Daredevil – Who Was Stick Talking To at the End of Episode 7?

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 Mianwho is stick talking to

who is stick talking to, stoneUpdate 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:

who was stick talking toLei-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.

who was stick talking to
Credit: Christiano Flexa

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.

who was stick talking to

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.

who was stick talking to

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?

Terence Chen
Terence Chenhttp://theerrantbachelor.wordpress.com
is someone who realizes that his love of comic books since he was a child is one of only things allowing him to understand pop culture right now. He's irreverent and irrelevant most of the time, but every once in a while, he can put together a few coherent thoughts. He is currently a contributing writer on the Workprint. You can follow him on twitter @ErrantBachelor, and read his personal ramblings at TheErrantBachelor.wordpress.com

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15 Comments

  1. The artwork of Daredevil fighting The Hand ninjas is by Christiano Flexa, an artist I represent. It would be much appreciated if you would please credit him for that artwork. You can view more of his work at wednesdaysheroes.com/christiano-flexa

    Thank you.

  2. You are very correct to assert that iron fist and kun Lin are a part. I am not sure what to what capacity your assertions are true but I do believe it involves iron fist, and I do know this. While we cannot be expecting iron fist to make an appearance any time soon we will be seeing Elektra along with punisher in the next season. The inclusion of Elektra and the vagueness of Nobu’s role gives us good reason to believe that he is the Hand, leading us to see that Stick is part of the chaste fighting against the hand. As I said we will not be seeing iron fist in the series anytime soon (as far as I know) but after daredevil marvel is billed for luke cage, Jessica jones (she hulk), and iron fist, all leading up to their work together in the defenders. As marvel usually does they use each piece of their media to refer to something much further down the line. While it is very unlikely we will see iron fist in season two. We will likely see Madame gao in the iron fist series and may have a bit of a crossover with daredevil to prepare us for the defenders, because I believe iron fist is the last one before the defenders.

  3. if you look at the bone protrusions on his back the left is mirrored by the right side, (remember this is Marvel Comics) those could be severed wings, which given his pectoral muscles would seem likely, the X on his back where a harness worn for years would make. Could be Gabriel as a Fallen Angel? Or Perhaps some unknown mutant, at first I thought Wolverine, cuz the hair and the fact the Hand is involved except Wolverine doesn’t have bones sticking out of his back like broken wings and Logan hardly ever scares.

  4. Well now we have our answer. The defenders season finale made it pretty clear which doors ended up being opened. Even if we were made to believe that the door’s sole purpose was to protect the dragon’s remains, I however think that those were the doors leading to kun l’un.
    The real question is how the Chaste knew that the doors will be opened (some kind of profecy ?)

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