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Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
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One of the things the Netflix/Marvel shows are best at is finding clever ways to reimagine lesser-known comic book characters. Daredevil presented “The Owl,” a kitschy villain who can fly (like an owl), as a ruthless investor plotting the demise of Hell’s Kitchen. Marvel’s Jessica Jones introduced “Nuke,” a scary flip-side take on Captain America, as a tortured vet driven mad by an addiction to an experimental drug. Now, Marvel’s Iron Fist has taken a lesser-known Daredevil villain and turned him into a big and compelling bad guy.
***SPOILERS FOR LATER MARVEL’S IRON FIST EPISODES***
We first meet Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) in Episode 7 of Marvel’s Iron Fist, “Felling Tree With Roots.” He’s Colleen Wing’s old friend and sensei. He’s just traveling through. He seems nice, you know? Colleen tells Bakuto that Danny Rand is Iron Fist — and that the Iron Fist is real.
Cut to Episode 9, “The Mistress of All Agonies”: Colleen is dying of a poison infection and Madame Gao seems to have the upper hand over Danny and his friends. Bakuto comes to “save the day.” He quickly gets rid of Gao’s mercenaries, teaches Danny how to harness his powers to heal Colleen, and offers Colleen and Danny sanctuary. Again, it seems like he’s cool, right?
Well, in Episode 10, “Black Tiger Steals Heart,” we discover that Bakuto is not all that he seems. Sure, he leads a community devoted to helping people better themselves through martial arts and he wants to help Danny learn more about being the Iron Fist. However, he’s also the head of a rogue sect of The Hand. That’s right. This whole time Colleen Wing has been a part of The Hand, the evil organization that Danny’s sworn to fight. Madame Gao is a big power player and Daredevil fought them off in both seasons of his show. WHAT THE EFF?
Hard-core comic book fans could have seen this switch coming. As Bustle points out, Bakuto is a minor villain in the Daredevil comics, where he also has a connection with The Hand. Then, he’s, uh, killed. However, he seems to have a much bigger part to play in the Netflix/Marvel universe. He and Colleen argue that The Hand isn’t quite as evil as Danny was raised to believe and that Gao represents a rogue offshoot. Soon, we see Bakuto engaged in an internal power struggle with Madame Gao. Bakuto forges a sketchy alliance with Harold Meachum and by Episode 11, well, things get a little crazy and Colleen finds herself on the outs with her beloved sensei.
We don’t want to spoil the ending, but it’s very possible that we could be seeing a bit more of Bakuto (and his warped version of The Hand) in future series.
