Complex, damaged heroes in Marvel’s ‘Cloak and Dagger’
Olivia Holt (left) and Aubrey Joseph play teens with contrasting powers.
Marvel’s live-action films and shows continue to form a massive storytelling tapestry, even when hindrances keep them from having an all-encompassing crossover and becoming a true cinematic universe.
Be that as it may, it’s done much in terms of showing a distinct realm, by way of diverse hero groups: the big-leagues team Avengers, the global peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., the “street-level” vigilantes Defenders and the teen misfits Runaways.
Adding to that already-impressive roster are the titular super-beings of “Cloak and Dagger,” a “damaged” teen duo seeking justice for those they lost during separate childhood tragedies. The initially reluctant partners—the Caucasian thief Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and the African-American student Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph)—represent light and darkness, with contrasting powers to match.
Tandy can create deadly light-knives, while Tyrone uses a dark energy to teleport. They’re pretty much the same abilities from the comics, but the show gives them extra psychic gifts that help add cinematic flair to their mystery-laden origin story.
In different incidents on the same night when they were kids, the duo lost loved ones: Tandy’s dad to an apparent accident, and Tyrone’s brother to a trigger-happy cop. But a mishap involving a corrupt corporation, Roxxon, connects them, unknowingly giving them powers that would manifest years later.
Their shared origin is not strictly based on the comic book stories, enabling the “Cloak and Dagger” series, currently streaming on Hooq, to take some liberties with the new backstory. It takes a while before the two become partners, but many of the first season’s stretched-out episodes favorably flesh out these protagonists.
The reluctant partners have connected traumas.
Tandy is shown to be a drug-using and swindling opportunist, while Tyrone is depicted as a straight-laced but guilt-ridden high school jock. They bury their traumas, but still deal with their repercussions.
The nonromantic pairing is made even more timely, as they open up discussions on relevant race and privilege issues. In any case, the two are underdogs, underestimated even by their family, sometimes. But the partnership, as reiterated by a mystic’s divination, is a momentous one, to give further weight to the teens’ throwaway thought that their connection seems fated, somehow.
In the comics, Cloak and Dagger are superpowered runaways who go after street predators, often teaming up with Spider-Man and other costumed crime fighters.
Various depictions of drug use, violence and racism are tough to watch, but the realism now adds to the development of such traumatized figures. The grittier, darker Cloak and Dagger can be counted as some of Marvel’s most complex and aptly flawed superheroes.
