Cloak and Dagger (comics)
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Cloak and Dagger (Tyrone 'Ty' Johnson & Tandy Bowen) are a fictional teenage mutant comic book superhero duo in the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Ed Hannigan, and first appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982).
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[edit] Publication history
There have been a number of attempts to launch various ongoing Cloak and Dagger series, but none survived past 19 issues. [1] The pair did make numerous appearances as guest stars, appearing in a wide variety of titles, such as Runaways. The heroes were a prominent part of the Spider-Man Maximum Carnage story arc (Dagger was killed early in the battle, but reconstituted herself through Cloak). Cloak made a solo appearance in issues of the miniseries House of M, as a member of an underground human resistance movement. It was uncertain if Dagger also existed in the altered reality of House of M.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Origins
Tyrone "Ty" Johnson (Cloak) and Tandy Bowen (Dagger) met in New York City as runaways. Tyrone was an African American teenage boy from Boston, Massachusetts with a debilitating stutter. He ran away to New York City when his speech impediment led to his best friend's death. Tandy was a Caucasian teenage girl from a privileged upbringing (born in Shaker Heights, Ohio) who ran away because she thought her multimillionaire supermodel mother was too busy for her daughter with her career and social life. They met when Tyrone, who had been considering stealing Tandy's purse, returned it after someone else stole it first.
Cloak and Dagger received their powers from an experimental drug given to them against their will by agents of Silvermane. It was later revealed that they were both actually mutants, and that the drug had simply awakened their latent abilities. Tyrone, as Cloak, gained the ability to access the "Darkforce Dimension" through his extra-dimensional cloak; those drawn into the cloak were stricken with fear and often rendered catatonic. The treatment also cured his stutter. Tandy, as Dagger, gained the ability to generate light, which could purge drugs from others' bodies and subdue the darkness that frequently threatened to overwhelm Cloak. In a more offensive role, she could generate daggers of light, which can stun, cause burns or heart attacks or even an intense desire to reform a criminal life.
For a time, they even lost their powers to the heroes Sunspot and Wolfsbane but they cooperated in retrieving them when it was learned the others were not handling it well.
The two tend to live in churches, supported by friends and priests. They have fought many threats over the years, including Doctor Doom, the villain known as Mr. Jip, and Dagger's own father, who has similar powers to hers.
Cloak has run away many times, not understanding that Dagger is fully willing to use her light power to satisfy his darkness.
For much of their original series, the two followed a drug ring throughout Europe, trying to destroy it at it's source.
Cloak was part of the team that attacked Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Not all the heros remember his involvement, not even Cloak himself, due to cosmic manipulation of time.
Incorrectly believing Dagger to have been murdered, Cloak joined in with a makeshift team of superheros to battle her 'killers' in the Maximum Carnage crossover.
The pair became romantically involved, though their relationship has had its ups and downs. They are frequent allies of Power Pack.
Dagger has also been a member of the New Warriors and the now-defunct "Marvel Knights" team. When she was with the Warriors, the dimension Cloak hooks into had malfunctioned, spewing it's dangerous energies into the streets of New York. Those affected by the energies went mad and attacked anyone in sight.
During her time with the Knights, Dagger developed a deep friendship with Black Widow. A powerless Cloak also appeared, after a brief time in which he had been feeding on the life forms of petty criminals, those who did nothing more then be extremely annoying. Dagger partnered up with many different heros, including Shang-Chi, Power Man, Moon Knight and Daredevil. Black Widow let Ty and Tandy live in her apartment, which was later attacked by a homicidal Life Model Decoy of Nick Fury. Though at this point he was a normal human, Ty defeated the robot. (It was revealed during the series that Tandy had somehow absorbed Ty's Cloak powers).
Some time after the Knights series, the two, powered normally again, met the Runaways. This meeting did not go as well as planned as outside forces manipulated Tandy and Ty's actual memories of the group, thus they were not able to help the Runaways as planned. Later the two figured out what was going on and led the Avengers to what they thought was a way to help the team.
After the House of M storyline, both are unaffected by M-Day.
[edit] Civil War
Cloak and Dagger were revealed to be members of Captain America's faction of super heroes who oppose the Superhuman Registration Act.[1]
Cloak was shot by S.H.I.E.L.D. tranquilizers while teleporting Captain America and the rebel faction to a chemical plant where they believed a catastrophic accident had taken place. It turned out to be a trap set by Iron Man, who was there waiting with the pro-registration faction. Dagger was hit with a lightning attack by a clone of Thor.[2]
It is then revealed that the pair were captured off panel during a mission in Queens and jailed in the Negative Zone prison.[3] They are freed by the shapeshifter Hulkling, who was disguised as the pro-registration Hank Pym,[4] which leads to the climactic battle between the two sides, both of which Cloak teleports to Times Square, New York. [5]
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
Dagger features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3), featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, Gravity, X-23, Sleepwalker and Terror (although Araña dies along the way) go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, Chronok having come to the present and already having killed all of Marvel's major heroes.
[edit] Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate version of Tandy Bowen has made a cameo in Ultimate Spider-Man but Ty Johnson has not and it is unknown if there will be a Cloak and Dagger in this universe.
[edit] House of M
Cloak appears as a member of the Underground Human Resistance led by Luke Cage. It is unknown where Dagger is.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Film
Cloak and Dagger were chosen as one of the many properties in Marvel's new film deal with Paramount Pictures, along with Captain America, Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, Avengers, Hawkeye, Power Pack, Shang-Chi, and Black Panther.
[edit] Bibliography
- Cloak and Dagger limited series #1-4 (October, 1983 – January, 1984)
- Cloak and Dagger #1-11 (July, 1985 – March, 1987)
- Strange Tales Vol. 2 #1-19 (April, 1987 – October, 1988)
- Marvel Graphic Novel #34 (aka Cloak and Dagger: Predator and Prey) (June, 1988)
- The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger (retitled Cloak and Dagger with #14 onward) #1-19 (October, 1988 – August, 1991)
- Power Pack/Cloak and Dagger: Shelter From the Storm graphic novel (1989)
- "Expressway to Hell" in Strange Tales: Dark Corners - (May 1998)
[edit] Creators
[edit] Writers
- Bill Mantlo - Cloak and Dagger #1-4 (October 1983-January 1984); Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 2) #1-11 (July 1985-March 1987); Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #1-7 (April 1987-October 1987); "Predator and Prey" in Marvel Graphic Novel #34 (June 1988); Power Pack/Cloak and Dagger: Shelter From the Storm (1989)
- Terry Austin - Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #8-19 (November 1987-October 1988); The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #1-13 (October 1988-August 1990)
- Steve Gerber - Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #14-16 (October 1990-February 1991)
- Terry Kavanagh - Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #16-19 (February 1991-August 1991)
- Mike Baron - "Expressway to Hell" in Strange Tales: Dark Corners (May 1998)
[edit] Art
- Rick Leonardi - Cloak and Dagger #1-4 (October 1983-January 1984); Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 2) #1-4, 6 (July 1985-January 1986, May 1986); The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #12-13 (June 1990-August 1990); Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #14-16 (October 1990-February 1991)
- Terry Shoemaker - Cloak and Dagger #5 (March 1986)
- Marc Silvestri - Cloak and Dagger #7 (July 1986)
- Mike Mignola - Cloak and Dagger #8 (September 1986)
- Art Adams - Cloak and Dagger #9 (November 1986)
- Bret Blevins - Cloak and Dagger #10 (January 1987); Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #1-6, 8-10 (April 1987-September 1987, November 1987-January 1988)
- June Brigman - Cloak and Dagger #11 (March 1987); Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #13-14, (April 1988-May 1988)
- Larry Stroman - Cloak and Dagger #11 (March 1987); "Predator and Prey" in Marvel Graphic Novel #34 (June 1988)
- Larry Alexander - Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #7 (October 1987)
- Dan Lawless - Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #11, 15-18 (February 1988, June 1988-September 1988); The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #1-2 (October 1988-December 1988)
- Whilce Portacio - Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #12 (March 1988)
- Erik Larsen - Strange Tales (Vol. 2) #19 (October 1988)
- Sal Velluto - Power Pack/Cloak and Dagger: Shelter From the Storm (1989)
- Mike Vosburg - The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #3-11 (February 1989-April 1990)
- Christopher Ivy - Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #17, 19 (April 1991, August 1991)
- Keith Williams - Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #17 (April 1991)
- David Ross - Cloak and Dagger (Vol. 3) #18 (June 1991)
- Alexander Maleev - "Expressway to Hell" in Strange Tales: Dark Corners (May 1998)
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Cloak on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
- Dagger on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
- Profiles of Cloak and Dagger at Spiderfan.org
- Cloak And Dagger Comic Book Covers
Categories: 1982 introductions | Black superheroes | Marvel Comics superheroes | Fictional Catholics | Fictional dancers | Fictional characters from Massachusetts | Fictional characters from Ohio | Fictional characters who can teleport | Marvel Comics mutants | Marvel Comics superhero teams | Marvel Comics titles
