Stick

"A warrior, heir to the, baddest of the bad-asses. They knew what they had to do and they did it."

- Stick

Stick is a blind and mysterious martial arts master and the mentor of Matt Murdock.

Early Life
Stick was born blind, but was able to overcome his disability to become a powerful and dangerous warrior.

Training Matt Murdock
"Feel the breeze, feel that hurt kid, but you're open, you gotta control that rage."

- Stick

In his late middle life he was approached by a nun to help a young boy named Matt Murdock, who had lost his sight in an accident and whose father had recently been murdered. Murdock claimed that he was losing control over his other senses, Stick knew this to be untrue and demonstrated this by throwing his keys at the boy, who immediately caught them.

Stick took Murdock outside and bought him an ice cream, Murdock noted that it was the first time since his father had died that someone had bought him an ice cream. They discussed what the differences were between being blinded as a child and to be born without vision, Stick mocking Murdock for feeling bad about the fact that he lost his sight despite having nine years of vision. Stick showed Murdock how to use his senses to know what was happening around him and what the people near him were feeling. Seeing the potential in the boy, Stick promised to train him.

Over the next few months Stick taught Murdock how to hone his heightened senses and also how to fight, training him to be a dangerous warrior. Stick's method's were harsh, as he would often beat Murdock up with his superior fighting skills and push Murdock for an emotional response by talking about his dead father as he believed that Murdock's issue was his uncontrolled rage. He mocked Murdock by reminding him of his father's motto that the Murdock boys never get knocked down. Throughout the training Murdock slowly developed his skills and greatly impressed Stick, although Stick never admitted his feelings.

One day after training, Murdock gave Stick a gift of a bracelet made from the ice cream wrapping from their first meeting as a thank you for everything that he had done for him. Stick, disgusted by the weakness this showed in Murdock, crushed the bracelet in his hand and left the boy saying that he needed a "soldier" while Matt wanted a "father", although secretly Stick did however return and kept the bracelet without Murdock's knowledge. They did not see or speak to each other in over twenty years.

Reunion with Murdock
"Why are you here?" "To save you and everyone in the Kitchen from a horrible death, more or less."

- Matt Murdock and Stick

About two decades later, Stick was given the mission to track down a boy known only as Black Sky. To learn the boy's location, Stick found and tortured Aito, a businessman with connections to Nobu, who was transporting the boy. Stick first cut off the man's hand with a sword to intimidate him. The frightened businessman provided the information swearing it upon his family. Upon receiving the required information, Stick decapitated the man and calmly left the scene.

Stick found Matt Murdock operating as a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen, arriving on the scene just in time to complicate a confrontation between Murdock and Leland Owlsley. The sound of Stick's approach, using his blind man's cane, distracted Murdock long enough for Owlsley to stun him with his taser and make his escape by car. Stick mocked his former student, who was both irritated and confused by Stick's arrival. Murdock allowed Stick into his home, which Stick immediately insulted. Pouring a beer for himself, Stick explained his reasons for arriving in Hell's Kitchen and his need for Murdock's help. Murdock agreed under one condition: that Stick was not allowed to kill anyone during the mission.

Later, the pair arrived on the docks and witnessed Nobu and his men transporting a large shipping container. Stick sent Murdock down to take out Nobu's guards while Stick prepared his bow and arrow. When the container was opened to reveal Black Sky within, Stick fired his arrow at him, but Murdock deflected the arrow, still refusing to allow Stick to kill anyone during their mission. This allowed Nobu to escape with Black Sky, however, while Murdock fought against Nobu's men who had been alerted to their presence, Stick was able to follow the car transporting the boy and drove an arrow through his heart, killing him.

Stick returned to Murdock's home and the pair had a confrontation when Stick revealed that he had indeed killed the boy. Murdock attacked, and the pair had a prolonged fight, during which most of Murdock's apartment was destroyed. Stick retained the upper hand for the majority of the fight, but in the end was beaten by his former student. Murdock threw Stick's bag at him and ordered him to leave and never return. Stick told him there might be hope for him after all. Stick told him that he could keep the sticks and then left.

Reporting to Stone
"It's done. Black Sky? No longer a threat." "For now. What about Murdock?" "Stubborn. Immature. Still a real pain in the ass." "Will he be ready when the doors open?" "I have no idea."

- Stick and Stone

Stick later spoke to Stone, informing him that Black Sky was dealt with, Stone asked him if Murdock would be ready when the doors opened, Stick simply replied that he had no idea.

Personality
Stick appears as a hard and calculating man. When training Matt he told him that the world is a hard place, and that he would have to be ruthless to survive. During the training he was harsh, and insulted him to confront Matt with his emotions, and how they could damage him. Despite being hard towards Matt, Stick smiled when the former joked about the meditation.

Stick displayed a warrior mentality, as he considered Matt a soldier and instantly left him when he realized that Matt wanted him to be more like a father for him. Stick later noted to Matt that his lifestyle was weakening him and that his softness would avoid him in achieving his goals. Stick also frowned upon Matt's unwillingness to take lives. After Matt ultimately defeated him in an intense fight, however, Stick seemed to be impressed with his former pupil, and mentioned that there might still be hope for him.

Powers

 * Enhanced Senses: Born blind, Stick is able to use his other senses to create a picture of the world around him. He taught this method to his student Matt.
 * Enhanced Hearing: Stick's hearing is highly refined and allows him to identify the people around him. His hearing, however, seems to be somewhat less acute than Murdock's, due to Stick having to ask the latter about the exact number of men that Nobu had brought with him.
 * Enhanced Smell: Stick's olfactory senses are highly refined, allowing him to smell quite a few things that are unnoticed by normal people.
 * Enhanced Taste: Stick can analyze food precisely with his taste, allowing him to pick out every individual ingredient of the ice cream he was eating, including that the several milk types used, that came from three different dairy farms, and that the man who had served him used a certain type of soil in his garden.
 * Enhanced Touch: Stick can feel the presence of those around him through vibrations, air currents and body temperature. He can dodge attacks and even bullets by feeling them cut through the air, creating ripples of currents only detectable by him. He locates enemies through walls and from different floors, by feeling the vibrations they make from moving, such as their footsteps.
 * Enhanced Balance: His sense of balance is enhanced, giving him perfect equilibrium, greatly increasing Stick's agility and refining his movements. When popping a beer, Stick was able to make the cap bounce multiple times, before it ended in the trash can.

Abilities

 * Master Martial Artist: Stick is a highly skilled and experienced martial artist, and Matt would later become a skilled combatant himself under Stick's tutelage. Using his enhanced senses, Stick is constantly aware of his opponents. Most of the time, Stick uses timing, and only needs a minimum amount of movement to dodge or subdue his opponents. During an intense one-on-one fight with Matt, Stick initially appeared to have the upper hand against his former student and mocked Matt, though Stick did ultimately end up losing the fight.
 * Swordsman: Stick is highly skilled in the use of swords.
 * Stickfighter: Stick is also highly skilled in using sticks in combat. He trained Matt in stickfighting to impressive skills as well.
 * Master Marksman: Stick was shown to be highly skilled with a bow.
 * Meditation: Stick uses meditation to improve his abilities. He can even heal faster using meditation and claims that meditation is the only reason he is still alive.
 * Multilingualism: Stick speaks both English and Japanese fluently.

Allies

 * Stone - Pupil
 * Matt Murdock/Daredevil - Pupil

Enemies

 * Nobu †
 * Aito † - Victim
 * Black Sky † - Victim

Appearances

 * Daredevil
 * Season One
 * Stick (flashbacks)
 * Stick
 * Speak of the Devil (mentioned)
 * Nelson v. Murdock (mentioned)
 * The Ones We Leave Behind (mentioned)

Trivia

 * In the comics, Stick is the master of an elite order of warriors known as the Chaste, with Stone as his second in command.

Behind the Scenes

 * Showrunner Steven S. DeKnight reported that he was obsessed to get for the role, but that simply didn't work out.