Dark Hand

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The Dark Hand is a fictitious criminal organization featured in Jackie Chan Adventures. It is controlled by an English gentleman named Valmont.

In the first seasons of the show, the Dark Hand is depicted as incredibly powerful and evil, with vast resources. In later seasons, The Dark Hand lost its wealth and became little more than a joke. It could be that the damage done by associating with demons, along with the Dark Hand's many defeats at the hands of Jackie Chan and Section 13 contributed to this downfall. Some time before the beginning of the show (perhaps even, as suggested during one flashback episode, in the west), Valmont met Shendu, who had been frozen as a statue in ancient times. He promised Valmont vast treasure and power if the Dark Hand agreed to retrieve for him Twelve Talismans that contained his powers. Valmont agreed. Valmont sent his Enforcers out to search for the Talismans. Initially, his Enforcers included Finn (an Irishman with an unhealthy obsession with the 1970s), Ratso (a rather dimwitted strongman), and Chow (a short man who never removed his orange sunglasses). These three would be recurring villains even when the Dark Hand itself became defunct. The powerhouse of the team was a huge Japanese man named Tohru. He was badly treated by Valmont and eventually replaced by Hak Foo, leading him to leave the organisation and attempt to join Section 13. Instead, he went to live with the Chans and became Uncle's apprentice. Hak Foo, a powerful warrior who has the unfortunate habit of screaming his attack even as he performs it, remained in Valmont's employ for some time. On occasion, Shendu, despite being stuck as a statue, was able to help directly by summoning ninja creatures called Shadowkhan.

Valmont and the Enforcers successfully retrieved the Talismans, however upon his release Shendu immediately betrayed them all and set his own plans into motion. Shendu's defeat by Jackie Chan allowed the Dark Hand to collect the Talismans and use them for their own personal gain. They did not have long to enjoy this newfound freedom, however, first because they were recaptured by Section 13, and also because Shendu's spirit returned and accidentally inhabited Valmont's body (it had been aiming for Jackie Chan at the time). Shendu, using the last of Valmont's resources, embarked on a mission to release his siblings - seven Demon Sorcerers. Eventually, the Demon Sorcerers were defeated, Shendu was banished and the Dark Hand was taken into custody. Some time after this, the Enforcers quit and were taken into employment by the later villains of the series (often against their will). The end of season 2 can be considered the last time the Dark Hand posed a serious threat to security (national or otherwise). Valmont reappeared briefly three times in Season 3. His first appearance was when he sent the Enforcers to steal the Talismans from Section 13 to rebuild the Dark Hand but they failed when Jackie destroyed the Talismans and Valmont was later trapped in cement by Daolon Wong after Wong transformed Finn, Chow, and Ratso into his new Dark Chi warriors. His second appearance is that when Valmont ran into Daolon Wong he demanded that the Enforcers be returned to him, but was shrunk to a child by Daolon Wong and demanded that the Chans help him restore his proper age. He ended up helping the Chans recover the Noble Horse in London. Afterwards he was restored to his proper age by Uncle and was arrested by Section 13. His third appearance is when he erased Tohru's memories and tricked him in to helping him steal a valuable artifact from a temple in India in order to revive the Dark Hand. He failed, after Valmont lost Tohru's trust when he was willing to let Tohru die at the hands of the Temple Guardians and had his memories erased. He also returned in Season 4, in which he was dirt poor and wanted to use one of the Oni Masks of Tarakudo to gain control of a tribe of Shadowkhan and rebuild his fortune. He failed. In Season 5, Valmont made two non-speaking appearances. He showed up at Drago's henchmen audition, but was quickly rejected. He had a cameo appearance in the final battle against Drago as a passenger on a bus that was saved by the J-Team. At the moment, Valmont is homeless and hiding in parts unknown.

It should be noted that in earlier seasons of the show, Valmont was shown to be an expert martial artist which it was evidenced when he fought Jackie Chan in Mount Rushmore for the antidote of Jackie's condition. Another evidence of this was that Valmont manages to kick Jackie off a cliff in season 2 before Shendu possesses him.