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History

Several hundred years ago in Japan, Izo was one of the founding members of the Hand and was a close follower of the leader, Kagenobu Yoshioka. Yoshioka was a blind martial artist, who used a radar sense to fight and "see" the world, and Izo blinded himself in order to see the world in the same way Yoshioka did and develop his radar sense. However, when Yoshioka died, Izo left the Hand because it was growing darker and more dangerous, becoming the Hand that is known today.[1] In order to counter the evils of Hand, he founded a rival martial arts group, known as the Chaste to combat his former group. However, fifty-five years prior to the present, Izo was soon thrown out by his students for his excessive drinking and gambling, which they found disgusting and disgraceful. Leadership of the Chaste was then given to Stick, much to Izo's disgust as he felt the strict and prudish rules of the current Chaste would eventually make them no different from the Hand.[1]

Modern Times[]

In the modern era, Izo was present when Matthew Murdock was struck by a chemical container, and reported the incident to Stick anonymously. He placed moles in the Hand organization such as Black Tarantula who could overcome the Hand's dark influence and feed him information. He also trained the ninja Lady Bullseye, promising to make her leader of the Hand, but betrayed her and instead chose to support Daredevil in that endeavor, hoping that he might turn the Hand back towards the light or destroy it for good.[1] However, Izo was later captured and apparently killed by the Hand under Daredevil as part of his final initiation test to become their new leader. However, the death was a ruse as Izo managed to slow his heartbeat to place himself in a coma and simulate death, before being awakened to plot on the Hand's destruction. However, Matt started growing more corrupt in his desire to use the Hand to stop crime in Hell's Kitchen, having corrupt cops murdered and later forcing Izo to leave town or suffer more attacks from the Hand.[2] Izo was later approached by Elektra when she became worried over Matt's increasing extremism in controlling Hell's Kitchen as his new Shadowland and held off a swarm of Hand ninjas when they came to attack the two while on an escape route. Izo later appeared in New York to lead a team to stop Matt as he had become possessed by an evil force leading the Hand known as the Beast which Izo reluctantly admitted responsibility for.[3]

Attributes

Powers

Izo appears to be immortal, and possesses a radar sense identical to Daredevil's but greater, which he uses to fight and navigate. His skills are great enough where he managed to found the Chaste and train Stick in his combat skills.[1] He was skilled enough to easily defeat the Black Tarantula in single combat and slay dozens of Hand ninjas with ease.[4]

Abilities

Master Martial Artist

Additional Attributes

Izo is blind, having blinded himself in order to train his radar sense.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Izo often carries a wooden staff that hides a sword

See Also

Links and References

References

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