The Red Dagger is a hometown hero in Karachi, Pakistan. He travels abroad to the United States and teams up with the shape-shifting sensation Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel.
Self-Taught Hero
Caring about humanity, Kareem trains himself to become a Super Hero. He becomes known as Laal Khanjeer in Pakistan, which roughly translates to ‘Red Dagger.’
Expert Marksman
Kareem is self-taught Super Hero. He learns parkour and becomes an expert marksman by watching online videos. His signature weapons are several daggers that he wears on a utility belt.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Kareem speaks Urdu and studies abroad in the U.S. to earn his English language credits, though he speaks English fluently.
Comrades and Culprits at Home and Abroad
While Kareem patrols the streets of his home city Karachi as Laal Khanjeer, he meets Ms. Marvel. They team up but the comradery doesn’t last as he suggests that she communicate with local heroes before charging into things she doesn’t understand. However, he goes on a study abroad program and ends up attending her school, where he does the same thing. He assists her with a runaway train and realizes he harbored romantic feelings for her. He makes his feelings known and in a mature moment asked her if she was ready to have the conversation about their relationship. Alas, Ms. Marvel had a lot going on and couldn’t commit.
During his time in the U.S., while Ms. Marvel was absent, he goes up against the Inventor and his bionic creations alongside Ms. Marvel’s stand-ins and Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel. Once Ms. Marvel returns to the Super Hero fold, they tag-team the Super Villain Doc.X who posed as a student at school.
A History of Helping Others
While patrolling the streets of Karachi, Kareem came upon bandits and Ms. Marvel making a mess of things by endangering valuable water tankers. He called her out for being a foreigner, and reminds her to check with local Super Heroes before inserting herself into things she may be less familiar with.
When he takes a semester abroad to get foreign-language credits for his college applications, Kareem chose the U.S. and specifically, Jersey City, home to Ms. Marvel. On his first day of class at her school, Coles Academic High School, he informed Kamala that he’d be living with her family, which was all new information to her. While in class, a nearby train’s brakes failed. Both Kamala and Kareem left to “use the facilities” but really changed and charged towards the action. They both showed up to solve the problem and worked together to lower a raised drawbridge so that the train didn’t end up in the shipping canal below it. Soon afterward, they were faced with an oncoming train on the same track . Ms. Marvel embiggened and lifted the train to the opposite track and Red Dagger helped her back onto the top of the train as the other train sped by. Red Dagger suggested that they come up with an exit strategy, with the conversation veering towards Ms. Marvel taking a break from being a hero. In chatting with the conductor, they came up with a plan and successfully stopped the train. Red Dagger was impressed with Ms. Marvel’s quick thinking and bravery, and gave her all the credit for stopping the runaway train, despite his budding fame as a new Super Hero on social media.
Afterward, Kareem looked everywhere for her, to the point where he became concerned and lost his appetite and sleep over it. He ran into one of Kamala's friends, Zoe Zimmer, posing as Ms. Marvel, who was patrolling in her stead along with some friends. She helped Kareem realize that he had feelings for the real Ms. Marvel. Shortly afterward, they helped return an old man to his retirement home to investigate a rumor where everything seemed normal, but then suddenly faced a rampaging bionic lizard monster!
They defeated the monster and parted ways. Meanwhile, Zoe uncovered a plot by the once-thought-dead inventor, known as the Inventor, but then went missing. Red Dagger joined the whole crew of Ms. Marvel stand-ins to find her. Once they did, the Inventor had another creature attack them, securing his escape. Not used to dealing with monsters, Red Dagger asked the team if they could call on someone more experienced. Nakia Bahadir revealed she had picked up a locator that Ms. Marvel dropped the last time she saw her, and when they hit it, none other than Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, answered the call. As she helped Red Dagger and the team of Ms. Marvels fight off the Inventor’s bionic creatures, Red Dagger led the team until the real Ms. Marvel showed up to save the day.
Later on, Red Dagger saw Ms. Marvel patrolling and approached her. He revealed how much he’d missed her and confessed his feelings. He kissed her but they were interrupted by Ms. Marvel’s ex-best friend, Bruno Carrelli, who returned from his study abroad in Wakanda, and Kwezi Dzana, nephew to King T’Challa. The next day, Red Dagger found Ms. Marvel again and helped her stop a burglar. In wanting to talk about their kiss, he asked her about whether to reveal their identities to each other, and if they’re ready to have that conversation, but she ran off claiming she need to take care of some things. Later at the school’s spring dance, Zoe and Ms. Marvel revealed that Super Villain Doc.X was posing as a student at school, and Red Dagger swung into action. During the battle, he informed her that he’d be going home to Karachi out of respect that she had some things to sort out in her personal life (with Bruno), and recognized that this territory was her city. Then through their tag-team efforts, they successfully defeated Doc.X.
