The Defenders combines the Marvel heroes from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, who have been fighting separate fights in their respective Netflix shows. However, a mysterious organization in New York City known as The Hand has been causing trouble for at least two of the heroes so far. Since The Hand is a common enemy and this man is one of their core operatives, will Bakuto be in The Defenders? Danny Rand's adversary could still appear.
Spoilers for Iron Fist Season 1! Iron Fist introduced Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) as Colleen's mentor. He led a community outreach program that turned out to be recruitment and training for The Hand, the allegedly evil organization that the Iron Fist is supposed to fight. Bakuto is obsessed with the idea of the Iron Fist, but soon reveals himself as a villain after pretending to kidnap Madame Gao and then taking the Meachum family hostage. Colleen becomes disillusioned and heartbroken by her former family, but it isn't until Danny's friend Davos arrives from K'un Lun that Baluto is finally defeated.
As far as Danny and Colleen know, Bakuto is dead. However, his body vanished after their final fight and was likely dragged off by his Hand colleagues. It's totally possible that the villain has been brought back to life, like Elektra and Harold Meachum before him. It seems likely that Bakuto may return for Iron Fist Season 2, if not sooner.
Here's an interesting piece of information that could be a clue as to whether of not he'll be making an appearance in the crossover series: the IMDb page for The Defenders does list two stunt performers as doubles for Rodriguez in the credits of three episodes. Is a surprise return coming sooner than Iron Fist's sophomore season? As of yet, Rodiguez himself is not yet listed as a cast member. But as IMDB is a mostly user-updated website, it isn't the most telling source and his absence doesn't confirm anything. The final trailer for The Defenders might show Bakuto's return, but that's also difficult to pin down for certain, especially considering his fate.
The Hand seems to have conquered death, so the unanswered questions about Bakuto's whereabouts do seem to indicate that his story's not yet over.
