Quick Links
Among the amazing roster fromMarvel Rivals,one character - or two, actually - that stood out are Tyrone and Tandy, better known for their heroic names, Cloak and Dagger. They’re one of the most popular healers in the game - as of the time of writing this article, at least, because you know the meta changes in these types of games.
Their kit is quite peculiar, too: Dagger is an effective healer in multiple ranges thanks to her auto-aim healing, and she can switch anytime with Cloak, who’s a soft-DPS, allowing players to protect themselves when necessary. Still, what’s their history? From comics to the game, they have an interesting plot for us to address here.
First Meeting
Before we discuss the couple, let’s discuss the individuals.Tandy Bowen is from Ohio, and she’s the daughter of a model and a father who ditched the family and went to India.She never had a proper relationship with her stepdad (though he wasn’t a bad person), and her mother wasn’t nice to her, neglecting the girl as she focused on her own life.Those were the key reasons that made her run away from home, where she eventually reached New York City.
Meanwhile, we haveTyrone Johnson from Massachusetts. He and a friend of his, Billy, witnessed a robbery and the murder of a clerk at a store.Billy ran away from the scene after the thieves because he was afraid of being falsely incriminated, and whena police officer saw him running, he shot Billy, killing him.Tyrone couldn’t react in time to talk to the officer because he had a stuttering condition. After losing his friend and being traumatized by both the crime and the officer’s actions,he fled to, you guessed it, New York City.
In NYC,Tyrone saw a seemingly defenseless young girl, who made her a perfect target to rob,as he was out of money - and yes, the girl in question was Tandy. However,some other thief had the same idea and robbed her first, and Tyrone actually caught the thief and helped her out.This is when Tyrone and Tandy met one another and became friends.
Powers
If you have played Marvel Rivals, you have a good understanding of what Cloak and Dagger can do.Dagger controls light, creating daggers that can be used as weapons,as she also hashealing abilities with her light. Cloak controls darkness, allowing him to drive people mad through nightmares and consume their liveswith it, too.He can alsoteleport and go intangiblewith his powers.
It’s worth noting that their powers affect their psyche, too, making Dagger softer and kinder while making Cloak more ruthless.
That said, it’s worth noting thatCloak’s powers come with a powerful hunger that gives him the urge to consume people.Dagger can satiate this hunger by allowing him to consume her lightinstead, which makes them a perfect pair, in a way.
Still, consuming too much light takes a toll on Dagger, so they are careful about how they go about it.
When they were still runaways in NYC, they wereoffered shelter by a man named Dr. Simon Marshall, who was actually working for the Maggiaand used them (along with other people) as experiments,testing a new drug on them, which activated a mutant gene on them - though comics have gone back and forth on multiple occasions on whether this means they’re mutants or if it was just the drug.
The only ones to survivethe experiments wereCloak, Dagger,and, curiously,Mister Negative.Cloak gained dark powers (called darkforce), Dagger gained light powers (called lightforce), and Mister Negative got both.
Because Mr. Negative can invert people’s abilities, he temporarily swapped Cloak’s and Dagger’s powers for a while, making Tandy control darkforce while Tyrone controlled the light.
First Appearance
As you may have expected,these characters debuted together in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol #64.Curiously,they debuted as antagonists toSpider-Man.Though they weren’t actual villains, they appeared as vigilantes willing to kill bad people, which led to a confrontation with our favorite web crawler.
Their goal in their first appearance was tohunt down the people involved in the experiments they suffered at the hands of the Maggia.In fact, Spider-Man actually fails to stop the duo, as they get their vengeance and leave. While they fight Spider-Man, it’s also worth noting they don’t try to kill him, making it clear that they’re not totally evil. They do rough him up a bit, though.
Marvel Rivals
So what about how they work within Marvel Rivals? The main parts of their backstory, such as the experiment, are mentioned in the game’s lore, too.What’s new here is thatthey’re fighting Dracula’s forces in Manhattan.
During a teleportation trip to the darkforce dimension,the Timestream Entanglement happened, intertwining both characters and having them stuck to one another.Because of that, only one of them can be in the material world at a time - which is why you swap between them when you play as Cloak and Dagger.
During their time together, theirabilities also affected the other’s psyche, making Cloak kinder and Dagger more ruthless.Reed Richards managed to separate them, warning that they couldn’t use their teleport again. Still, Dagger got reckless in the fight against vampires, forcing Cloak to use his teleport to save her and get them stuck together again.
This whole situation leads them to a few discussions over how Cloak is overprotective of Dagger, but they do reconcile and recognize how much one means to the other.
Other Media
Marvel Rivals isn’t the first game Cloak and Dagger have been in.They’re also inMarvel Snap,Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, and a few mobile games. They also appeared inMarvel Ultimate Alliance 2,though they weren’t playable.
They have also appeared inSpider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man cartoons,and more importantly,they have their own show, which is allegedly canonical in the MCU- though it’s on the same boat as the likes of Agents of Shield, so Marvel could very much ignore it.
Cloak was portrayed by Aubrey Joseph, while Dagger was portrayed by Olivia Holt.
Their show had two seasons and changed quite a few things,such as the city in which it takes place, the origin of their powers, and even Tandy’s and Tyrone’s individual backstories from before meeting one another.They also appeared in the third season of Runaways,another show from the MCU whose canonical status is a mystery.
