Ms. Marvel: Who Plays Red Dagger?

In the most recent episode of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, Kamala (Iman Vellini) and her mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) travel to Karachi, Pakistan to visit Kamala’s grandmother Sana (Samina Ahmed). Kamala travels with the hope that her grandmother will help fill in some answers to the questions that have surrounded her newfound powers. As Kamala makes her way around the Karachi train station, she is confronted by a significant character in the Ms. Marvel comic, and now an important figure the series, Red Dagger (Aramis Knight).

While Red Dagger spent Episode 4 of the series helping Kamala harness her powers and fight off Najma (Nimra Bucha) and her team, we are still unsure of the bigger role he plays in the series as Kamala’s friend, love interest or superhero partner. For actor Aramis Knight, this role puts him into the public spotlight in way that he has never experienced before.

Despite his Pakistani and Indian heritage, Knight has spent most of his career playing Hispanic characters, which is what makes his role in Ms. Marvel even more significant, as this is the first time he gets to represent his culture on TV. Knight started acting as a child, taking on smaller roles on procedurals like Boston Legal and Cold Case. He even had a recurring role on Dexter as Carlos Prado, the son of Ramon Prado, one of the antagonists of season 3.

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Ms. Marvel is not Knight’s first foray into the world of superheroes as he appeared as “Kid with an apple” in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises. However, Knight’s most memorable role as a child was as Bean in Gavin Hood‘s adaptation of Ender’s Game. Bean plays a more crucial role in later books of the series but due to the lack of financial success of the film, no sequels were ever made.

Moving on from child roles into young adult roles was fairly smooth for Knight has he continued working steadily until his big break as M.K. in the AMC post-apocalyptic martial arts series Into the Badlands. The Red Dagger character and M.K. are similar in some ways, as they both can be viewed as anti-heroes who are trying to find their place in a confusing world. More importantly for Knight, the show allowed him to display his martial arts training and acting ability, making him the perfect actor for the Red Dagger role.

Whatever Red Dagger’s role will be in the larger space of the MCU, Knight has proven that even at a young age, his experiences on screen have prepared him for whatever direction the character goes.