Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger Star Reveals Shocking Detail About Series’ Residuals

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger ran for two seasons on Disney’s Freeform Channel between 2018-2019, and helped establish the prototype version of a Marvel Young Adult franchise universe, alongside Hulu’s Runaways. However, as the current SAG-AFTRA Strike unfolds in Hollywood we’re learning more and more disturbing details about what actors are actually dealing with financially. One Cloak & Dagger star has gone so far as to say that Disney/Marvel residual check is not at all the payday some fans might think: 

Rolling Stone is interviewing SAG actors on the picket line, and one person who spoke to the magazine was Noëlle Renée Bercy, the actress who played the role of “Evita Fusilier” in Cloak & Dagger. Evita was a major supporting character in the series – a love interest for main character Tyrone Johnson/Cloak (Aubrey Joseph), whose deep New Orleans roots made her and her aunt Chantelle (Angela Davis) experienced practitioners of voodoo magic. Bercy appeared in 14 of Cloak & Dagger’s 20 episodes – so again, a pretty significant role in a Marvel series – and yet, the actress revealed that her most recent residual check from Disney/Marvel was all of 14 cents. 

“AI isn’t the only problem. It’s greed,” Bercy told Rolling Stone. “Human greed is the problem.”

Marvel fans can currently find Cloak & Dagger streaming on Hulu, where Disney promotes it as part of a growing block of Marvel TV/Movie content that doesn’t fit the main Marvel Cinematic Universe block on Disney+. A big point in the Actors’ Strike centers on Hollywood actors’ sentiment that old-model deals about distribution based on media like home video/DVD/Blu-ray (literally) don’t account for residuals and/or bonuses for streaming distribution on different platforms. So, while hours of content may be till be consumed by fans, the actors are getting little to nothing for it, while streaming services build subscriber bases based on the appeal of these content blocks. 

Needless to say, there are a lot of fans – and a fair amount of aspiring actors – who will get a sobering reality check from the Bercy’s claim. It shatters any illusion that simply landing a Marvel role will put an actor on Easy Street in terms of both money and career opportunities. 

At the time of writing this, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is set to meet with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) tomorrow, marking the first big break in the standoff between the striking creatives and the studios/executives. If compromises are found, there’s hope that SAG and its actors will follow soon thereafter.