We have Cloak and Dagger cast, we have the fantastic Gina Prince-Blythwood directing the pilot for the show, but who are Cloak and Dagger? While we don’t have a synopsis for the series quite yet, we do have years of comic knowledge to base a basic description on. If you’re as excited as we are for this freeform series, you’ll want to read up and learn all about these two characters who are sure to make a big impact across the television cinematic universe. Let’s take a look at Tandy Bown and Tyrone Johnson, also known as Cloak and Dagger and the potential impact they’ll have across the broader MCU.
A Tale of Two Orphans
Tandy and Tyrone both start out as runaways from abusive home situations. Starting with Tandy, who flees a white upper-middle class lifestyle and an abusive family. Tandy makes her way to New York City where she – having no experience has her purse stolen by a mugger. She meets Tyrone who stops the mugger. The two agree to look out for each other as Tyrone has his own set of problems. A shy bookish figure who spends more time reading and is affected with a stutter, Tyrone is also fleeing dangerous and deadly circumstances. The two become best friends and family until their world is shattered by the Maggia, a group of families who have reached across the Marvel Universe (The Maggia in the comics have connections to Kingpin, the Inhumans, and Whitney Frost, AKA Madame Mask). Tandy and Tyrone, each inexperienced in their own way are kidnapped by the gangsters – for nefarious purposes.
Those purposes turn out to be far more dangerous then anyone can know, forcing the teenagers to take an experimental drug that imbues them with superhuman abilities. Somehow, through the combination of their work – Tandy and Tyrese abilities help out one another. They develop a symbiotic relationship. Together the two decide to take revenge on their captors. They do so – but in doing so realize that they’ve become as bad as the Maggia themselves.
Tandy and Tyrese both decide to dedicate their lives to using their newfound abilities to fight crime. Comics wise, Cloak and Dagger were both injected with a synthetic heroin so these two characters primarily use their abilities to take on the so called “War on Drugs”. They have battled beside heroes like Spider-Man and the Runaways, and taken on foes like Mephisto and Carnage. How much of this remains to be seen, but with characters like Roxxon as well as the potential for inhuman interaction – the creation of Tandy and Tyrone remains to be seen – but the connections and potential are far reaching indeed.
Light and Darkness
Tandy and Tyrone develop a symbiotic relationship – when Tandy is injected she begins to glow from the inside and she is capable of creating daggers of light. Tyrone ends up becoming a literal shadow, faced with an almost animal like hunger that is seemingly only sated in Tandy’s presence. Like it or not, Tyrone feeds off of Tandy’s “light” and it does not seem to cause her harm when he does so. Her ability to use projectiles comes in handy while Tyrone dons a “cloak” and consumes lawbreakers to sate the almost demonic hunger that now resides within him. This makes them a formidable crime fighting team.
This offers quite a bit of potential story wise. While Tyrone and Tandy might not initially fall in love, if they are forced into a symbiotic relationship with one another by the procedure this is an excellent way to examine previous prejudices that both might have – Tandy especially. Later in comics, Tyrone leaves Tandy and is unable to control his hunger, he turns to Black Widow and the Punisher for help, works with Daredevil, and has quite a few adventures. He returns in Runaways fully powered with Tandy at his side, but the two are clearly different people.
The only person who is known to have ripped off Tyrone’s cloak (Thor once tried and failed) is Molly Hernandez, also known as Molly Hayes. She rips it off in Runaways, adding a hilarious and poignant scene to two sad stories of children searching for parents.
While Tyrone is described as more “Street smart” and understandably more burdened by his powers, Tandy over the course of the comics comes to embody “light”, taking on a cheerful and optimistic demeanor. She makes an effort to reach out to Tyrone and try to cheer him through most of the comics, though it remains to be seen how much of that will translate to the new television series. Their abilities gradually begin to define their characters, it’s a testament to their strength of character that they fight to take it back.
Between Tandy’s projectiles and Tyrone’s connection to the “dark dimension” that he must feed with his abilities, it appears so far to be a combination of quite a few things we’ve already seen in the Cinematic Universe.
Spider Island, Power Swap, Comics to Read and more
If you’re looking for issues to catch up on Cloak and Dagger comixology is more then ready to help you. From a collection of origin stories (Cloak and Dagger: Child of Darkness, Child of Light) to Cloak’s time working with punisher (Cloak and Dagger: Crime and Punishment) the series that began in 1983 is taking shape and available to modern comic readers. Make sure to download the app and check out the origins of Tandy and Tyrone and their sad tragic tale before preparing for the Cloak and Dagger series, also known as Shadows.
Cloak and Dagger stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Johnson as Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson respectively. The pilot is directed by Gina Prince-Blythwood for freeform. No release date is currently set.