Last week Ms. Marvel took a trip to Pakistan, with Kamala determined to understand the mysterious bangle granting her superpowers, her connection to Clandestine djinn, and what happened with her great-grandmother Aisha during the Partition all those years ago.
Farhan Akhtar’s Waleed provided many of those answers. Waleed was the Karachi leader of the Red Daggers, a vigilante group devoted to keeping the people of Pakistan safe, with a specific focus on battling back the djinn and preventing incursions of Noor energy.
Sadly, Waleed died in his debut appearance, choosing to sacrifice himself to save Kamala and current Red Dagger Kareem. Despite having such a brief MCU career, Akhtar has revealed in an interview with Murphy’s Multiverse that the writers gave him Waleed’s detailed backstory to flesh out his character.
“They really came and gave me a really good sense of Waleed, explained to me Waleed’s past, where he probably met Aisha for the first time – since he refers to her, he knows about her – what experience he has with the bangle, how does he know the Clandestines, when did he first meet them, when did he first battle them, how did he get that scar on his face.”
Akhtar went on to say that being aware of all this let him project the right kind of authority when explaining things to Kamala.
“So by the time we came into these scenes, I had all that history with me. I could tap into all that and I had that understanding of who this guy is. When he’s sharing stuff with Kamala, the kind of authority that he speaks with, that he’s had these experiences, that is something that the writers and producers shared with me and I’m very thankful for that.”
Though Waleed may be a one-and-done MCU character, he kicked a lot of ass in his brief screentime. However, IMDb lists Akhtar as appearing in the fifth and sixth episodes, and while those listings are by no means conclusive, we may see him return in flashbacks showing some of the backstory hinted at here. Or, potentially, he may not be quite as dead as he appeared to be.
We’ll find out tomorrow, when the penultimate episode of Ms. Marvel airs on Disney Plus.