Everything You Need to Know About the Red Daggers in Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel Episode 4 introduced the Red Daggers, a team of people united to fight the “unknown forces.” This group appears in the comics as well and seems like they’ll have a significant role to play in the series.

In Episode 4, Kamala meets one of the members of the Red Daggers, who is a masked vigilante hiding behind a scarf. This new character is revealed to be Kareem, who is a member of the Red Daggers.

So, the series refers to Kareem alone as Red Dagger, but it also refers to the group he is a part of as the Red Daggers. Just in case you were confused. In the comics, Red Dagger aka Kareem has a will-they-won’t-they romance going on with Kamala.

Who are the Red Daggers?

The Red Daggers are a group of warriors who have a “simple” mission—to protect their people from the threats of the unseen. The group is led by Waleed and carries on their mission secretly.

On her trip to Karachi, Kamala meets one of the members of the Red Daggers, Kareem. Kareem appears like a masked vigilante with exceptional talent at throwing knives. He proves to be a formidable equal to Kamala, while the latter is still getting used to her powers.

After the two call it a truce, Kareem brings Kamala to a Chinese restaurant, which is also a secret base for the Red Daggers. This proves to be beneficial to Kamala, as she learns a lot more about the ClanDestines that she needs to fight.

Waleed, the leader of the Red Daggers, tells Kamala that the Clandestines are beings who originated in a parallel universe. Since the Red Daggers aim to protect their people from the threats of the “unknown”, they naturally know quite a bit about the Clandestines as well as Kamala’s bangle.

The Red Daggers in the Comics

The history of the Red Daggers, and particularly Kareem, is pretty interesting in the comics. Kareem was introduced as a character in Ms. Marvel #12 as a masked vigilante roaming around the streets of Karachi, fighting crime.

In the comics, he was simply interested in fighting crime or evil and was not connected to the Djinn or any other such entity. The term Red Dagger was also not introduced at this point.

Kareem was more of a sidekick, friend, and love interest for Kamala, rather than a member of some secret society. Kamala was able to relate to him as he was the only one who could understand the struggles of being a superhero.

As teenagers, both took an instant liking towards each other and shared similar interests—to fight crime and evildoers. He gave Kamala a sort of a mirror to her own activities in Jersey City as a superhero.

After Kareem became a foreign exchange student, he began living with Kamala’s family in Jersey City. This is when they discover their secret identities and begin working together. The press described Red Dagger as Ms. Marvel’s sidekick as well.

Kamala also ends up sharing her first kiss with Kareem aka Red Dagger, which makes her spiral back into her romantic feelings for Bruno. So, there’s a lot of drama coming up in the show as well, considering their relationship takes similar turns there as well.

However, Red Dagger has a pretty small role in the comics and does not feature as much as he seems to feature in the series. In the series, it seems like he is going to be here for good because he is a part of an entire society, and there’s more to the Red Daggers than just Kareem for sure.

How Red Daggers Will Fit into Ms. Marvel

The main difference between “Red Dagger” in the comics and the “Red Daggers” in the series is that the term does not refer to just one person, like in the comics. In the comics, Red Dagger refers to just Kareem.

However, in the series, the makers have introduced an entire group of stealthy warriors who have a mission to work towards. Kareem is just a member of this organization. So, it seems like they will have a bigger role to play in the series as compared to the comics, where the title belonged to a masked vigilante alone.

The series is quickly progressing towards its final episode, so we will surely get to know more about Kareem and the Red Daggers soon. I hope they will retain the love story bit and portray the short fling that Kamala and Kareem had in the comics.

Let’s see what more they have in store for us.

About Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel is an ongoing American television miniseries created by Bisha K. Ali for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Kamala is a 16-year-old Muslim Pakistani-American from Jersey City who writes superhero fan fiction, particularly about her idol, Captain Marvel. Having dreamed about becoming a superhero herself, Kamala  discovers she has superpowers and dons the mask of Ms. Marvel.

Ms. Marvel will serve as a setup for the film The Marvels (2022), in which Vellani will reprise her role as Kamala. The series is produced by Marvel Studios, with Ali serving as head writer and Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah leading the directing team. Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, with Saagar Shaikh, Aramis Knight, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur also starring.