On bringing Red Dagger to Ms. Marvel, producer Sana Amanat loves his new secret society angle, but thinks more could have been done with extra time.
The following contains spoilers for Ms. Marvel Season 1, Episode 4, “Seeing Red,” now streaming on Disney+.
Executive Producer Sana Amanat really enjoyed the way Ms. Marvel changed a key comic ally’s background for live-action.
The Ms. Marvel co-creator recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about adapting fan-favorite character Red Dagger in the Karachi-centered episode “Seeing Red,” but also turning him from a lone vigilante to part of a larger secret society. “I’m a huge fan of the Red Daggers. I love making them an order,” Amanat said, though she felt the Daggers’ lore could have been given more attention. “The only thing is, if you asked me what I wish that we had more time for, it would be delving into the backstory of The Order of the Red Daggers, because there’s a lot more that we were percolating on that we just didn’t have time to shoot, frankly. But I love their team-up.”
Amanat also poked fun at how Red Dagger/Kareem’s arrival puts Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) into something of a love square, given her ongoing relationships with best friend Bruno and school crush Kamran. “I know everyone’s talking about there being a romantic interest, but there isn’t right now. Okay? Everyone’s like, ‘really, three boys?’ But we intentionally pulled back on that,” she assured shipping fans.
Created by writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Mirka Andolfo in 2016’s Ms. Marvel #12, Red Dagger is a Pakistani superhero who helps protect the locals from criminals, bandits and water cartels using his expert knife throwing skills. Much like the Disney+ series, Kamala encounters Red Dagger while visiting Karachi to see members of her extended family. Later on, Kareem would transfer to Kamala’s school as an exchange student, allowing Red Dagger to stick around in New Jersey and help Ms. Marvel fight crime.
Though the Red Dagger who teams up with Kamala in Ms. Marvel retains his comic-accurate outfit, his backstory now directly ties to the show’s Clandestine — also referred to as Djinn — antagonists. As explained by Order of the Red Dagger leader Waleed, the Order has covertly protected Karachi from supernatural threats for centuries, always selecting a new member to take on the Red Dagger’s scarf and mantle. Both Red Dagger and Waleed help Kamala evade the Clandestines when they arrive in Karachi to claim her supernatural bangle, leading to an extended chase throughout Karachi’s streets. However, in the process, Waleed is killed by Clandestine leader Nadja by a dagger in the back.
“Seeing Red” ended with the bangle transporting Kamala back in time to the night of India’s Partition, a major historical event frequently referenced in Ms. Marvel and linked to cryptic stories about her grandmother’s past. How Red Dagger’s story will further tie into Ms. Marvel remains to be seen.
New Ms. Marvel episodes stream Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: EW