WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Marvel’s The Defenders, available now on Netflix.


The ancient, mystical ninja sect known as the Hand were major parts of Daredevil's two seasons. The group's role as the main antagonists in the Netflix corner of the MCU carried over into the Iron Fist series, where they were revealed as rivals to the warriors of K'un Lun. By the time Marvel's The Defenders ends however, their entire story comes full-circle, as we learn why they went to war with the heroes in the first place, why they wanted control of New York, and why they desperately sought out the Iron Fist.

RELATED: The Defenders Reveals the Secret Origin of the Hand

Now, while the ninja clan's story was at the heart of the series' generally well-received first season, there was a lot about them in The Defenders that simply didn't have much of an impact. There were too many faces thrown at us so quickly, leading to quite a few inconsistencies in the main five Hand leaders' depiction as final-level bosses, their motivations and their inner-workings. As a result, the Hand was ultimately an underwhelming cadre of villains that didn't leave quite the lasting mark showrunner Marco Ramirez likely intended.

No Emotional Connection

Over the course of the show, we found out that the Hand's leaders, the Five Fingers, were banished by the elders of K'un Lun for wanting to harness the power of chi to become immortal instead of healing the world. These outcasts were Alexandra, Madame Gao, Murakami, Sowande and, of course, Bakuto. Together, they manipulated the world for centuries through power and greed.

Meanwhile, lying beneath Midland Circle was the skeletal remains of a K'un Lun dragon whose bones held the secret to the Five Fingers' immortality. The dragon's location led to a lifelong feud with Stick, and eventually, several violent encounters with the Defenders.

This is all fine and good; the motivations make sense, and the actors turned in fine to fantastic performances. The issue is that viewers were asked to fill in a lot of the blanks. Having the Hand's history explained in less than eight episodes rusted in a lot of shortcuts, preventing us from relating to or empathizing with the villains like we did with, say, Daredevil's Kingpin. It was difficult to grasp just how truly horrific the Hand's senior officials were without a visual backstory.

hand

This is what worked not just for Kingpin, but for Kilgrave in Jessica Jones and for Cottonmouth and Black Mariah in Luke Cage. Such an emotional connection, which we got with Elektra thanks to her on-screen past with Daredevil, helps audiences better understand villains. This is what Bakuto's faction of the Hand lacked in Iron Fist, as well. That series barely touched on the Hand's history with K'un Lun, and when presented a chance in The Defenders, this history was glossed over way too quickly. We missed out on a much-needed flashback episode dealing with the exile of these five members, their first union as the Hand, their original philosophies and subsequent evolution (or devolution) as a direct response to the Fist of K'un Lun. Apart from Alexandra and Gao, the Hand straight-up lacked that intimidation factor, coming off mainly like boring corporate thugs who knew a bit of kung-fu.

RELATED: The Defenders: What the Hell Is Actually Beneath Midland Circle?

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The Hand's Motivation Felt Scattered

The Hand's motivation seemed a bit uncertain at times. They gave us the impression they wanted to prolong their immortality, yet Murakami and Gao said to Alexandra that "they wanted to go home" implying that maybe they were looking for a way back to K'un Lun, perhaps even to die. We could look past this as miscommunication and dissent within the ranks, but what's also worth noting is that Bakuto deemed Iron Fist fully expendable prior to this. But in The Defenders, we learn K'un Lun's champion is actually needed, alive and well, in order to unlock the path to the dragon's bones. This could be chalked up to sloppy writing within the Netflix-verse, but wouldn't the Iron Fist have always been something the Hand should have been looking to capture, especially if they're unearthing something so connected to his lore? And couldn't the wethers have found some way to explain the glaring inconsistency?

Marvel's The Defenders

It was also disconcerting seeing Gao and Bakuto buddy up to each other as though their little civil war in Iron Fist never happened. This bizarre forgiveness, like children who fight like cats and dogs before playing together happily, helps fuel the sense that the Hand was reactive villains rather than proactive masterminds.

Hardly A Mental Threat

For a supposedly brilliant sect of criminals, the Hand weren't exactly cerebral masterminds, relying more on ninja gangs instead of mind games. Such a strong mental presence is what made Kingpin, Cottonmouth and Kilgrave resonate and scare us. They depended on brains, not just brawn, and the fact that the Hand couldn't get to a single loved one in time to leverage them against the Defenders showed no small amount of incompetence. In fact, aside from Elektra messing with Daredevil's mind, the Defenders were never pushed to the limits, mentally.

Sigourney Weaver in The Defenders

Claire Temple, Trish Walker or any one of the businesses or buildings affiliated with Rand Industries could have been taken hostage if the Hand acted with even a modicum of intelligence and forethought. It's tough to believe that with such a large network, even after the heroes hid certain individuals considered close to the chest, the Hand couldn't find a single person to hold as leverage. Luke and Jessica don't even wear masks, so the entirety of Harlem could also have been used as a massive bargaining chip. It was major letdown to see the Hand rely on violence alone when their leaders claimed to be critical strategists over the ages, razing places like Pompeii and Chernobyl. It wasn't until Elektra's coup that we saw a Hand that was cruel and unforgiving, and by then, it was too little, too late.

An Underwhelming Physical Threat

Not only did she seem to be the brightest of them, the only real physical threat came in the form of Elektra. She was relentless in her pursuit of what lay beneath Midland Circle, and she took everyone, especially Daredevil and Iron Fist, to their limits. However, outside of this Black Sky, the rest of the Hand didn't register as the world's most elite or lethal. Heck, Daredevil's Nobu, a junior leader in the Hand, proved to be a way bigger threat than Murakami and Bakuto. Alexandra had our hopes up. but Elektra killed her swiftly and easily. And Sowande was disappointingly taken down off-camera by Luke, only to be killed by Stick.

Elektra in the Defenders

Yes, Gao managed to impress with her particular skills, but it ultimately boiled down to Elektra carrying the entire war on her shoulders. Not one boss left our heroes clinging to life, robbing us of even a single scene with half the emotional impact like when Punisher took it to Daredevil last year. The fact that the Five Fingers didn't pack any major physical punches was, frankly, shocking. With the experience they presumably garnered over the centuries, you'd think they would be able to take out at least one of these heroes who were clearly still in the learning phase of their careers. But in the end, the much vaunted Hand proved to be clawless.