These days, it’s pretty typical for a superhero to have a sidekick, but it’s considerably less common for any character to have a codependent ally. That’s the case for Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen, two superheroes who met as teenage runaways and learned that they depend on each other to survive. Literally. Johnson, who goes by the name of Cloak, has the ability to move between this world and a dark dimension but relies on human energy to survive. Bowen, who goes by the name of Dagger, can fire projectiles of pure energy and also helps keep Cloak fully charged. Together the two teenagers became “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger,” the basis for a new television series at Freeform.
In the original comics, Cloak and Dagger were given their powers when a scientist started using New York’s homeless population to experiment with new drugs. As a result, the two superheroes make drug dealers their forte, often teaming up to help cure the addictions of young teens and eradicate those who would sell illegal drugs to minors. Of course, none of that is really present in the first trailer for the film, which kind of makes the whole thing just look like another MTV drama with a superhero bent. It’ll be interesting to see how much — if any — of the characters’ backstory is kept in the new series.
It’s also worth noting that “Cloak & Dagger” is the first Marvel foray onto Freeform — formerly known as ABC Family — a basic cable channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. With Marvel currently supporting shows on Netflix, ABC, FX, and Freeform, and with a wealth of properties to their name, it’ll be interesting to see if Marvel continues to favor trying different titles at different networks.
Here’s the full plot synopsis for “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger,” courtesy of ComicBook.com:
This live-action interracial romance follows Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers while falling in love. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness. They quickly learn they are better together than apart—but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.
“Cloak & Dagger” will be released in 2018.
