Though Danny has trusted Colleen since he met her, he finds that she’s been hiding a couple of things from him in ‘Black Tiger Steals Heart.’ This means the Iron Fist goes up against The Hand, reunites with an old friend, and the audience gets quite a few interesting Easter Eggs to mull over.
Spoiler alert: This list of Easter eggs contains spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe - if you haven’t caught up.
Comic book Easter eggs
The footage that Bakuto shows Danny, from a remote area of China in 1948, features a man in a mask battling soldiers with a glowing fist.
This is the closest look to the Iron Fist’s comic book costume fans are probably going to get since it’s a little loud for the modern era.
This video does confirm that there is a new Iron Fist, that the position isn’t exclusive to Danny. It also provides Marvel movie fans with the knowledge that at least one other person with superpowers was operating in Captain America’s heyday. This is actually an important bit of information because the Marvel Cinematic Universe skips ahead from World War II into the modern age without telling audiences too much of what went on in between. Despite heroes like Iron Man going public in 2008, there’s likely plenty more in Marvel’s pocket of history as well.
Bakuto also name checks the Immortal Weapons, which comic book fans know about, and which we see some of in episode six.
Now, TV audiences get the name as well instead of them being relegated to obscure characters people don’t know the names of.
While Colleen’s family history does lead back to the Hand in the comics, she isn’t exactly a member of the villainous group. The Hand, as Danny mentions to Colleen in anger, does actually have good and bad factions in the comics.
It frequently depends on just who is in charge of the organization. Just as Bakuto takes over leadership from Gao once she’s contained, the same happens in the comics as one leader is deposed and another takes their place. Many a hero has ended up working within The Hand, sometimes by their own choice, sometimes courtesy of resurrection magic like what Harold Meachum has undergone.
Marvel Cinematic Universe references
Not an Easter egg, but a connection amongst Marvel properties, is the fact that The Hand takes in kids without a home. Every secret organization in the MCU seems to recruit in the same way: finding kids whose weakness is a need to belong who happen to have a special skill set. Hydra, SHIELD, and now, The Hand, all operate the same way, though they all work within very different spheres.
Since this is the last episode he appears in for “Iron Fist,” it might be a good time to point out that Darryl is also in “Luke Cage.” While he was getting shot at in Harlem in the latter series, here, he’s Colleen’s best student. She even gets him that scholarship. Too bad it’s with The Hand.
Given that Bakuto orders him to be patched up, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing him again.
“Iron Fist” has already done a few hallway fight scenes over the course of ten episodes, but the one here was probably closest to the scene in “Daredevil” that has led Marvel’s Netflix shows to replicate it. Following it up with Danny and Davos taking on a group of the Hand’s ninjas just links the two shows closer together.
Up next
In “Lead Horse Back to Stable,” the audience gets quite a few MCU connections, this time to “Luke Cage,” which is fitting since he and Danny Rand are the best of friends in the comics. We also get flashbacks to Danny’s journey to becoming the Iron Fist and Colleen learns that Bakuto might not actually be the best sensei.
