Cloak and Dagger were created by artist Ed Hannigan and writer Bill Mantlo (also responsible for making Rocket Raccoon), and premiered in the pages of 1981’s Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #64. After surviving the injection of an experimental, illicit substance, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen were transformed into powerful beings. The teenage duo used their newfound abilities to wage a war on drugs, targeting the dealers and anyone who harms children. They fought with the same ruthlessness as their enemies, sometimes coming to blows with New York’s superhero community.

Cloak and Dagger were created at a time when the government waged a very public war on drugs; though they began as supporting characters, the pair gained popularity and eventually starred in their own adventures. In 2016, Disney revealed that Freeform, a network geared towards young adult programming, would premiere a Cloak and Dagger TV show. The children of light and darkness have undergone some dramatic changes since the lead-up to the show, which is of course hardly atypical for comic book characters with more than 30 years of history. In anticipation -- and preparation -- for their June 7th television premiere, here is the CBR rundown of the strangest secrets only true fans of Cloak and Dagger would know.

16 FRIENDS AND FOES

Unless you’ve been a diehard Spider-Man fan for decades, you probably don’t know that Cloak and Dagger began their career as enemies of the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler. Spider-Man met Cloak and Dagger shortly after their traumatic transformation, when they became consumed with rage and were determined to avenge the other street kids who died in the same illegal tests. Cloak and Dagger embarked on a violent crusade; that goes against everything Spider-Man believes in.

Working in perfect harmony, Cloak and Dagger dispatched Peter Parker in their early tussles.

When it came time to fight against a mutual enemy, Cloak and Dagger teamed with Spider-Man, battling Silvermane, a cyborg mafia boss. Tyrone (Cloak) and Tandy (Dagger) soon met someone far more ruthless in his quest for revenge -- The Punisher. Once again, they teamed with Spider-Man, fighting the gun-toting vigilante. Interestingly, after several meetings, Peter Parker developed a crush on Dagger. Perhaps in part because of his infatuation, he then fought the pair with words more than fists, trying to convince them to give up their violent ways. Though they’ve fought on rare occasions since, Spider-Man and Cloak and Dagger have maintained a strong friendship. Should they ever need his help, Cloak and Dagger know they can count on Spider-Man

15 NOT SUPERHEROES

Cloak and Dagger are hardly the usual Marvel do-gooders. After surviving their ordeal, they embarked on a crusade against their abusers -- and anyone in the drug trade. Superheroes usually go after super-criminals in tights and bright costumes, or egomaniacal madmen bent on destroying the world, or conquering it. Even in their own series, Cloak and Dagger tackled petty criminals. Tyrone and Tandy also struggled with their blooming powers, which threatened to tear them apart. Tandy fought with her mom, while Tyrone battled his inner demons and insecurities. Their ongoing series played more like an angst-ridden teenage drama than a comic book.

In their early appearances, Cloak and Dagger murdered their former captors -- they also didn’t hesitate to kill anyone associated with the drug trade. When Spider-Man first confronted Cloak and Dagger, the vigilantes weren’t apologetic for their actions, telling Peter that the sentence they handed out was justified. In addition, Cloak’s powers are especially brutal, often leaving his victims speechless and paralyzed. Later interpretations softened the duo’s implacable crusade, and Cloak and Dagger joined various heroic conflicts and causes. It’ll be interesting to see whether the show will address their vigilante past. But one thing’s for sure, the superhero label has always been an awkward fit for Cloak and Dagger.

14 POWER SWAP

In their origin story, criminals kidnaped the pair to experiment a new street drug, after which Cloak and Dagger gained arguably the weirdest powers in the Marvel Universe. After what should have been lethal injections, Tyrone Johnson became a living portal to a dark dimension while Tandy Bowen transformed into a battery of pure light. She can throw daggers that can hurt or heal -- she can even cure drug addicts. Possessing a cloak that literally drains its victims of life and forces them to witness their greatest fears, Cloak resembles a terrifying villain more than he does the heroic lead in a comic book.

In a Spider-Man storyline, one of Peter Parker’s new villains, Mister Negative, kidnaps Dagger. The same drugs that transformed Cloak and Dagger gave Mister Negative (aka Martin Li), both a dark and light side. In a vision, he sees Dagger killing him, so he uses one of his powers to flip Dagger’s powers from light to darkness. After her corruption, Tandy also gains Cloak’s endless hunger for light. Wanting to help Tandy, Tyrone convinces Mister Negative to give him light powers, so he can “feed” his partner. This power swap is eventually reversed when Cloak and Dagger are given an antidote to Mister Negative’s touch.

13 CLOAK’S CHANGING POWERS

In recent years, different writers have struggled to explain Cloak’s mysterious abilities. Initially, the drugs alone were responsible for transforming the teenager into a being of great power. Tyrone became a vampire of sorts, draining light-force from the human body rather than blood. His cloak acted like tentacles, wrapping its victims and thrusting them into his intangible body. Those trapped inside witnessed their greatest fears. And if victims spent too much time within Cloak, they were driven mad.

In one storyline, a priest threw holy water at Cloak, causing Tyrone to recoil in pain.

Eventually, readers learned that Cloak was a living portal to a dark dimension populated by demons. By taking one step in this dimension, Cloak and anyone inside can reappear at a great distance, effectively giving him teleportation. Unfortunately, Cloak’s powers and history invoke some uncomfortable stereotypes. Perhaps for this reason, writers have shied away from the negative aspects of Cloak’s powers, making him less vampiric and more heroic -- though now he does little more than teleport. In the same storyline that resulted in Cloak and Dagger swapping powers, it was revealed that Cloak should have inherited Dagger’s powers. A demon caused Tyrone to inherit control over darkness instead. It’ll be interesting to see how the TV show will address his shifting abilities.

12 BLAME D’SPAYRE

It’s hard to believe that a drug, no matter how experimental, can give two teenagers powers. That might be the reason why writer Terry Kavanagh changed the pair’s origins. Using Tyrone and Tandy to spread fear, a demon called D’Spayre gave them pieces of his soul. In a retcon of Cloak and Dagger’s history, it was revealed that D’Spayre created D-Lite, the drug that gave the teenagers their mastery over light and darkness. In Cloak and Dagger #19, the writer started a move to make the vigilantes more supernatural than scientific.

D’Spayre first premiered in Marvel Team-Up #68, battling Man-Thing and Spider-Man. The demon can instill fear in his opponents, feeding off of its energy. He also travels between dimensions and projects illusions that expose his victims’ fears; these powers sound a lot like Cloak’s abilities, and it’s no surprise that Marvel decided to link the two. This revelation came at a time when the sales of Cloak and Dagger were low, and Marvel tried to make Tyrone and Tandy fit into their cadre of mystical characters. Although the science that explains their origins is murky, Cloak and Dagger have always worked best as vigilantes that occupy a small corner of the Marvel Universe, a place where few spandex superheroes ever visit.

Making Cloak and Dagger mystical link didn’t stick for long. Although it’s still canon that D’Spayre created Cloak and Dagger, in recent years, Marvel has favored a return to a simpler origin. So, making Tyrone and Tandy mystical wasn’t the only time the publisher tweaked with their story. At the height of mutant mania, Marvel decided to make Cloak and Dagger mutants, hoping that would boost interest in the duo. In an obvious attempt to grab the attention of X-Men readers, Marvel changed the title of their ongoing series to The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger.

The first hint of Cloak and Dagger as mutants came in New Mutants #23, by the legendary team of Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. Because of their war on drugs, Tyrone and Tandy attracted the wrong kind of attention. Hoping to control two mutants to fight Cloak and Dagger, drug dealers kidnapped the young mutants Sunspot and Wolfsbane, injecting them with a similar drug that caused Cloak and Dagger’s powers to manifest. Spider-Man and Cloak and Dagger came to the rescue. Tests then revealed that Tyrone and Tandy were mutants, and the X-Men offered a place for Cloak and Dagger at their academy. Choosing to continue their war on drugs, they respectfully turned down Professor Xavier’s mission.

10 FATHER DELGADO AND THE CHURCH

father delgado

Because their light and darkness powers invoke good and evil, a church is the ideal visual backdrop for Cloak and Dagger. In their first series, they approached Father Francis Xavier Delgado in New York’s Holy Ghost Church. Immediately they revealed their mission to rid the world of drugs and dealers, even disclosing that they’re not above killing to achieve their goals. Since they were homeless, Tyrone and Tandy hoped that the priest would feed and shelter them. Father Delgado made it clear that he opposed Cloak and Dagger’s vigilantism, focusing his skepticism directly at Cloak.

The priest became convinced of Dagger’s purity... and that Cloak was a corrupting demon.

Cloak and Dagger literally appeared to father Delgado while he was praying. Delgado saw Dagger’s angelic form, gleaming with light and viewed her as the epitome of good, and his fascination turned to obsession. He became convinced of Dagger’s purity, and that Cloak was a corrupting demon. Although Father Delgado continued to help Cloak and Dagger with their mission, secretly he plotted to lure Tandy away from Tyrone. In Cloak and Dagger #8, he enlisted the aid of Daimon Hellstrom to exorcise what he saw as the demonic Cloak. Hellstrom quickly rejected the father, refusing to hurt the teenagers. He also recognized that Delgado needed the help more than Cloak and Dagger.

9 MAYHEM

cloak and dagger mayhem

Brigid O’Reilly is a gritty Manhattan police detective who crosses paths with Cloak and Dagger while investigating the same drug dealers that injected Tyrone and Tandy. O’Reilly comes across junkies who’ve been blasted with Dagger’s light, and when she learns of Cloak and Dagger’s whereabouts, she targets them as vigilantes and tries to bring them to justice. She struggles when she recognizes that the teenagers are less of a threat than the drug dealers. Ultimately, she decides that Tandy and Tyrone are more victims than villains; she leaves them alone to pursue their brand of justice.

After a tip, Brigid O’Reilly and Cloak and Dagger meet again when the detective searches a warehouse belonging to a suspected dealer. The cops and O’Reilly are led into a gas chamber, where they’re exposed to a deadly agent. Cloak and Dagger arrive too late and all the cops die. Hoping to revive her, Dagger infuses O’Reilly with as much light as her body can project. Cloak and Dagger teleport away, thinking that it’s too late to save the detective. Ironically, O’Reilly is reborn as Mayhem, a green, floating vigilante who seeks deadly retribution. Detective Brigid O’Reilly is confirmed to be in the Cloak and Dagger TV series, but it’s unclear whether Mayhem will make her creepy début.

8 DEATH BECOMES THEM

Cloak and Dagger X-Men

Life and death are a constant theme in Cloak and Dagger; it’s part of the duo’s mission when they mete out justice, deciding who lives or dies. Tandy and Tyrone are the only teenagers to survive the drug that created them, but they are reborn as powerful beings. While fighting crime, the teenagers have flirted with death, crossing paths with some of Marvel’s most powerful villains, including The Beyonder, Nightmare, and Carnage.

In the Spider-Man storyline “Maximum Carnage,” Tandy saves an injured Spider-Man, but dies at the hands of Shriek, Carnage’s “wife.” It’s later revealed that Dagger was recuperating inside Cloak’s dark dimension. In “Age of Apocalypse,” a brainwashed Cloak and Dagger are members of the Sinister Six, appearing to die in battle. In the “House of M” X-Men crossover, a then mutant Cloak fights alongside Luke Cage – Dagger is nowhere to be seen, presumably having died along with other resistance fighters. Perhaps the most dramatic death belongs to Cloak. In the Infinity Gauntlet, Tyrone fought Thanos, wrapping him in his dimensional cloak. For a moment, it looked like Cloak had succeeded in stopping the mad Titan, but Tyrone bit off more than he could chew. The murderous Thanos emerged, ripping Cloak to shreds and apparently killing him.

7 DAGGER THE BRIDE

Tandy Bowen has been romantically linked to several characters. Her bond with Cloak is undeniably the strongest, but early in her career, Spider-Man had romantic feelings for Dagger. At their first meeting in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter is struck by Tandy’s beauty, calling her the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. He’s so mesmerized that he risks revealing his secret identity. In Cloak and Dagger #3, Peter removes his mask while dancing with Tandy, sharing a kiss. On an adventure outside of the country, Dagger travels on a ship, meeting another stowaway named Bill Clayton. She develops a crush on him when he reminds Dagger that she can have a normal life, unlike Cloak.

Either Cloak or Spider-Man might have been a suitable candidate to marry Dagger, but she becomes part of the least conventional marriage arrangement.

Attuma, ruler of Atlantis, and the Deviant Ghaur, plot to return Set to earth by reforming the Serpent Crown. To do this, he needs seven brides -- Jean Grey, the Invisible Woman, Andromeda, She-Hulk, Storm, the Scarlet Witch and Dagger. Tandy is the most important wife-to-be. The villains plan on using her light powers to revive Set. Thankfully, the Avengers and a gathering of other heroes thwart Attuma’s plans, and Dagger never walks down the aisle.

6 DOCTOR STRANGECLOAK

In their quest to find an audience for Cloak and Dagger, Marvel looked to Doctor Strange fans. After the cancelation of their respective series, Strange Tales featuring Cloak and Dagger and Doctor Strange ran for a no less than 19 issue in the late ‘80s. Having barely survived his own title, Doctor Strange was severely depleted, having lost many of his books and artifacts. Although the heroes had separate adventures, Cloak and Dagger joined forces with Doctor Strange to fight common enemies. Tyrone and Tandy’s missions never resembled more that of superheroes.

Sharing a title with Doctor Strange allowed Cloak and Dagger to gain a mystical cast of villains. The evil Nightmare, for example, failed to corrupt the teenagers in his quest to destroy Doctor Strange. In Strange Tales, Cloak and Dagger arguably gained their greatest nemesis, the hideously deformed Mister Jip. Just like Doctor Strange, Mister Jip was a student of the Ancient One. Craving Tyrone’s powers, he planned to take over Cloak’s body. Only Dagger was able to keep him at bay with her light daggers. The ancient sorcerer became a constant thorn in their side, opening a mystical shop in Cloak and Dagger’s neighborhood. He eventually possessed Father Delgado, driving the one-time ally of Cloak and Dagger insane.

5 TEAM PLAYERS

There are many interpretations of Cloak and Dagger, but the one constant is that they’re a perfect pairing. No other heroes share powers that are so ironically compatible. Any attempt to separate the teenagers never lasted -- eventually Tyrone and Tandy always find their way back to each other. They’ve become one of the strongest duos in comics, rarely mixing with superheroes. Surprisingly, though, in their publication history, they’ve joined some of Marvel’s least and most famous teams.

When it was believed that they were mutants, Cloak and Dagger were the perfect candidates to join the New Mutants. Although they shared adventures, they never accepted membership. During the "Infinity War" crisis, Cloak and Dagger teamed up with Captain America and the rest of the Avengers. They also spent time with the younger Power Pack. But it’s Dagger who’s had the most experience with other teams. Cloak’s personality mimics his powers, and he prefers seclusion to spending time with others. Dagger joined the ill-fated Losers. She also teamed with Shang-Chi, Luke cage, Moon Knight and Daredevil, forming the short-lived Marvel Knights. Her most successful pairing happened with the teenaged New Warriors, but even that alliance didn’t last for long. Thankfully Marvel has learned that Cloak and Dagger work best as a duo.

4 MORE THAN FRIENDS

The nature of their powers means that Cloak and Dagger are forever linked. Cloak can only survive by feeding off the light of other beings, and Dagger can provide him with more energy than Tyrone will ever need. Dagger can overload with light, but only Cloak can keep her powers in check. When Cloak and Dagger make their first appearances, the nature of their relationship is unclear. Whatever romantic feelings they may share took a backseat to their war on drugs. By the time they starred in their own series, it became increasingly obvious that Cloak and Dagger were more than friends.

Like all the best couples, when they’ve been at their lowest, Tyrone and Tandy always rely on each other, knowing that they’re strongest together.

Only in alternate versions of the characters have Cloak and Dagger ever been shown as anything but a couple. In Battleworld: Runaways, an alternate version of the teenagers has them switching powers. Although the other heroes assume they’re a couple, this Cloak and Dagger are siblings. In the Ultimate Universe, Tyrone and Tandy are high school sweethearts. After a car crash, they’re pronounced legally dead, and the Roxxon corporation performs experiments using Dark Matter. Tyrone and Tandy are transformed into Cloak and Dagger, but they remain a romantic couple.

3 TRANSFORMATION

As we've discussed, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen are kidnapped, and forced to endure a transformation into beings of light and darkness. This mutation forever altered the pair’s physiology, but it also changed their lives. Dagger lived with her rich but negligent mom, only to become a street kid following her transformation. In Tyrone’s case, he lived in Boston, an insecure kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Believing he had robbed a store, police shot and killed his best friend. Tyrone became a runaway, fleeing to New York City, where he ultimately met Tandy Bowen. In Tyrone’s case especially, the transformation into Cloak ran deeper than physical.

Tyrone Johnson was a good kid with strong grades at school, but he suffered from a speech impediment that prevented him from saving the life of his friend. Tyrone ran away because he feared the consequences of facing the police. When he became Cloak, Tyrone was anything but fearful. For one thing his stutter disappeared. He also spoke in a confident voice, free from hesitation. His actions matched that newfound assuredness. Unlike Tandy, Tyrone never wavered, believing that Cloak and Dagger’s mission to rid the world of drugs is just, no matter the cost.

2 ALTERNATE CLOAK AND DAGGER

lego marvel superheroes 2 cloak and dagger dlc

One of the most popular traditions in comics is to cast beloved superheroes in another light. Marvel did it in a series called What If. There have also been countless universes and interpretations that have twisted concepts thought to be sacrosanct. Cloak and Dagger aren’t the exception to the rule, since several comics have presented alternate versions of the vigilante teenagers.

In Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, Cloak and Dagger are zombified. They feast on a victim in an alleyway, and in Ultimate Fantastic Four #23, Cloak joins other zombie characters to hunt down and devour the only heroes who haven’t been transformed. In Spider-Ham, an obvious parody, Cloak and Dagger are Croak and Badger, the frog and badger teammates who fight crime. In the series Universe X, Cloak has died. Dagger carries on their legacy by wearing Tyrone’s cloak, using it to teleport to a dimension of the dead. In Cloak and Dagger, we already know that Tyrone and Tandy have swapped backgrounds -- Tyrone comes from a rich family. We also know that New Orleans will be the setting for the show, instead of a New York City that is already well populated with superheroes. It’s yet unclear how the rest of the pair’s comic book history will change.

1 THE ORIGINAL RUNAWAYS

Years before The Runaways made their comic book debut, Cloak and Dagger were teenage runaways. Tandy left her addled existence, escaping her supermodel mom’s world of indifference. Tyrone fled from his native Boston when police falsely accused him of a crime. Following their transformations, Cloak and Dagger lived on the streets, eventually operating from NYC’s Holy Ghost Church. For most of their comic book run, Cloak and Dagger have been teenaged runaways. Save for Dagger briefly reconnecting with her parents, Tandy and Tyrone have left their past behind to pursue their mission, even if they must live on the streets.

Cloak and Dagger have crossed paths with The Runaways in the Marvel comic book universe, so it’ll likely happen on the small screen.

Tyrone and Tandy’s war on drugs could pit them against The Runaways’ nefarious parents, The Pride. The Cloak and Dagger show’s creator has already discussed a possible crossover with The Runaways, and other changes he will make that reflect a more contemporary history. At this time, it’s unclear whether the television Cloak and Dagger will be runaways. If the show ends up respecting their comic book origins, the vigilantes will have plenty of dramatic history to draw from.