The Hand is a supervillain organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Hand first appeared in Daredevil #174 (September 1981) and was created by writer/artist Frank Miller. The Hand is an order of evil mystical ninjas who are heavily involved in organized crime and mercenary activities such as assassination plots. The Hand covets power above all other objectives. They are primarily based in Japan, but operate internationally. They were founded in 1588 as a secret society of Japanese nationalist samurai but were soon co-opted by the Snakeroot, an ancient ninja clan which serves a primordial demon known only as "The Beast of the Hand". Members of the Hand are practitioners of powerful occult magic and can murder a person and bring that person back to life as a servant of the Hand, but a few are known to have reversed this programming. The Hand's most dangerous adversary is The Chaste, a band of warriors once led by Stick, the blind martial arts master and mentor of Matt Murdock, who grew to become the costumed crime-fighter Daredevil. Murdock would eventually, after many bitter battles, accept the offer of becoming the master of the Hand for a time. The Hand has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television shows Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Defenders.