Find out some amazing things you missed in the first Cloak & Dagger superhero trailer.
Last week we saw the first trailer for the new Cloak & Dagger (2018) TV show and reactions are mixed. Fans of the characters (like myself) are excited about the possibilities of bringing these guys to life. While others, based on the history of the Freeform network, are saying it looks cheesy. In fact, Slashfilm’s Ben Pearson asked if this will “be Marvel’s cheesiest TV show”?
While it’s too early to tell, there are a lot of really interesting things in the trailer that you probably missed. Things like a major Marvel Cinematic Universe Easter egg, murder, and rape.
So, I’ll break down everything you missed and need to know about Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger TV series.
First, here’s the trailer
Who Are Cloak & Dagger?
Cloak and Dagger are a superhero team that first appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (1982). They have complimentary superhero powers of light and darkness. In the comics, they’re portrayed as a vengeful team obsessed with ending the drug trade and killing those they feel deserve death.
Aubrey Joseph plays Tyrone “Ty” Johnson / Cloak. He’s described as being able to “engulf others in darkness”.
Joseph doesn’t have a long acting career having first appeared in movies like Fading Gigolo (2013) and guest-starring in TV shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. This is his first leading role.
Olivia Holt plays Tandy Bowen / Dagger and is described as “a teenager with the ability to emit light daggers.”
Holt is an actress and singer known for shows like the Disney XD martial arts comedy series Kickin’ It, Disney Channel movies Girl vs. Monster, and series I Didn’t Do It.
Joe Pokaski, the showrunner, was a writer and Executive Story Editor on the NBC TV series Heroes from 2006 to 2009. He also wrote two episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil (2015).
1. Cloak & Dagger: The Shooting
In the opening of the trailer, we see two people running and the police yelling for them to freeze. This is young Ty and Billy (Marqus Clae).
In the comics, Billy and Ty come across a store robbery where the clerk is killed. They run from the police because they’re afraid they’ll be blamed for the murder. When the police face them, Ty hides and, because of a debilitating stutter, can’t explain what happened. Billy is shot dead by the police. This event scars young Tyrone for life.
From the expression on young Ty’s face, something similar happens in the show. Considering the news reports on police shootings this is a powerful scene. Ty even wears a hoodie in the trailer reminding us of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
2. Cloak & Dagger: The Car Accident
At one point in the trailer, we see a truck forcing a car off a bridge into the water. Young Tandy (Rachel Ryals) panics as the car fills with water.
Then we see a boy dive in the water, swim to her and take her hand.
Presumably. this is young Ty saving her from drowning. Later in the trailer, the two are shown resting on the beach together.
Is this Ty? The question is seemly answered when teenage Tandy asks Tyrone, “Wait, are you that kid?”
This is a big departure from the comics which has them meeting as teenagers for the first time. But it does set up Tyrone’s protective nature of her.
The character description says that Tandy Bowen “watched as her family was destroyed by a disastrous storm that uprooted her life”. The show is set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
So, we can assume some of her family is killed in the storm. It’s possible that the two events – the car accident and the police shooting – happen on the same night since Ty is wearing the same flowing cloak in both scenes.
3. Cloak & Dagger: Roxxon Corporation
At the end of the trailer, we see Cloak standing on a roof next to a big sign that says “Roxxon Corp”. The Roxxon Energy Corporation is a fictional company and the largest conglomerate in the Marvel Universe. As a multi-industry company, it’s involved in everything from oil production to robotics. Roxxon is known for its ruthless pursuit of profits and ties to illegal and criminal enterprises.
It’s appeared in the comics since Captain America #180 (1974). It’s shown up in five films and five television shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like Iron Man 3 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. This is a big connection and shows there’s a connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I’ll get into this later.
One other connection to Roxxon is the exploding oil rig shown by the bridge right before the crash. Could the driver have been so distracted with the explosion they didn’t see the truck?
If so, then Roxxon inadvertently brought them together. In the Ultimates comic it’s a Roxxon experiment that gives them their powers, so that might be used for the series as well.
4. Cloak & Dagger: The Basketball Fight
In the Cloak & Dagger comics, Cloak is the level-headed one and it’s Dagger that often acts impulsively. But, that might be changing in the Cloak & Dagger TV series.
We see Ty getting into a fight with a basketball player from the opposing team.
Later in the trailer, he’s nursing a black eye.
This shot is followed by one where he’s talking to his mother. So they may be talking about the fight.
The funny thing about this scene is it goes against what we know about Ty. He’s described as a shy loner. Marvel’s official character description of the Cloak & Dagger actor is “when everything he held close was taken away, life taught Tyrone to be afraid. Now older and more sheltered, Tyrone closes himself off.” So, something big must have happened for him to start dropping bombs.
5. Cloak and Dagger: From Opposite Ends of the Tracks
Tandy and Ty have starkly different backgrounds. Ty grows up poor as shown by the modest home he lives in.
Cloak’s parents are Michael (Bloodline’s Miles Mussenden) and Adina Johnson (ER’s Gloria Reuben). His mother is described as devoted and “every aspect of her being into giving her son the life she believes he deserves. But she props up and protects Tyrone so much she almost forgets to love him.”
We see her briefly in the trailer when Ty says,”It’s like you’re afraid if I don’t do everything perfectly you’re going to lose me.” Adina says, “Baby, I’m afraid even if you do everything perfectly I’m going to lose you.”
Michael Johnson is described as “a working-class father” who “trudges through his desk job to keep his family safe and happy.” Looks like times are tough though since we see him breaking down.
Tandy, however, grows up in a wealthy family. Marvel says she was “once a privileged little girl”. We can see her at parties, a swanky apartment and wearing expensive clothing.
Andrea Roth (“Rescue Me,” “Blue Bloods”) plays Melissa Bowen, Tandy’s mom, who is “the eternal optimist despite the struggles to adapt to her new existence. While complex and emotionally composed, her love for her daughter burns bright.”
It’s interesting that she’s described as an optimist when she’s screaming at people going through their house. She’s yelling, “You can’t do this!”
By the way, if it is their house then things have gone downhill for them. This is followed by Dagger saying, “What just happened?”
The Mom has no response.
By the way, where’s the Dad? He probably died in the car accident.
In the comics, Dagger’s mother is a former supermodel and very neglectful. This leads her to run away from home. I can’t say if that’s true on the show, but she does runaway for some reason.
Later in the trailer, she’s dressed in worn-out clothes and a hoodie and sleeping on cardboard in a shelter or a church.
Their homelessness leads them to a world of drugs and crime. That world would soon change them forever.
6. Cloak & Dagger: The Party
In the comics, Cloak and Dagger are runaways who get picked up at a shelter. The mafia crime syndicate known as the Maggia kidnaps them and injects them with an experimental synthetic drug that gives them their superpowers. Is that what’s going to happen in the show?
First, the Maggia has shown up in the MCU before. They appeared in several episodes of Marvel’s Agent Carter. So, they’re definitely an option.
The two are shown meeting as teenagers for the first time at a party. She literally bumps into him and he asks her name.
Then, because sometimes us guys are clueless, she asks, “And his name is…” He tells her his name, they share a couple of looks and head away.
Things look OK there but watch what happens later in the trailer. Ty is stuck in a car trunk and has to fight his way out
These guys get kidnapped. The drug connection is a huge part of Cloak & Dagger’s story. Not only were they mutated by drugs, but their first act was to hunt down and kill the guys who forced the drug on them. They also work to stop drug crime and help runaways.
Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger show is heavy into drama and, Karey Burke, exec VP of programming and development at Freeform told The Hollywood Reporter it’s part of “drama night”.
7. Cloak & Dagger: Ballet
Ballet is a big part of Dagger’s life in the comics and it shows in the trailer. This is because it influences her fighting style and she has very acrobatic movies.
Several scenes show her taking ballet classes, looking longingly at a ballet uniform and watches a ballet performance from above.
That’s obviously a big part of the show because Olivia Holt has a martial arts background from her work on the Disney show Kickin’ It.
Plus, she took she took gymnastics classes for seven years. You wouldn’t think so, but expect her to do some epic fighting in this show.
8. Cloak & Dagger: The Ballet Rape
There’s one powerful scene when Tandy finds herself pushed up against the wall by Rick (Mike Donovan). Just as he goes in for a kiss he pulls back as the light of her “light dagger” glows from his stomach.
What you didn’t notice is she’s wearing a ballet uniform and is backstage.
9. Cloak & Dagger: What are Dagger’s Powers on the TV Show?
A couple of times in the trailer we see Dagger’s light powers show up. The first one is when she and Ty are running through a graveyard and he takes her hand. They’re knocked back by the energy.
Based on the clothing this happens after the party.
The second time is during the attack when she stabs the guy. That’s when we see a perfect representation of the dagger in her hand. She looks surprised, so this is the first time she’s able to create a weapon.
In the comic books, her daggers are created by her mind and travel under her control. When the daggers contact a person they drain them of vitality and can kill them. Her powers build up over time and overwhelm her if she doesn’t release the energy. So, she’s dependent on Cloak to help keep her power under control.
10. Cloak & Dagger: What are Cloak’s Powers on the TV Show?
In the comics, Cloak can send others to another dimension of darkness and cold. He can also turn intangible and transport people and objects to other places using his cloak. Ty feels a constant “hunger” that is only relieved by taking the life force of others or absorbing Dagger’s light daggers.
We don’t see Cloak using his powers openly but one shot shows him opening his eyes and looking around with surprise. He’s standing on a rooftop.
It’s the first sign of his teleportation ability. Since he’s naked we know when he teleports, he doesn’t take his clothes with him. Why the cloak comes with him and nothing else isn’t explained, but it’s a really good reason to wear a cloak when he uses his powers.
In the comics, Dagger is the only one that can travel in Cloak’s dimension of darkness without suffering any ill effects.
His character description said he can cover (or engulf) people in darkness, so those might be the limit of his abilities on the show.
11. Cloak & Dagger: “Easier” by Mansionair
Throughout the trailer, there’s a haunting and moving song playing. Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger trailer music is “Easier” by Mansionair. The Sydney-bred trio is an Alternative/Indie band. The lyrics aren’t played much but they’re perfect for this show.
The lyrics read “I’m stuck, I’m stuck, I’m stuck here in my skin / I’m stuck, I’m stuck, I’m stuck with you.“
Cloak and Dagger are thrown together by fate and, depend on each other and need each other.
The “Easier” lyrics are all about loss and pain with lines like “Tell me it gets easier, tell me it gets easier / Tell me it gets easier, that I’ll figure it out.“
It’s nice foreshadowing of the series.
12. Cloak & Dagger: Detective Connors
There’s a person in the trailer that has a big impact on the show you probably didn’t notice. Thanks to the shooting of his friend Billy Cloak has a very tenuous relationship with the police. But, one person that’s going to be very important to Ty is Detective Connors played by J.D. Evermore (“True Detective,” “The Walking Dead”).
In the trailer, Connors is first seen on the phone. Then we see him shooting at Ty before confronting him.
None of these scenes make any connection until you read the official description of the character as “a contradiction of a man, embracing an intimidating persona that overcompensates for a secret he keeps close to the vest.”
IMDb shows that he’s going to be in all ten episodes of the series. So, expect him to have a big impact on Cloak & Dagger.
13. Cloak & Dagger: The Romance
The TV series is described as an “angst-filled achingly beautiful heartfelt romantic drama”. While the show is obviously romantic from the press releases, there aren’t any obvious indications that the two are falling in love. Just a few side glances between the two.
If you didn’t know they’re going to fall in love you’d miss it.
Tandy has a boyfriend named Liam played by Carl Lundstedt (“Grey’s Anatomy, “Conviction”), described as “a salt-of-the-earth townie who operates as Tandy’s partner in crime while moonlighting as her boyfriend. But underneath his rough-around-the-edges appearance, Liam has big dreams.”
He shows up in the trailer talking to her in a car, making love in the car and at her apartment.
He’s scheduled to be in six of the episodes, so expect him to create some conflict with the love story between Ty and Tandy.
It’s easy to dismiss the idea of a Blonde White girl with a Black man as a stereotype, but an interracial relationship was originally controversial and remains that way today.
Back in 1982, a Gallup poll shows that approval of Black-White relationships was at 43% back then. The majority of the population hated the idea of interracial relationships. Creating a comic book featuring an interracial relationship in 1983 was controversial.
That same poll shows that approval of marriages between blacks and whites has a 96% approval rating today. But, recently a White man stabbed a Black man to death because of his anger over Black men “mixing with white women.” So, it’s still an issue.
In the comic books, the relationship between Cloak & Dagger is mainly platonic. Cloak loves Dagger, but she sees him as a brother. He becomes jealous of her relationships with other men including Spider-Man. Maybe Marvel couldn’t stomach the idea of a Black-White couple, but it could be they just thought it was a more compelling dynamic. In recent years, the relationship became romantic and this is what the series is based on.
Will Cloak & Dagger Be Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
While all the Marvel properties share elements and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. directly ties into the Marvel films in many ways, the “Cloak & Dagger” TV show may not. “If you know these two properties, they’re not particularly connected. ,” Burke said, “There are many degrees of separation with where they fall in the Marvel universe. But anything is possible with Marvel.”
Considering the show is set in New Orleans and most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set in New York, it’s not likely we’ll see Spider-Man or Daredevil show up anytime soon.
But, it probably comes down to how popular the series is. If audiences fall in love with the characters we may just see them on the big screen. But, don’t hold your breath.
The 10 episode Cloak & Dagger TV series will premiere in 2018. No air date has been released yet.
What do you think of the Cloak & Dagger TV series? Are you a fan of the comic book characters? Do you think it’ll be good?
We love to hear from you, but please be mindful of our comment policy when making comments.
If you enjoyed this, then please use the buttons below to tell your friends about this post! Follow us! Email | RSS | Twitter | Facebook
