Ratings are up for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which unlike its Netflix counterparts, is not so well received mostly due to the show’s poor first season pre-Winter Soldier run. Until now, many have missed out on Season 2’s great Inhuman story arc and season 3’s interplanetary adventures. The one responsible for the show’s ratings surge is Ghost Rider, the Robbie Reyes version played by Gabriel Luna. Because of it, there are already talks of a Ghost Rider spinoff. That’s good if not great news. Unfortunately, Cloak and Dagger have been moved to 2018.
Earlier we talked about Ghost Rider, Blade, Moon Knight, Cloak and Dagger entering Marvel’s TV lineup and how well they’d fit into Netflix. Netflix is currently busy with the upcoming season 2 of Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and The Defenders and the company could only produce so much original content, not to mention concepts of its own like season 2 of Stranger Things. So GR, Moon Knight and Cloak and Dagger would have to wait awhile, but Marvel will not be outclassed by DC’s Arrow, The Flash, Legends and Supergirl. Cloak and Dagger have been licensed to ABC’s Freeform and a Ghost Rider spinoff is imminent at ABC contrary to fans wishing they should be on Netflix because these characters are dark in nature and would fit well with the Netflix MCU. Moon Knight and Blade are still free.
But the way ABC is handling Ghost Rider and Agents of SHIELD is okay. The show is dark but not so dark but with Ghost Rider, they can go darker. The mythos of Robbie Reyes is not as expansive as that of Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch but ABC can adapt some of them to Robbie’s. The appearance of the presumably Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider in the MCU and the official debut of magic via Doctor Strange presents plenty of opportunities in story telling for Ghost Rider. Hopefully, both riders get featured in the spinoff. It would also be interesting on how the Darkhold would come into play as it’s suggested that Blaze kept the book until it was found by the Bowers.
Marvel however can probably pull a few strings and put the show on Netflix, but Ghost Rider which is highly effects-driven needs some more fast-paced action with villain-a-week episodes whereas Netflix would treat it as a satisfyingly dark but drawn-out serial. Gabriel Luna is just happy that things are going well with his character and that he’s happy to be put anywhere.
“…I don’t have a preference… It could be great on cinema, it could live on Netflix, whatever it is… It’s been talked about. There’s definitely deals in place for that potential. But I just take it one day at a time. I have so much fun right now I just want to make sure I get these episodes right…”
— Gabriel Luna
About Cloak and Dagger, many fans expressed disappointment that it ended up with Freeform, since it’s a family-oriented channel. How will they be able to execute their sad conflicted love affair and very dark and mature storylines? There’s much potential for teen angst-driven drama, but hopefully, they don’t give it too much Twilight treatment. Their story involves plenty of drugs, violence, family issues, even dark mysticism.
Whatever treatment they give it, it’s very unfortunate that Freeform has moved Cloak and Dagger’s debut to 2017, mainly due to the restructuring difficulties. If handled properly, Cloak and Dagger has a great potential to become a much welcomed Marvel title due to timely issues of racial diversity, gangs and drugs. They are unlike any TV heroes shown before and because Freeform is still ABC, they can be launched through Agents of SHIELD since Cloak serves as a portal to the Darkforce dimension ruled by an extra-dimensional entity named D’Spayre (not to be confused with the Dark Dimension ruled by Dormammu in Doctor Strange) earlier discussed in the series. They can also be set up in the Spiderverse as they were first introduced in Spider-Man in the comics. Tom Holland can star in a cameo much like Samuel L. Jackson did in the AOS Season 1 finale. Even though they’re going to be late, this author is still keeping his hopes up for a story that sticks close to the source.