Warning: SPOILERS for the Ms. Marvel episode “Seeing Red” are ahead!
Ms. Marvel Episode 4, a.k.a. “Seeing Red” saw Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan and her mother traveling to Karachi, Pakistan at the request of her grandmother, who had sent the mystical bangle to her granddaughter at the beginning of the season. While investigating the train station where her great grandmother, the Clandestine known as Aisha, disappeared in 1947, Kamala met Aramis Knight’s Kareem, a member of the Red Daggers, and she was soon brought to the Red Daggers’ headquarters, which was hidden as part of a restaurant. To say Knight was impressed with this particular Ms. Marvel set would be an understatement, as he called it the “coolest set” he’s seen in his life.
Aramis Knight revealed this to me when I recently spoke with him about his work on the critically acclaimed Ms. Marvel’s fourth episode. After the actor (whose other major credits include Into the Badlands and Ender’s Game) offhandedly praised Red Dagger HQ, I asked what aspect of that set he was especially impressed by, and he answered:
It’s 100% practical, that’s what’s insane. You walk into what looks like a Chinese restaurant, you walk to the back which looks like a normal, disheveled kitchen. And in the midst of rehearsing — they didn’t tell us anything, mind you, so I figured when we’re rehearsing, I would push back the oven and move back a few feet, and then we’d move to a different set or maybe a hallway into a different set. All of it was practical. So when I pushed the oven, it just kept going back 20, 30 feet into this expansive hallway. You walk down the hallway into the Red Dagger HQ with the beautiful green and blue ceiling. And Iman and I were in the midst of rehearsing, and we had to literally stop because we were so shocked by this set. We were like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is all practical!’ They built it all completely practical. Totally shocking!
It probably would have been easy enough for the Ms. Marvel team to craft Red Dagger HQ either partially or in different locations, and then make it all look like one area through a mix of visual effects and clever editing. Instead, the entire set was a practical creation, which wowed both Aramis Knight and Iman Vellani to the point that they needed to pause for a bit to take it all in. So future sets that Knight works on will have an uphill battle to top what the Ms. Marvel crew put together for what the Red Daggers call home.
Upon arriving at Red Dagger HQ, Kamala Khan met Farhan Akhtar’s Waleed, the leader of the Red Daggers who provided some additional information to her about the Clandestines, including that these antagonistic characters are trying to break the Veil of Door, which separates their dimension from the human world. Unfortunately, the Clandestines eventually infiltrated the headquarters, leading to a chaotic chase through the streets of Karachi and ending in a fight that saw Waleed being killed by Najma, the Clandestines’ leader. Kareem and Kamala put up a good fight, but things took an unexpected turn when Najma stabbed Kamala’s bangle, which sent the teenaged girl back to the aforementioned train station, only in 1947 Pakistan, during the middle of Partition.
We’ll find out what’s in store for Kamala Khan in the past, and how she’ll find her way back to Kareem in the present day, when Ms. Marvel’s fifth episode drops to Disney+ subscribers next Wednesday. Until then, take a look through the upcoming Marvel TV shows on the way in the near future, and remember that Iman Vellani will reprise Kamala in The Marvels, which comes out on July 28, 2023.
