The Man in the Mask vs. Nobu – Speak of the Devil, episode 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4TJWBT77uA
The Hell’s Kitchen universe isn’t just populated with guns and gangsters. There are supernatural elements sprinkled out in this season as well, with Easter eggs leading up to Marvel’s other Netflix output Iron Fist. One example of this is when Madam Gao, the queen of the heroin ring, is cornered by The Man in the Mask when he takes down her drug empire in the penultimate episode. Before he can even get his hands on her, she pushes him to the other side of the room and makes a getaway. They don’t see each other again for the finale, but it leaves the door wide open for some serious martial arts action.
We get a (hopeful) glimpse of what is to come in Iron Fist when Fisk hires a ‘specialist’ to deal with The Man in the Mask. Turns out, it is Nobu who can give as much as he can take in the fighting arena. Matt, for a better word, is screwed. It’s all ninja skills from here on out.
The episode starts off with this scene – all ass-kicking points going to Nobu – before it becomes spliced with answers as to how Matt got into a warehouse fighting a ninja in the first place. Then, there is a full 7 minutes of The Man in the Mask getting beaten to near death, before Fisk rolls in and tries to finish off the job. (In between Nobu burning alive. Yup, a lot happens.)
Thought Stick was bad? Nobu’s a whole lot worse. Matt was challenged by Stick like he hadn’t been with any other opponent before but he won, in so many other words. Physically, anyway. No arguing that he outright lost this fight. Doesn’t matter that Nobu died, either, Matt couldn’t claim a victory and there were quite a few consequences for him losing, too.
Originally published April 25, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
