K'un L'un in the Himalayan mountains, headed by a group of warrior monks called the "Order of the Crane Mother", trained warriors to defend and fight off the Hand. They would choose an individual known to them as the "Iron Fist", a warrior with the power to channel their chi into their fist to create a powerful and unbreakable weapon, to guard the gate into the city whenever the gate between the city and the rest of the world opened every 15 years. Stick, an enemy of the Hand, also told his student Matt Murdock/Daredevil a story about a boy that survived the Hand's wrath in ancient times, who then used a knife pulled from his mother's dead body to cut down the group's strongest warriors. This boy would grow up to recruit more people to his cause and fight the Hand, becoming known as the "Chaste". Stick was a member of the Chaste, as was Elektra after her abduction from the Hand as a young girl; the current leader of the Chaste appears to be a heavily-scarred man named Stone.

Although some factions of the clan appear as a secretive ninja organization, other factions of the Hand appear as simple criminals. In addition, the true hierarchy of the Hand is yet unknown, as multiple factions of the Hand have appeared on-screen, each with different goals and agendas.

Nobu's Faction
The Hand faction led by Nobu Yoshioka is first introduced in the first season of Marvel's Daredevil. This faction seems to be the only faction that is truly enforcing the Hand's ancient goals. Together with Madame Gao, Nobu serves as a business partner of Wilson Fisk. He is seemingly killed in a battle with Daredevil, which was orchestrated by Fisk who wanted to get rid of Nobu.

Nobu and the Hand return in the second season. It is revealed that Nobu was resurrected and that he and his faction seek to deploy "The Black Sky" over the world. Investigating Nobu and The Hand, Daredevil learns that the Black Sky is in truth Elektra Natchios, who is approached by Nobu and invited to lead the Hand. Although she is tempted, Elektra refuses when Daredevil convinces her not to join the Hand. In the resulting brawl, Nobu accidentally kills Elektra. He is killed shortly after by Stick. When Stick beheads Nobu, he inadvertedly prevents Nobu from being resurrected again due to his decapitation.

It is unknown whether Nobu's faction was disbanded or joined another faction afterwards. As Nobu seemed to have a good relationship with Gao, it is possible that Nobu's faction joined up with her after Nobu's death.

Bakuto's Faction
Bakuto is another leader of a Hand faction. He trains recruits, who mainly consist of children who had a bad childhood or no opportunities in life, at an academy in the countryside. Colleen Wing was one of these children.

Although Bakuto's goals seem benevolent at first, it is revealed that he brainwashes his students into obedience. After they leave the academy to become part of society, they still remain loyal to the Hand and Bakuto has thus influence over all sorts of sectors. He also punishes those who disobey him or are not useful to him with death.

Bakuto seems to be a rival of sorts of Madame Gao. After capturing her, he holds her captive in a building on his academy compound and seeks to take over her organization.

The true goals of Bakuto and his factions have not yet been revealed. After learning of the Iron Fist, Bakuto makes it his goal to turn Danny on to his side. After this fails, he blackmails Danny by threatening his friends, the Meachums. To save the Meachum's, Danny surrenders to Bakuto who reveals that he will help Danny uncover his true potential and that there is someone - a higher power than Bakuto - who will be thrilled to work with Danny. However, before Danny can be brought to said person or before Bakuto can reveal more, Danny frees himself. Danny's friends Colleen and Davos turn up as well and Bakuto is ultimately slain.

After Bakuto's death, his faction of the Hand recover his corpse. Whether they are able to resurrect him has not yet been revealed. Bakuto's faction also abandons the academy and when Danny Rand turns up there, he finds all Hand warriors and students gone. The faction has left Gao, however, who is still incarcarated without food or water.

Gao's Faction
Madame Gao first appears in Daredevil as a Chinese crime lord and leader of a drug trafficking ring. However, her organization is not revealed to be the Hand until her return in Marvel's Iron Fist. Although Gao's origin and true intentions are yet to be revealed, her faction of the Hand seems to be focused on drug trafficing rather than some ancient cult goal. According to Bakuto, Gao's faction consists of Hand defectors who only want to further their own goals. Gao's faction of the Hand has business in China and New York. Similar to the other factions, Gao's faction has the means of resurrection.

Gao's faction managed to infiltrate the company Rand Enterprises by striking a deal with their CEO Harold Meachum. By using Rand Enterprises resources, Gao distributed her heroin throughout the city. When Harold was diagnosed with cancer, the Hand offered him a deal, resurrection in exchange for servitude. Harold accepted and was resurrected by the Hand. The Hand then used Harold, who still had influence over Rand Enterprises through his son Ward, to make business decisions in favor of the Hand. One of the decisions was the purchasing of a pier at which the Hand then smuggled a scientist into the country. This scientist had invented a synthetic heroin which Gao's faction then distributed into the city.

Eventually, Gao was captured by Danny Rand and held captive in New York. Eventually, Bakuto turned up and, feigning friendship to Danny, managed to bring both Gao - who recognized him as another Hand leader - and Danny into his academy. There, Gao was imprisoned. With Gao out of the picture, Bakuto managed to take over at least part of Gao's empire but was eventually killed by Danny Rand and his friends. After Bakuto's defeat, Gao was saved by her people and presumably took over The Hand in its entirety.

Unknown Faction
After Danny Rand leaves K'un-Lun, an unknown faction of The Hand attacks the city. When Danny later returns, he finds corpses of some of the Hand's warriors and assumes that they are not Gao's men. Furthermore, the entire city of K'un-Lun has vanished, meaning that the bridge there has been closed.

Trivia

 * Both the Order of the Crane Mother and the organization "the Chaste" are sworn enemies of the Hand.
 * Harold Meachum has described the Hand as "the Illuminati, but real", suggesting that the Hand has control over various politicians worldwide. Madame Gao has stated that large corporations such as Rand Enterprises are the true rulers of the world instead of politicians, which seemingly-dismisses this theory.