Cloak & Dagger
The first time of year ofCloak & Daggerhas been a masterclass in how to connect a Marvel television series to the wide MCU . A decade ago , Marvel launch their shared cinematic universe withIron Man , and since then that universe has expand to embrace an ever - growing series of flick and TV show . Fans have it away the idea that everything in this universe is link up , but the straggle nature of the MCU means it ’s getting progressively difficult to keep track of everything .
Recent Marvel TV series have tend to dial back on the tie - Immigration and Naturalization Service . The Marvel Netflix point avoid overt connections , save for once in a while referring to " The Incident " - the Chitauri intrusion of New York in 2012’sThe Avengers . Marvel’sRunawaysavoided all but the most pernicious , almost imperceptible nods to the rest of the MCU , and evenAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.has become increasingly distanced from the movies .
interrelate : avenger : Infinity War Spoils Agents of SHIELD ’s Season 5 Finale
ButCloak & Daggeris very different . This serial publication tie in to the wider MCU - both movies and other TV shows - in so many dissimilar way . It ’s frankly a masterclass in persistence , with showrunner Joe Pokaski skillfully plant the serial in the shared cinematic universe . Even countingAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , no Marvel tv set serial has been so well - connected to the rest of the MCU asCloak & Dagger . permit ’s take a looking at at how the serial pull it off .
Roxxon - The Villains of Cloak & Dagger
The most obvious tie-in - in isRoxxon Corpitself . Roxxon ’s crooked leadership are the existent villains inCloak & Dagger : man of affairs who ’ve shed any semblance of morality in their quest for index and profit . Their motives are place bare when Tandy roll among them , using her signature to explore the deepest desires of Roxxon execs . All , without exception , are motivated by greed and a luxuria for power .
Roxxon ’s corrupt nature almost fetch New Orleans to the brink of destruction . Eight long time ago , Roxxon cut corners in their attempt to intercept into the vigor that lay beneath New Orleans . They blame Nathan Bowen for the tragical explosion of a oil production rig , covering up their own role so they could preserve their body of work . In the nowadays , Roxxon remain perfectly committed to keeping their law-breaking confidential , even hire assassins to murder anyone who come nigh to uncovering their action .
But Roxxon is an important tie to the rest of the MCU . According toAgent Carter , even in the ' 40 the DOE troupe was crooked , with Roxxon boss participating in the illegal corporate trust love as the Council of Nine , manipulating the world-wide economic system for their own ends . ( It ’s even advise they orchestrated the Great Depression in 1929 . ) InAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , Roxxon was the parent company of Cybertek , thus creditworthy for the Centipede and Deathlok task . InDaredevil , Roxxon was consort with the Hand .
relate : Cloak & Dagger let in Major MCU Connection and Easter Eggs
This is how you do persistence . Cloak & Daggeritself tell viewers everything they require to jazz about Roxxon . All that extra persistence is there for the Marvel fans , for the members of the audience who have it off the room everything in the MCU ties together . But it does n’t disrupt the report in the slightest .
Name-Dropping Tony Stark and Danny Rand
The net installment ofCloak & Dagger , " Colony Collapse , " included a neat reference to Tony Stark and Danny Rand . When Dagger confronts the head of Roxxon Gulf , he explains his quest for power . Just as Roxxon ’s underlings are take by competition and greed , so the chief management is desperately undertake to contend with the Starks and the Ayn Rand of this world . In an audience withEntertainment Weekly , Pokaski described this as " a fun little nod " that reminds viewers that the show survive in a shared universe of discourse . In Pokaski ’s aspect , the universe of engineering science like the Arc Reactor would have unlock a kind of innovative version of the space backwash , where dissimilar party were urgently seeking a way to take vantage of the next superhero science .
It ’s a smart approach , but it actually adds further profoundness to the tale ofCloak & Dagger . In 2008 , Tony Stark realized that the weapons he was explicate were falling into the wrong hands . He lurch his entire company ’s focus away from the arms industry , towards alternative energy sources . That made Stark a lineal competitor for Roxxon , and by 2010 Roxxon would have been feeling the sting from it ; after all , the Arc Reactor gave Stark a decided reward . That , then , is why Roxxon began cutting corners and seduce misapprehension eight years ago . Cloak & Dagger ’s MCU setting total further depth to the dialogue and ideas presented in the show .
Page 2:The Darkforce & The Luke Cage Nod
The Darkforce - the Power Beneath New Orleans
AlthoughCloak & Daggerdoesn’t name this mystic , unsafe vigor lying beneath New Orleans , showrunner Joe Pokaskihas teased that it ’s the Darkforce . In the comics , the Darkforce is a sort of " minus energy " with very serious powers ; it ’s already appeared before in the wider MCU , in bothAgent CarterandAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D .. AsAgent Cartershowrunner Michele Fazekasexplained back in 2016 :
" The cool affair about what we get a line as we search Darkforce over the track of Marvel risible book history is , it affects people in unlike way . It ’s create a bunch of superheroes , it ’s created a clustering of villains , and it has all these different properties . It could be a liquidity , it could be a gas , it could be a unanimous , it could give you big businessman , it could obliterate you . It has a circle of dissimilar applications … "
The Darkforce was first discover in 1946 , maybe as a resolution of a Hydra experiment . Footage from this incident reached Isodyne Energy , and after the war they attempted to manipulate this occult power , referring to it as " Zero subject . " fortuitously , SSR federal agent Peggy Carter was on hand to stop those experiment . According to throwaway dialog inAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 4 , Isodyne was bought out by Roxxon , and they presumptively began working with Darkforce again . Into the 2000s , it ’s reasonable to acquire Roxxon ’s experiments were responsible for for granting Marcus Daniels Darkforce - derived powers , as seen in theS.H.I.E.L.D.episode " The Only lighting in the Darkness . "
Roxxon , then , is one of the few companies in the MCU to be intimate with the Darkforce ( indeed possibly the only one ) . It build perfect common sense that , having pick up this energy lying beneath New Orleans , Roxxon would attempt to beg into it . Again , though , notice that the link are there if you want to see them . You do n’t need to know the history of the Darkforce for understandCloak & Dagger . You do n’t need to have rewatchedAgent Carter , or any episodes ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D .. The story is wholly ego - hold in - but put it in its broader MCU context simply adds more depth to it .
tie in : SHIELD Episode 100 Hid Awesome MCU Easter Eggs in Plain Sight
The Luke Cage Nod
One final character reference deserve to be examine , linkingCloak & DaggertoLuke Cage . Detective Brigid O’Reilly is one of the most important lowly characters inCloak & Dagger , a police force officer who ’s strike from New York to New Orleans . Dialogue revealed that O’Reilly had really work with Misty Knight , and that the two had been admirer . Meanwhile , inLuke Cageseason 2 Misty reminisced about an old co-worker , O’Reilly , who ’d run to New Orleans . It was a magnificent detail , ravish viewing audience by deepening the ties between two self - contained telly appearance . According to Pokaski , this " crypto - crossover " was actually dreamed up by someone over at Marvel , and both Pokaski andLuke Cageshowrunner Cheo Hodari Coker were delighted to slip it in .
-
When the MCU first began , the set phrase " It ’s all connect " seemed to be Marvel ’s countersign . That ’s not quite so much the eccentric any more , butCloak & Daggeris the elision ; this is one serial that ’s deeply implant in the fertile soil of the Marvel Cinematic Universe . At the same fourth dimension , though , showrunner Joe Pokaski had take out it off without make any of the connections seem wedge , and without crafting a plot that you need to have watched a dozen motion picture and television receiver render to make sense of it . That ’s an impressive feat , and it makesCloak & Daggerthe most in effect - connected MCU TV series of all .
More:The Real Divine Pairing? What To Expect From Cloak & Dagger Season 2
