The Chaste Are Back In Marvel’s ‘The Defenders’

The Hand have been a villainous element in the Netflix extension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the first season of “Daredevil” arrived. That run saw Daredevil (Charlie Cox) face down Hand leader Nobu Yoshioka (Peter Shinkoda). It also introduced us to our hero’s mentor, Stick (Scott Glenn). In the second season, we learned that Stick was the leader of a mystical martial arts group known as The Chaste. That group’s purpose? The hunt and destroy The Hand.

We’ve had plenty of time to discover the inner workings of The Hand, at least in terms of their foothold in New York City. Nobu’s faction was a driving force in the second season of “Daredevil” and in the wake of that faction’s destruction, “Iron Fist” showed us two successors. The first was headed by the ever-present Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho). The second by Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez). Iron Fist himself, Danny Rand (Finn Jones), is also an enemy of The Hand and is sworn to defend his order against them. He has not been too successful thus far.

While Nobu was finally felled permanently by Stick’s blade, both Gao and Bakuto remain at large. Furthermore, Elektra (Elodie Yung), was retained by The Hand and is becoming their super-weapon, the Black Sky. This brings us to The Defenders. An upcoming Netflix miniseries that serves as a crossover between “Daredevil“, “Jessica Jones“, “Luke Cage“, and “Iron Fist“, the event series will see the heroes converging to take down both the mysterious Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) and The Hand.

With the introduction of Iron Fist, I had wondered if The Chaste might take a backseat in the upcoming war with the evil ninja clan. Apparently not. While The Defenders has since wrapped production, we are still getting new information about it with each passing week. This week’s revelation comes courtesy of MCU Exchange, who happened upon a foreign magazine article detailing the casting of Chilean martial arts action star Marko Zaror‘s involvement in The Defenders.

Zaror (pictured at the top) will be bringing to life Chaste member Shaft in the miniseries. In the comics, Shaft was highly skilled with the bow and arrow, in addition to his formidable martial arts prowess. This will mark the fourth important member of The Chaste to appear on these shows. Stick being the first, with a cameo from Stone at the end of the first season of “Daredevil“. The second season of that show revealed that Stick had killed Star to keep Elektra alive as a child. We’ve seen various lower-level members on “Daredevil“, but these are the standout members from the source material.

How involved will The Chaste be? It’s hard to say, but I’ll be surprised if Stick himself isn’t all over the miniseries. Zaror is an accomplished action performer, so his presence is more than welcome. I’m curious to see how one or both interact not only with Daredevil, but also Iron Fist. Might we see other prominent members such as Master Izo, Claw, Flame, and Wing? Perhaps an actual role for Stone? I guess we’ll find out in a few months time, as The Defenders premieres in August.