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 former mentor of Matt Murdock.

Early Life
"So you had nine whole years of looking at movies, blue skies, up girlies skirts which I never had. I was born blind, you don't hear me whining about it."

- Stick to Matt Murdock

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

Meeting Matt Murdock
"What's it gonna be Matty, you going to spend your life crying and rocking yourself to sleep at night or are you going to dig deep and find out what it takes to reshuffle those cards life dealt ya. Your call."

- Stick to Matt Murdock

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 by mobsters and whose mother had rejected him shortly afterwards. Stick made sure he would be well paid for his time and went to meet the boy. 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.

Training Matt Murdock
"Connection, mind, body." "The mind controls the body, the body controls our enemies, our enemies control jack shit by the time we're done with them." "Right. Fighting is just the start, you have to control your feelings, your deep down inside feelings."

- Stick to Matt Murdock

Over the next few months, Stick taught Matt 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.

Hunting Black Sky
"あなたは、左の3手足を持っており、他の付属がない人は失いたくありません. どこ黒い空です?"

- Stick to Aito

Around 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. Aito provided the information swearing it upon his family. Upon receiving the required information, Stick decapitated the man and calmly left the scene.

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

Stick tracked down Matt Murdock, finding him operating as a vigilante in New York City, 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 who claimed to be saving the day. Murdock allowed Stick into his home, which Stick immediately insulted, mocking him for having silk sheets and claiming that he was keeping soft. Pouring a beer for himself, Stick explained his reasons for arriving in Hell's Kitchen was to hunt down the Hand and his need for Murdock's help, knowing that Nobu was connected to Murdock's enemy Wilson Fisk so he used his connection to his advantage. Murdock agreed under one condition: that Stick was not allowed to kill anyone during the mission, Stick reluctantly agreed although he fully intended to break his promise.

Attack on Black Sky
"Ah, screw it. Ride with me tonight... help me destroy Black Sky, keep it off the streets, and I promise you this... Wilson Fisk will know the taste of fear the day he faces you 'cause he'll know that you kicked the guy he's afraid of right in the nuts."

- Stick to Matt Murdock

Later, the pair arrived on the docks and witnessed Nobu and his men transporting a large shipping container. Once they had established how many men Nobu had beside him and what weapons they were using, Stick sent Murdock down to take out the Hand while Stick prepared his bow and arrow in secret, waiting for the container to be opened to reveal Black Sky within so he could be killed without Daredevil's interference. As soon as the container was opened, Stick took aim and fired his arrow at him, but Murdock deflected the arrow, still refusing to allow Stick to kill anyone during their mission and having discovered that Black Sky was in fact a young boy. This allowed Nobu to escape with Black Sky and ordering his men to kill the assassins. 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 soon caught up with them, defeating the guards and driving an arrow through Black Sky's heart, killing him. Stick returned to Matt Murdock's Apartment and the pair had a confrontation about what had happened on the docks. Murdock was horrified that Stick was willing to murder a young child however Stick insisted that Black Sky was far more dangerous than just a normal child, something he believed Murdock could not understand because he had become so weak. It soon became clear that Murdock was unsure what had happened after the arrow was fired and Nobu escaped, so Stick calmly revealed that he had indeed killed the boy like he had always intended to. Murdock furiously attacked his former mentor, 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 who kicked him multiple times in the head. Murdock threw Stick's bag at him and ordered him to leave his home and never return. Stick was however impressed by Murdock's fighting skill and told him there might be hope for him after all, as he walked out of the apartment 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 and was no longer a threat to them. Stone then asked him what he thought of Matt Murdock, with Stick calling him stubborn and a pain in his ass, but when Stone asked 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 gained his incredible abilities through lifelong training. He 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 supposedly through vibrations and air currents, although the exact nature of his acute sense of awareness is undetermined.
 * 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 both Matt and Elektra would later become skilled combatants themselves 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. He also held his own during a brief confrontation with Elektra, but was again seemingly defeated before Matt interrupted it.
 * Sword Mastery: Stick is highly skilled in the use of swords, able to swiftly slice off Aito's hand before the latter could react, and decapitated Nobu Yoshioka in the same manner.
 * Staff Mastery: 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 and a crossbow.
 * 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. As such, he managed to survive being brutally tortured by the Hand without giving any information up.
 * Multilingualism: Stick speaks both English and Japanese fluently.

Equipment

 * Bow and Arrow:
 * Katana:

Allies

 * Stone - Pupil
 * Matt Murdock/Daredevil - Pupil
 * Elektra - Pupil
 * Jacques Duchamps †
 * Karen Page

Enemies

 * Hand
 * Nobu Yoshioka † - Victim
 * Aito † - Victim
 * Black Sky † - Victim
 * Hirochi
 * Star - Pupil turned Victim

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.