Marvel has released news that a new Marvel based TV series is coming. The show is Cloak and Dagger based off the characters of the same name and appearing on the Freeform channel.
Update 1/26/2017:
That Hashtag Show has been finding and releasing casting descriptions for a variety of upcoming shows including Inhumans, and the New Mutants. Now the show has released descriptions for Cloak and Dagger.
Character Descriptions of Cloak and Dagger being used for casting the two main leads:
Dagger
Tara – Female, 18 to play 17, Caucasian.
Tara was a plucky southern girl who grew up with everything. She was always full of light. Then an accident took away everything. Now she’s a cynic who steals from tourists to make ends meet. Life took from her. She’s going to take back. But can that light be rekindled? Series Lead.
Cloak
Travis – Male. 18 to play 17. African American.
When Travis was a little boy he was fearless. But then he made a mistake and it cost him dearly. So Travis grew up in a fear. Scared of a world he couldn’t control. So he controlled what he could. Keeping his head down, focusing on school and basketball. Locking in on fear. But is that brave boy still in there? Series Lead.
Original Post following NYCC:
Here is the new unveiling of the shows Logo:
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| Cloak and Dagger coming to Freeform |
What is Freeform? Freeform is the name of what was known as ABC Family. This station may be a foreign realm to some Marvel fans it certainly was to me. So I reached out to some experts fellow Toylab bloggers, Katey Komics and SarahLovesZombies. So here is what they said to expect from Freeform shows cute teenage romance, boys with shirts off, Twilight like plot, and Twilight like acting. I looked up shows on the station and that includes one show I really like Stichers. The station features a lot of movies (Mostly romantic comedy or family films). They also show a lot of reruns of shows like Gilmore Girls and new shows like Young and Hungry, Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, and Baby Daddy.
Two of Freeforms new shows to watch are Stichers and Shadowhunters both have a darker, action young adult vibe of feel that I think Cloak and Dagger could fit in well with.
There are sure to be some grumblings about having a Marvel show appear on Freeform. I do think this could mean that the show will lean toward sappy, cheesy, teen drama stories but I also think......that is absolutely brilliant.
Look my biggest problem with what DC has done with their film universe is that they have put their entire universe in this serious, emo, dark little box. When you have nearly a 100 years of stories doing that seems silly. Marvel is going to use the full bandwidth of their stories and appeal to a wide audience. More serious dark fair will appear on Neflix, family action fair will appear in most of their films and on their ABC shows. Now they are opening up a new front of shows aimed at teens. What I expect is actually something similar to DC's Flash with little more interpersonal drama.
Don't know who Cloak and Dagger are? Why should you watch?
Cloak and Dagger are great characters but they have come in and out of print since their creation. As such they are not the most popular Marvel characters. Cloak and Dagger are teens who come into having super powers that are effectively the inverse of each other. Cloak has the ability to teleport using a connection to a Dark Universe. Dagger can fire out beam knives made of light. Cloak has a hunger feed on lifeforce to the darkness of his power, however Dagger is able to feed him her light keeping him in balance. This also means that the pair are stuck together even if they don't always want to be.
This is not an easy romance, there is a great deal of hardship and darkness in Cloak and Dagger. Bill Mantlo who created Cloak and Dagger spoke of a lonely trip to Ellis Island at night where he was struck with the ideas for the pair. He said there idea is driven by
"They came in the night, when all was silent and my mind was blank. They came completely conceived as to their powers and attributes, their origin and motivation. They embodied between them all that fear and misery, hunger and longing that had haunted me on Ellis Island."(From Shayer, Jason V. (December 2010). "Cloak and Dagger: Child of Light and Child of Darkness".)
The two come from different world, but fall in love, the break up, then fall in love yeah its already sounding like a Freeform show.
So why to watch romance, super powers, and action. Great stuff.
Will the Show be set in the MCU?'
My best guess is yes but I would not expect to much interaction with other shows or heroes. Cloak and Dagger have tend to be on their own most of the time. They have had interactions with the Avengers and have had many tie ins with Spider-Man.
It should be noted that Cloak and Dagger generally did not battle super villains but generally drug dealers. There many not be much of characters crossing between other MCU vehicles.
Will Bill Mantlo get paid for this?
One other consideration with Cloak and Dagger is Bill Mantlo. Bill Mantlo is the creator of Cloak and Dagger. Many years ago Bill suffered a terrible accident while roller blading and has been in a medical care facilities ever since. His condition has been expensive and hard. There are some excellent write ups about it that exist. Bill also created Rocket Raccoon and it was reported that some funds were channeled to help his medical care when Guardians of the Galaxy is released. Hopefully, this can also be true when Cloak and Dagger is released.
I will say that I am not starting some drum beat against Marvel here at all. Mike Mantlo (Bill's brother) wrote a piece that Marvel has done a lot for Bill and wanted the comic community that they were no "villains" in this case. Still it would be nice if Bill could get something for his work from his creation.
I have heard nothing about this and may never know because hey finances are personal. However, if I do hear anything I will report it.
Warning: Classified Agents of SHIELD Files:
Who is Cloak?
Update on situation of Bill Manto after Guardians of the Galaxy
Marvels Agent of Shield speculation HUB
Defenders Saga News and Casting HUB
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