You have doubtless heard of Marvel Rivals, the third-person hero shooter that has taken the world by storm because it formally launched in December 2024. Whereas the sport options many well-known Marvel characters like The Hulk, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, it additionally has put the highlight on lesser-known characters like Jeff the Land Shark, Squirrel Woman, and Luna Snow. Two breakout characters within the recreation are a well-known Marvel duo, Cloak and Dagger. The 2 have turn out to be highly regarded amongst avid gamers and have put these heroes within the highlight in a giant approach, with many curious to know extra about these heroes.
It could then shock many who Cloak and Dagger had their very own adjoining MCU collection, which was airing on the peak of the MCU’s reputation. Cloak & Dagger debuted on ABC Freeform one month after Avengers: Infinity Conflict hit theaters on June 7, 2018, and concluded its second and remaining season on Might 30, 2019, simply 4 weeks after Avengers: Endgame was launched. Regardless of being a part of the MCU and the 2 seasons incomes a mixed whole of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, many skipped the collection or did not even comprehend it existed. With Marvel Rivals placing Cloak & Dagger again within the highlight, now’s the proper time to take a look at this underrated collection on Disney+.
Cloak & Dagger
- Launch Date
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June 7, 2018
- Community
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Freeform
- Administrators
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Ami Canaan Mann, Jeff Woolnough, Jennifer Phang, Alex Garcia Lopez, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Matthew Hastings, Paul A. Edwards, Peter Hoar, Amanda Row, Jessika Borsiczky, Joe Pokaski, Lauren Wolkstein, Ry Russo-Younger, Philip John, Rachel Goldberg
- Writers
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Niceole R. Levy, Kate Rorick, Christine Boylan, Pleasure Kecken, Marcus Guillory, Pornsak Pichetshote, Allie Kenyon
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Blake Cooper Griffin
Meathead
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Jaime Zevallos
Father Delgado
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Olivia Holt
Tandy Bowen / Dagger
Cloak & Dagger Comedian Historical past and Street to the Silver Display screen
Created by author Invoice Mantlo and artist Ed Hannigan, Cloak and Dagger first appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64 in March 1982. Actual names Tyrone “Ty” Johnson (Cloak) and Tandy Bowen (Dagger), the duo have been teenage runaways who have been injected with artificial heroin that gave them the dual superpowers of sunshine and darkish power management, finally turning into superheroes. The characters have been cult heroes, typically bouncing round standard titles, however they have been by no means certainly one of Marvel’s heroes. A part of this was baked into the characters, as they’d no ambitions to be the following huge superhero or be a part of a workforce like The Avengers or the Unbelievable 4. They have been simply youngsters looking for their place on this planet.
Cloak and Dagger was really one of many 10 properties put up as collateral when Marvel Studios took out its first mortgage with Meryll Lynch. The duo was additionally one of many first tasks Marvel Studios thought-about for his or her movie slate once they first started. The MCU finally took off with Iron Man, and the main target started on The Avengers characters. Marvel started to increase into tv, with characters like Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Runaways, the Inhumans, and Cloak and Dagger making their approach to the small display screen.
Cloak & Dagger debuted on ABC Freeform on June 7, 2018, with a two-episode season premiere that earned stable evaluations and was renewed for Season 2, which aired simply weeks earlier than Avengers: Endgame hit theaters in April 2019. Johnson and Holt additionally voiced the characters within the animated Spider-Man collection, which aired in October 2019, seemingly making them the go-to variations of the character. Nonetheless, by this level, lots of the greenlit Marvel live-action tv collection have been being canceled as the brand new plan was to make a collection for Disney+ that may have stronger overt connections to the MCU. Cloak & Dagger was formally canceled in October 2019, 5 months after it concluded its second season. Whereas followers wouldn’t get a correct conclusion to the collection, they’d get to see Cloak & Dagger one final time as the 2 appeared in a crossover with one other teen-centric Marvel collection, The Runaways, which dropped its remaining season on December 13, 2019.
‘Cloak & Dagger’ Tackled Topical Themes Like Race, Class, and Baby Homelessness
The MCU collection makes just a few key adjustments to Cloak and Dagger’s backstory, a few of which might necessitate behind-the-scenes realities but additionally some that may enhance the story. Regardless of Spider-Man being a part of the MCU, the difficult rights problem across the character basically dominated him out from being a part of Cloak & Dagger. The collection moved the duo from New York to New Orleans, increasing the scope of the Marvel Universe out of the extremely populated New York Metropolis of heroes like The Defenders and most Avengers.
Cloak & Dagger additionally adjustments the duo’s origins, tying it in with the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe tv collection on the time, constructing off Roxxon’s improvement of Darkforce power from Agent Carter and Brokers of S.H.I.E.L.D. into an accident that occurred when Ty and Tandy have been youngsters, bringing them collectively by destiny. It additionally made a change to the duo’s backstory that may essentially alter the characters however enhance the collection for the higher.
Within the comics, Tyrone Ty Johnson (Cloak) comes from a struggling household, whereas Tandy Bowen (Dagger) is a wealthy lady from a high-class household who runs away as a result of her mom hardly notices her. Whereas the primary scene of the collection exhibits the duo as youngsters establishing that preliminary dynamic, the flashforward eight years later to the current day exhibits their roles flipped due to the accident that may give them their powers. Tandy’s household life went downhill following her dad’s loss of life from the accident, and her mom is a drug addict dwelling in a trailer park, so she now lives in an deserted church and is hustling cash. In the meantime, Tyrone’s dad and mom are profitable, and he’s attending personal college, seemingly having a well-off life. Even the incident the place the 2 uncover their shared energy connections, Tandy attempting to steal Tyrone’s pockets, is an inverse of how the 2 met within the comics when Tyrone considers stealing Tandy’s purse.
Altering the backgrounds behind the 2 characters helps the collection keep away from falling into dangerous racial stereotypes, like characterizing the younger Black child as a felony and the white lady as being inherently rich. Collection showrunner Joe Pokaski broke down the change, saying, “I feel the unique tales have been incredible, however for the time, whereas they have been a bit progressive, they have been a bit bit sexist and racist as soon as you bought into it, for now. What we tried to do was deconstruct it and make it about Tandy and Tyrone, perceive who they have been.”
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Flipping the expectations of Ty and Tandy’s characterization, together with the post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans setting, established that Cloak & Dagger was a collection that wished to inform a superhero story inside a socially aware and grounded story. Whereas oftentimes the phrases “grounded” may make a superhero fan’s eyes roll as a result of quite a lot of the time, significantly in tv, that’s code for cheapening out (taking a look at you, Iron Fist), Cloak & Dagger’s gritty aesthetic right here will not be a performative one however one which feels genuine to the world of the characters.
These characters and their conflicts are far faraway from the gloss and shine of the world of Iron Man, Thor, and even Ant-Man. That not solely works to permit the collection to be a standalone entry and may exist as a Schrödinger’s canon (it’s canon in order for you, canon when you do not), nevertheless it additionally makes Cloak and Dagger extra spectacular heroes, as a result of they’ve to do that on their very own because the Avengers aren’t coming to repair any issues.
There have been many superhero tasks centered on younger heroes, however Cloak & Dagger separated itself from Spider-Man or Younger Justice by eradicating a lot of its fantastical parts other than the collection and protecting the bigger Marvel Universe to a naked minimal but additionally actually zeroing in on the problems that relate to youngsters. This collection was much less thinking about catering to older grownup Marvel followers and extra targeted on being genuine to its goal demographic of youngsters and younger adults, becoming for characters who do not even need to be Avengers however need simply to be themselves. But that authenticity and clear artistic imaginative and prescient makes Cloak & Dagger a collection that may stand by itself and attraction to even older followers who is likely to be outdoors the goal demo.
Freeform, the community that broadcast Cloak & Dagger, was a community that appeared to faucet right into a teenage viewers and turn out to be the go-to for millennial tv collection. It appeared to present a voice to its goal demographic and sort out tales coping with social points the viewers would face. Via the lens of teenage angst collection that handled little one neglect, household loss, medicine, and race, these usually are not issues they’ll simply punch away and vanquish.
Cloak & Dagger makes a transparent distinction between what a younger white girl and a younger Black man can and can’t get away with primarily based on their race, gender, and sophistication. The collection tapped into anxiousness on the time, figuring out how a lot symbolism seeing a younger Black man like Tyrone carrying his signature hooded cloak and having a way of energy might maintain for viewers. It was a little bit of escapist fantasy that additionally shone lots on topical points. The unhappy factor is that Cloak & Dagger is simply as related in 2025 because it was in 2018 when it first debuted.
Can Stand Toe to Toe With the Disney+ MCU Collection and the Characteristic Movies
What made Cloak & Dagger so particular in comparison with many different superhero tv on the time (and even right now) was that it had a cinematic aptitude to it. A lot of this may be attributed to the pilot for Cloak & Dagger being directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, greatest identified for her movies Love & Basketball and The Lady King. Prince-Bythewood has had a ardour for comedian books, having directed the 2020 hit Netflix movie The Outdated Guard, an adaptation of the graphic novel collection of the identical identify. She additionally spent years attempting to make a Black Cat / Silver Sable-led film titled Silver & Black for Sony Footage, although it by no means got here to fruition. Bythewood units the visible tone and tenor for Cloak & Dagger that’s carried by for the explanation of the season.
The collection options loads of hand-held digital camera work, offering scenes with an intimate really feel. The coloured pallet is washed out and muted, one which oppresses the heroes. It additionally highlights the character’s powers, the place Dagger’s mild illuminates so brightly it typically overtakes the scene, and Cloak’s darkish power powers soak up all sense of house round him. Regardless of being a superhero collection on Freeform, it’s an incredible-looking present that appears extra tactile and stylistic than a few of its big-budget counterparts. Cloak & Dagger on a tv price range appears to be like extra like a film than the overt CGI in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Thor: Love and Thunder.
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Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt’s performances as Cloak and Dagger, respectively, make the collection price watching. Aubrey Johnson brings a quiet depth to Cloak, a really susceptible younger man who appears like he at all times wants to regulate himself and who can be laid again and compassionate, making him really feel like a totally realized character. Olivia Holt’s Dagger has a dry wit, masking years of ache and struggling. She provides the character a likable allure, much like a Han Solo determine. Like the most effective MCU characters, they really feel well-defined with wealthy inside lives that make the viewers need to know extra about them and observe them into future tales.
The chemistry the 2 have collectively is the place the collection actually shines. Cloak and Dagger’s romantic relationship within the comedian has at all times been complicated, with some followers preferring them as lifelong platonic buddies whereas others just like the symbolism of their love story. The collection walks a high quality line between pleasing each side of the fandom because the collection lets them begin out as strangers who slowly need to get to know one another. This blossoms right into a friendship, however the seeds of a romantic connection exist.
The scripts and actors work effectively to promote a slow-burn romance that feels tailored for the teenage demographic but additionally pure to the characters. There’s something ironic that, regardless of being a collection about adolescent heroes airing on a community targeted on teen leisure, the dynamic between Cloak and Dagger appears like a extra mature romance than the cinematic MCU movies.
Why Now Is a Nice Time to Examine Out ‘Cloak & Dagger’
It has been six years since Cloak & Dagger concluded its run, and there’s a good likelihood many MCU followers won’t have ever watched it. It could be as a result of they did not have entry to Freeform when it was airing, however there’s a good likelihood many audiences dismissed it. Some followers won’t have thought-about it worthy of consideration as a result of they did not assume it was going to hook up with the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe tales like Avengers: Infinity Conflict, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame.
Others may need written it off as a teen collection and never as severe as the opposite Marvel tv collection on the time, like Daredevil or Jessica Jones, regardless of Cloak & Dagger having lots in frequent with these collection tonally and stylistically. But a collection of connections or lack thereof to the bigger MCU shouldn’t be what motivates somebody to look at a collection; it must be the need to have a fantastic story instructed and turn out to be compelled by fascinating characters.
within the characters after enjoying Marvel Rivals? Cloak & Dagger is an effective way to study extra about these two standard playable heroes. Are you watching Olivia Holt’s new horror-comedy Coronary heart Eyes, which opened per week earlier than the MCU’s Captain America: Courageous New World? See Olivia Holt’s underrated MCU position. Are you a fan of standard romance novels on TikTok that cope with matters like younger love, enemies to buddies, after which romantic companions? Cloak & Dagger is the MCU collection you did not know you wished. Feeling worn out by the MCU? Cloak & Dagger is a largely self-contained story that tackles topical points and makes use of a fantastical gadget to place a mirror as much as society that feels simply as related right now because it did in 2018.
Saying Cloak & Dagger is price your time greater than Secret Invasion does not say a lot, however Cloak & Dagger clears Disney+ MCU collection like Moon Knight, Loki, and Hawkeye and stands up with a few of the greatest, like WandaVision, Agatha All Alongside, and Ms. Marvel. Cloak & Dagger supplies a narrative about two teenagers from vastly totally different worlds, feeling misplaced and hopeless, who discover goal and the flexibility to vary their world by each other in a narrative that captures the Marvel ethos of being the world outdoors our window and that world wants heroes like Cloak and Dagger. Cloak and Dagger is streaming on Hulu.