In the latest issue of Daredevil, the return of one of Matt’s allies also signifies the pending return of one of the vigilante’s oldest enemies.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Daredevil #23 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Marcio Menyz, and VC’s Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Elektra, Matt Murdock’s unpredictable, on-again off-again lover recently returned to his life and while he currently has plenty to deal with as both Matt and Daredevil, especially with the latter going on trial, she warned him that an even greater threat is taking shape. In Daredevil #23 Elektra explains that the Hand, the organization which both she and Matt have been battling for most of their adult lives, is returning to power and Elektra wants Daredevil’s help to stop whatever it is they have planned.
Created by Frank Miller the Hand first appeared in 1981’s Daredevil #174. A cult of ninja assassins, the Hand practices black magic and serves the demonic entity known as the Beast. Although they have also come into conflict with many other Marvel heroes over the years, the Hand’s most personal battles are always with Daredevil and Elektra, for whom they have caused immeasurable heartache. Stick, the sardonic ninja master who trained both Matt Murdock and Elektra, led the Chaste, an organization dedicated to combatting the Hand and his students have been caught up in the ancient war between the two groups ever since.
Matt and Elektra’s importance to the war owes to their status as what Stick and others refer to as “adepts”. What exactly this term means has generally been left rather vague but it at least partially refers to their shared natural talent for combat and the mystical abilities the Chaste and the Hand employ. In 1993’s Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #2 by Miller, John Romita Jr., Al Williamson, Christie Scheele, and Joe Rosen, Stick’s ally, Stone, stresses the importance of recruiting both Matt and Elektra to the Chaste, or at least preventing them from being recruited by the Hand and refers to them as the only two adepts born in the current generation. Despite this, Stick would stop training both of them when they became corrupted in his eyes.