That's real fascinating to me. One would've thought he had a much rather role... but that sort of fits the bill with Marvel picking super obscure characters who they can reshape into whomever they please.

Looking squarely at you, Kaecilius.

#140 Najma & Clandestine Member
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 40
Keywords: Clandestine, Martial Artist

9 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 10 17 2

7 10 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

To Each a Weapon: Pick one for this unit this game: Close Combat Expert, Giant Reach: 2, Exploit Weakness, Precision Strike, , Blades/Claws/Fangs. No two units on your force with this trait may pick the same ability.
Najma (+10 Points): Leadership & Probability Control.

The Clandestines & Red Daggers didn't do much to distinguish themselves from Arrowverse henchmen, and neither, tactically, did Najma, unfortunately. It made more sense to make them a personality change/upgrade dial like I've done for characters in the past with nigh-identical powers and abilities.

I think if anything, Najma and the Clandestines were the biggest problem with the series. They ended up being mostly nothing, and their motivations just weren't clear. They never really established why "we want to go home" was so desperate as to have them immediately resort to violence to achieve it. They don't make it clear why Kamala's "I need more time to figure out how to do this safely" was completely unacceptable to them. And they didn't do enough to build Kajma up as a character and someone to actually sympathize with to make her decision to sacrifice herself to save the world from the portal she wanted so badly to make her death mean something.

As much as I loved the series overall for its EXCELLENT character work, really some of the best the MCU has ever seen, pretty much anything with Najma and the Clandestines fell short.

I find myself wondering how Alan Davis feels about how what's clearly his pet project was used for this. Aside from the connection to the Djinn and the immortality/enhanced lifespan, there really isn't much aside from using the name and calling one of them "Adam"/"Aadam".

And back onto Damage Control, I just would like the tiniest bit of information as to what caused them to completely restructure their organization. It'd be like if, I dunno, FEMA one day became law enforcement.

EDIT: In regards to the post-credit scene, I definitely think they switched places somehow. Not only because Carol never looked in a mirror to be shocked at what she saw, but because her hair style and outfit was different from what Kamala would know her to wear. I think we'll get this exact scene in "The Marvels" from the other side.

I really do feel like this movie does not get the love it deserves. Yes, it's different from your standard Marvel movie. Yes, it has its own look, its own feel, it's own atmosphere. But that's not a bad thing, and I think more than most Marvel movies, Eternals had something to say, something way more profound and philosophical than we usually see.

Also, on the love angle...

Kingo abstained from choosing a side in the final fight because he couldn't bring himself to fight against people he loved, no matter which side he would have fallen on.

#141 Red Dagger
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 5
Points: 50
Keywords: Red Daggers, Martial Artist, Warrior

9 11 18 2

9 11 17 2

9 11 18 2

8 10 17 1

7 10 17 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Red Dagger Guild: Blades/Claws/Fangs & Precision Strike.
Kareem (+10 Points): Exploit Weakness & Outwit.

That seems fitting.

It’s a bit sad to see the only actual Red Dagger from the comics represented by an optional trait, but that’s the show’s fault.

And now that I think about it, it worked great when you did a similar thing with the Shazam family. So it totally works.

Red Dagger/s was/were fine, if not basic and functional. I think my main problem is that they told us the Red Daggers are an ancient secret organization dedicated to protecting the world from the Clandestines, but in practice it all boiled down to two dudes. Were Kareem’s campfire friends Red Daggers? Were they just kids who liked food in a bag and guitars? I guess the cook in the restaurant was a Dagger, or he just didn’t care.

You can’t just tell us you’ve got a huge secret organization and not show us anything beyond two guys. For me, the Red Daggers are the biggest narrative problem in the show because they’re almost entirely “tell, don’t show”. Why is Kareem wanted by the US government? Where is the rest of this organization? Why, for their supposed storied history protecting the world from the Clandestines, did they never once show up in the 1940s time travel event?

It’s a good thing the guy who played Kareem was charming and had engaging chemistry with Kamala, because that’s the only thing making the Red Daggers worth spending episode time on. I guess the chase scene was fun too.

My thanks, friend. It's very frustrating to me-- I want these characters to be flashy, exciting, and distinctive, but the series didn't seem particularly interested in making anyone but Kamala feel special and powered.As you elude, it's striking how cheap the superhero genre stuff in this show is. Waleed is a dude in a room. The Red Dagger(s?) are just dudes who throw knives. The Clandestines are just unhappy people who'd rather be home. Kamran's villainy is a last-minute event and borderline as much of a U-turn as Rajma's had been. It all looks vaguely better than Arrowverse stuff, which is perplexing when they have Mouse Money.

The show did a fantastic job of selling Kamala, her family, and the generational trauma dramedy, but seemingly at the expense of Ms. Marvel's lore.

I've seen plot rumors for THE MARVELS, and without getting into specifics, I'm not expecting the film to be a terrific showcase for any of its three leads; just a series of situations for them to have lighthearted girl-time fun in across the galaxy. It sounds like a good time, but I don't know if it's going to satisfy any of gaps this show seemed to need.

#142 Waleed
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 30
Keywords: Red Daggers, Ruler

7 10 16 1

6 10 16 1

6 9 16 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Noor Scholar: Leadership & Outwit. // Friendly characters do not take damage from the Mystics Team Ability.

That's about right for Waleed. Short dial, decent stats, dies if he's not protected.

I will go to bat for Kamran's "villain" turn, because it wasn't really a villain turn, it was an angry kid who was losing control, which made sense. Hounded by the cops for something inherent to him and not something he did, had just lost not only his mom, but also basically his whole family to the very thing they had all hoped for for their entire time on Earth, and then Kamala decided to keep that information from him. Kamran losing control of his abilities and creating the big SFX showstopper for Kamala to overcome made sense to me. Plus, that big special effects showpiece at the end allowed Kamala to utilize her greatest superpower, her empathy. I liked that. I just wish the whole episode didn't feel as tacked on as it did. Because it had good stuff in it, it just felt a little disconnected.

I think for me that's why it feels so left field. We don't have enough time with Kamran to see where he could have that kind of freakout beyond our own empathy for how we'd freak out if we'd been left behind. It doesn't feel like an organic turn for the character, but a lot of that is because of how disconnected this episode feels from the drama. As good as the flashback episode is, it's sort of to blame for that.

#143 Damage Control Agent
Team: Police
Range: 6
Points: 50
Keywords: Damage Control, Soldier

7 11 18 2

7 11 18 2

6 10 18 2

6 10 17 1

6 10 17 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Losing to Teenagers:Damage Control Agent has -1 Attack when targeting characters with the Kid or Teen Keyword.

UPDATED 08/06/22 - Thanks, Hein2208!

For some jokey flavour, maybe give them a weakness against the ”Teen” keyword?

This just hammers home to me how much more explanation I feel like Damage Control needs. I wish we knew what led to the change up. Why the government felt the need to change them from the organization that cleans up after superhero battles to the organization that polices and arrests adolescent superheroes (only Peter Parker and Kamala so far, after all). They work great on the level of allegory, conveying how law enforcement regards anybody of middle-eastern descent with suspicion and hostility, but on an MCU continuity level, things don’t line up.

And it’s not like these guys HAD to be Damage Control. It’s not like there haven’t been other governmental organizations dedicated to policing the superhuman population over the decades at Marvel.

I dunno, maybe I’m overthinking it. I just want to know how Damage Control became what it now is.

My mostly baaeless fan-theory theory is Norman Osborn. Damage Control is very conspicuously using a bunch of Stark Tech (drones from Far From Home, and their guns sound like repulsors with that high-pitched whine). We know that Stark initially funded them (Spider-man: Homecoming). While it's not impossible during the 5-year gap that Stark would have been hands off but signed off on them "building a suit of armor around the world" like he'd originally wanted, it's hard to imagine Tony or Pepper being comfortable with them arresting teenagers. So...what if Stark Industries got sold off during the blip to an enterprising, shadowy businessman? That'd track with our upcoming but very hush-hush Secret Invasion, Ironheart, and Thunderbolts stuff coming up and especially with Rhodey's involvement in that stuff whether or not we get Armor Wars as originally announced.

Val is also a possibility, pulling lots of strings.

Or it could just be the MCU being too big to worry about consistency and foreshadowing like it once did.