3) Madame Gao And Iron Fist
Daredevil is only the first in a new line of Marvel Netflix shows, but showrunner Steven S. DeKnight stated that he and the other writers weren’t able to interweave characters like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist into Matt Murdock’s story because none of them had been cast yet. However, that didn’t stop them from putting a few Easter eggs under our noses and teasing some possible events to come.
One of the show’s most mysterious characters is Madame Gao, played by Wai Ching Ho. Initially, she’s seen as the leader of a Chinese heroine smuggling ring in Hell’s Kitchen. However, it’s clear that there’s more to her than meets the eye, as evidenced by how easily she dispatches Daredevil with one simple palm-thrust.
It’s possible that she will be the connection between the Daredevil show and Iron Fist. A few clues are planted in the series to suggest this, the first of which is the symbol that she uses on her drugs, which is an exact replica of the symbol worn by Iron Fist villain Steel Serpent (non-coincidentally, the street name for her heroine is called Still Serpent).
Iron Fist is a character whose origin is deeply rooted in martial arts. As such, Daredevil and Iron Fist are tangentially connected through The Chaste, as each member of the cult possesses a supernatural ability learned from The Book of the Iron Fist, an ancient tome that contains every martial arts move ever conceived. It’s possible that, should Daredevil explore the martial arts side of the characters’ mythology in future seasons, he’ll cross paths with Iron Fist.
Madame Gao also teases that she’s returning to her homeland, which is “a considerable distance” farther than China. I’m guessing that she’s from K’un Lun, one of the Capital Cities of Heaven and the mystical place where Iron Fist discovers and hones his powers.
The Iron Fist mythology is highly complicated, as it deals partly with aliens, extra-dimensional planes and lots of martial arts. It’ll be the hardest of all the upcoming Netflix series to pull off, so it makes sense that Marvel would try laying some groundwork along the way.
