Image: Freeform
Cloak and Dagger premieres on the Paramount Network on Thursday, June 7 — the latest Marvel TV series to debut.
While the Cloak and Dagger TV series looks very different than the comics, there likely will be a real crossover from the characters seen in the pages of the comics and the new television series.
With that in mind, here is a look at 15 things you need to know about Cloak and Dagger heading into this season premiere.
1. Who is Cloak?
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Starting off, Cloak is a Marvel Comics superhero named Tyrone Johnson. In the comics, he was raised in Boston in a poor neighborhood but struggled with the disability of possessing a terrible stutter as a child growing up.
Despite his problems communicating, he was still a good kid and had a close friend named Billy. The two boys witnessed a robbery and Billy got scared and ran. The police showed up and when Tyrone couldn’t tell them what happened due to his stutter, one of the officers opened fire and shot Billy dead, thinking he was one of the robbers.
Tyrone ran away from home and ended up in New York City. It was here that Tyrone considered a life of crime and almost robbed a young white girl at a bus terminal. However, someone else robbed her first and Tyrone leaped to the rescue, attacking the robber and getting the stole purse back to the girl.
That girl was Tandy Bowen — who is known in Marvel Comics as Dagger.
Image: Freeform
2. Who is Dagger?
Tandy Bowen was 16-years-old when she ran away from home and went to New York City. She was neglected by her mother and did not get along with her step-father, which is why she left. When she reached New York City, she was at a bus terminal trying to figure out what to do next when fate struck.
Someone attacked and robbed her, stealing her purse. However, when they tried to get away, a young man named Tyrone attacked them and got the purse back. He then returned it to Tandy and the two of them became best friends.
Since they were both runaways, the looked out for each other to make sure that someone always had their backs.
3. How did they get their powers?
Before Tyrone and Tandy became Cloak and Dagger, they were taken in by the henchmen of Simon Marshall, a Maggia crime lord. Because of this, they ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time because Simon just wanted them in order to test a new synthetic narcotic on two kids that no one would miss if they died.
They got away but the drugs were administered to them first. As they ran, something happened.
Cloak and Dagger are mutants and the drug and the fear is what finally triggered their mutations. Because they were runaways, and because they realized first hand that there were people on the streets who always took advantage of kids like them, they became protectors of the streets.
Image: Marvel Comics
4. What are Cloak’s powers?
The thing about Cloak and Dagger is that they are polar opposites when it comes to their upbringing, their social class before becoming heroes, and eventually their powers. While one is brightness the other is pure darkness.
Cloak is darkness.
Cloak’s body is a portal to the “Darkforce Dimension.” Cloak is also extremely dangerous and his powers are deadly if not harnessed properly. He basically sucks the life force out of other beings.
He also creates a field of darkness using his cloak to create a focal point and envelope anyone in the darkness where they feel fear and numbing cold, sometimes even seeing visions. If they are there too long, they will end up completely insane.
A less scary power for Cloak is the ability to use the Darkforce Dimension to teleport himself and anyone else a short distance. In his Cloak form, he is also intangible so most things just pass through him if he doesn’t envelope them into the darkness.
5. What are Dagger’s powers?
Cloak needs to absorb lifeforce or he starts to grow weak. The good news is that Dagger is a person who can satisfy that craving. Dagger’s power is light and she can use her light to satisfy his craving and keep him sane.
Dagger can also create energy light daggers and use them as weapons to stun other people. When this happens, they will then confront the darkness of their soul — similar to Cloak’s powers but on a different level and one that doesn’t drive the person insane.
She can also use her light for a great purpose — it can cure drug addiction in some people. While Cloak threatens to destroy people with his powers, Dagger is the source of light and can save and protect people — including Cloak.
Image: Marvel Comics
6. Where did they get their Marvel Comics start?
Cloak and Dagger are straight from the pages of the Spider-Man comics in the Marvel Universe. their first appearance came in the pages of Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #64. This showed their origin story and they were not heroes in the start.
After they escaped Simon Marshall and then watched their mutant powers activated, they returned and murdered Marshall — in front of Spider-Man. However, he did not overreact and actually believed that the two were just misguided kids who needed a chance.
Spider-Man soon became a friend and confidant of the two and tried to steer them in the right direction.
However, it took awhile. Cloak and Dagger tried to kill two more crimelords (Kingpin and Silvermane) and then Dagger decided they should be heroes and not take lives anymore. She had to work hard to keep Cloak on the straight-and-narrow thanks to his powers of Darkness and his continued hunger.
7. What are the themes of Cloak and Dagger?
As made obvious with the light and darkness and Cloak’s continued struggles, it is clear that the themes of Cloak and Dagger — in the comics — was religious.
The two ended up taken in by a minister named Father Francis Delgado in the comics and then later went to Tandy’s uncle, another minister named Father Michael Brown.
The themes throughout the comics were always Dagger trying to keep Cloak from going to the dark side with his powers always threatening to consume him.
8. What is the Cloak and Dagger TV show about?
From the looks of the trailer, the Cloak and Dagger TV show is keeping with the ideas of the two teenagers powers — Cloak the darkness and Dagger the light. However, there are changes in store for the duo in the adaptation to television.
For one thing — they won’t use mutant powers.
It looks like Tandy might get her powers first and then take Tyrone there to get his. There is also the hints that the religious overtones are there as well as something more mystical (there must be a pairing and one will die).
The original trailer showed just the two as lost souls (and it doesn’t look like Tandy is a runaway, although the trailer might be misleading). But the powers are there and they look like they are out for vengeance, so that lines up with the Marvel Comics characters.
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9. How, when and where to watch Cloak and Dagger
Cloak and Dagger premieres on Thursday night, June 7 at 8 p.m. EST, on Freeform. The season one premiere is a two-hour special event and then the show will air the remaining 10 episodes with the season one finale on August 2.