It’s finally come! Marvel Studios’ first Special Presentation in Werewolf By Night is finally here, and it’s one of my favorite entires in the MCU to date. From start to finish I was enthralled by what I was watching, and a 52-minute-long runtime was something that I was a little weary about I have to admit. Needless to say, everyone involved did a perfect job at introducing fans to Jack Russell, Man-Thing and to Elsa Bloodstone. House Bloodstone is one of the more fascinating families in Marvel comics; a lineage of monster hunters who “worship” a stone called the Bloodstone, which can control monsters and gives the stone bearer prolonged life.
We got a few teases at the Bloodstone, and saw a band of monster hunters come together to fight to the death for it, and that’s a notion that Disney and Marvel haven’t touched upon in seemingly forever. A week before the special’s release, Disney+ changed the genre to “horror,” and gave it a mature rating. Myself and millions of fans were left wondering if this would actually be not only horror, but the studio’s scariest project to date. And it delivered for sure.
Image via Comic Book Movies
What really interested me by this project was, besides being a Werewolf By Night fan in the comics, we were FINALLY getting introduced to monsters in the MCU for the first time. It’s also a refreshing entry to the MCU. Nowadays you need to watch 5+ movies and or 2+ shows to know what’s going on in the next MCU project… Not here! While it served as a minor origin story for a handful of characters who made their MCU debut, it didn’t have too much going on. Was very grounded, had compelling characters and gave us some beautiful action sequences which were blended in some blood and guts.
Werewolf By Night tearing a man’s chest open where you can see his ribcage as blood squirted at the screen, was a beautiful moment and one that I didn’t see coming. It opens the door and sets the stage for monsters to have their time to shine in the MCU. Producer Brian Gay even said ahead of the release that monsters will be a focal part of the MCU moving forward:
“I think the Midnight Sons are great from all their history in the comics, it's fun to see all these people come together. What I will say is that with Werewolf By Night, we are just seeing sort of, we're just peeling back that corner a little bit and seeing that there's a darker section of the MCU that you haven't seen before. The MCU is not just, you know, the Avengers, as the special starts out by saying, there's a whole bunch of people, and there's a whole bunch of aliens, there's a whole bunch of planets, there's a whole bunch of areas to explore and so, this is just our first look into something that is probably a little different than what we've shown before in the previous movies and shows.”
“I think the world of monsters is bigger than we've seen in the Special and the MCU, but our whole idea with this was to make it a tease. That's why, maybe tease is the wrong word, I'm trying, to make it something that's just sort of like an appetizer. We want to show you that this exists. We want to show you all those monsters that were around, the images, the pictures, the different ones that we saw in the Special, but we'd like to let your imagination run a little wild to see what else could be out there.”
Image via Marvel Studios
Encouraging words for Brian Gay to fans of the horror side of Marvel Comics. Gay said it perfectly that the world is bigger than the Avengers and that they’re not the only heroes out there, or the only characters that are dealing with a threat that could be “world-ending.” Marvel Comics started off with horror way back in 1940s-1960s and has a pantheon of horror-lore that has yet to be explored by Disney. This was an appetizer and this really did set the stage masterfully for what’s inevitably coming.
Man-Thing’s powers in the comics derive around fear. His grotesque appearance ends up his downfall because whenever someone looks at him and they fear him… he uncontrollably drains their life force. Which is why Jack warned Elsa to just be yourself, and to not think of anything when you see him. I was nervous that Man-Thing was going to be made into a villain by Marvel Studios, but to my happy surprise they did the character justice, and left the door wide open for him to reappear at some point.
Image via Wiki of Nerds
The Bloodstone is a fascinating artifact within the lore of Marvel Comics, and finally seeing it in the MCU, was long overdue. The power of the stone in the comics isn’t completely clear, but it has a few neat abilities such as giving the holder immortality, it can be used to control monsters, and as seen in the Special Presentation, can shoot out energy beams almost like a laser. Controlling monsters could be a future theme within the MCU. Blade is slated for a late 2023 release, we’ll see if that still happens, but we also not so long ago got introduced to Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, saw Moon Knight quite recently, and Doctor Strange is always dealing with supernatural creatures.
Marvel Studios has a bright future. Say what you want about anything that’s happened within the MCU since Avengers: Endgame, but there’ve been a handful of movies and shows that are great, a few bad ones which introduced us to new characters in a strong way though, and there’s a handful of projects with great filmmakers aboard that has me excited. We now know that supernatural characters are coming, and they’re coming soon.
Image via Marvel Comics
Could Doctor Doom seek out the Bloodstone to not only make himself immortal, but to control a plethora of monsters to use as an army against Wakanda or the world’s heroes in general? Could Kang be after the Bloodstone for his own nefarious purposes? Time will tell, but it wouldn’t shock me if a villain were to seek the stone for their own evildoings.
The Midnight Sons are definitely coming to the MCU as well, and it could be a Rated-R movie, as well as 2023’s Blade. Disney’s never had an R-Rated movie before, and 2024’s Deadpool 3 is set to be their first. Brian Gay said that Werewolf By Night was used to test the waters, to show fans more of the supernatural and monstrous side of the MCU, and thanks to the fan and critic response, we’ll definitely be getting more of this world at some point.
The Midnight Sons are a group of heroes and anti-heroes who join forces to protect the world against deadly supernatural threats. My lineup for the team would be: Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, Werewolf By Night, Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider and Blade. Maybe Daredevil, Wolverine and or the Punisher, but I don’t see those characters joining the team for a long time, if they were to even join.
There’s a lot of moving parts in the foreseeable future of the MCU, but it’s safe to say after seeing Werewolf By Night, that they know what they’re doing when it comes to horror, which is something that I never thought that I’d be saying!