Cloak and Dagger: Predator and Prey - Mutants or Mutates

Mutants or Mutates

Cloak and Dagger were considered both latent mutants whose powers were activated when they were injected with an experimental illegal drug in earlier appearances. In later years, they are listed as mutates, as which they are listed in the Civil War: Battle Damage Report. However some mutants, such as Sunfire, Polaris, and Thunderbird, who have been in similar circumstances to Cloak and Dagger's have also required external stimuli to awaken their latent powers.

Uncanny X-Men writer Matt Fraction stated: "No, they don't, and that's the thing: in a time when there are so few mutants left, can they afford to not at least acknowledge the existence of this community, this family?" As such, in the Utopia crossover, when recruited by Norman Osborn as part of his "Dark X-Men", Cloak and Dagger comment how they aren't mutants. This is further confirmed by Doctor Nemesis, who ran a full range of genetics scans on Dagger, stating that her powers were derived solely from the drug that changed both her and Cloak.