Hank McCoy (Before the Fur)

I heard an interesting rumor. You know how the WB/CW made a killing off of Smallville? Well, I suppose the news right now is that they’re going to do the same thing with Green Arrow (who has gotten BIG lately- anyone else notice that?).

But it looks like Marvel might be gearing up to hit the primetime TV circuit as well. I’ve heard that they’ve been looking into hiring writing crews to adopt a bunch of characters into primetime or lower budget films.

I would have to lean towards the former and not the latter if the past small-budget Marvel films are any indication. While their summer blockbusters are incredibly satisfying, I’ve been really worried about the prospect of anyone ever making a decent Ghost Rider or Punisher film (I think Thomas Jane’s isn’t bad here, actually, but I want more).

It looks like Daredevil and Fantastic Four are probably going to be given a second shot; a character and team who entirely deserve it, I might add.

But among the other properties Marvel is looking into?

Cloak and Dagger.

See, I LOVE this idea because I really think these two are an interesting (if not terribly miswritten) part of the Marvel universe.

I feel like Cloak and Dagger were launched as a comic in this certain era where comic books felt like Saturday morning cartoons? Sort of the adult versions of Saturday morning cartoons?

But Marvel started playing around (espiecally in the 80’s) with all of these kind of themes that you’d expect to see at a PTA meeting or something. I mean, Power Pack was about four children with superpowers and Iron Man had a drinking problem he was contending with. Cloak and Dagger was about runaways.

See, I think Cloak and Dagger were originally envisioned as these sort of defenders-against-child-abuse. Their whole background story is about these teenagers that are essentially homeless and fall in with VERY bad people who take advantage of them. The end result was that Cloak and Dagger were supposed to be these very tragic, unknown superheroes without much of a home (I think they stayed in a church).

But because they lived on the street, they saw things that others might not seen and cared for the homeless and forgotten wherever they could.

Of course, Cloak and Dagger’s powers and origin story has never been terribly clear. I think it was written at a time when convoluted plot lines were kind of at their peak in the Marvel Universe. So I think the story was something like this.

Tandy and Tyrone were mutants, but their powers hadn’t actually emerged yet. They both end up having a run-in with some goons who are pushing this designer drug out on the street. The drug has a weird reaction in Tandy and Tyrone and sort of both erupts their mutant powers AND enhances them.

Of course, this is one of those things that doesn’t quite add up. Okay, they're mutants, sure, but the idea than that their powers end up in this weird synchronicity, where Tandy’s powers are all about light and Tyrone’s are all about darkness? And Tyrone’s mutant power’ makes him a big walking portal to another dimension?

And I swear, I think there was something in there too where Tandy had to ‘feed’ Cloak her light in order to satisfy him, or he got all wacked out and out of control. Or something.

Sorry, I keep being vague because like I said, it’s never been particularly clear. Because see, writer after writer just un-did each others’ work with these two. Later, Tandy and Tyrone had some sort of connection to magical forces, good and evil, respectively. And I think a Dr. Strange villain named D’Spayre played a big role in their comic. Something to do with him plotting to corrupt their mutant powers and enhance them to his ends.

…or something.

Then I think recently, Tandy and Tyrone were part of the whole Dark X-Men/Utopia fiasco and really got labeled as mutants. But THEN I think some tinkering around in Utopia revealed that they were NOT mutants.

It goes on like this, I’m sure.

Anyway, my point here is not really to bash Cloak and Dagger. My point is I think there’s always been something about these two that I found interesting and appealing and I think there’s some potential here for a movie or a show. The only thing is, these characters need the writers and producers to give them a little more tender loving care.

Someone needs to take a step back, look at these guys, and decide:

A. What is the POINT of Cloak and Dagger? What kind of story are we trying to tell here? (And I think that answer is actually about child abuse)
B. Just what the hell is going on with Cloak and Dagger’s powers, exactly?

If we had clarity on these issues, I think something worthwhile could come out of this…