Werewolf By Night was the first Marvel Special Presentation that premiered on Disney Plus. It is pretty much a TV special or TV movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was the other one that aired a month after Werewolf by Night premiered.

Major Spoilers Follow

Werewolf By Night was the first Marvel project to fully open up the Monster sector of the MCU. It introduced Jack Russell (Gael Bernal Garcia) who is the Werewolf by Night, Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly) the daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone (Richard Dixon), and Ted (Carey Jones) who is Man-Thing. The special itself pays homage to the classic Monster movies from the 40s such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, etc. The special is predominantly in black and white as well.   It is fairly isolated with a few Marvel references to the bigger world. It’s really just the opening scene that makes mention of the heroes.

It has been said that Werewolf by Night is a key to opening up a new part of the MCU and there are big plans for the future. The only known project that this probably helped set up is the upcoming Blade movie. It is not known at this point if any of the characters such as Jack, Elsa, or Man-Thing will appear in Blade. The fact this introduces the existence of monsters opens up the premise of Blade who deals with monsters.

Werewolf by Night was well received by audiences and was one of the better Phase 4 projects. I enjoyed Werewolf by Night a lot the first time around. Rewatching it a second time, I enjoyed it just the same. I liked that it was something different. I hope Marvel will explore more of the horror side as well. The closet thing before Werewolf by Night was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which had horror aspects. It also had a solid story. It is one of the stronger projects in the new era of Marvel and I look forward to seeing where these characters go. There is a lot of potential for Jack Russell, Elsa Bloodstone, and Man-Thing. Elsa Bloodstone comes from an important family that are monster hunters. It seems she has no interest in following in their footsteps so it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. The Bloodstone which belongs to Elsa’s family was a major part of the special. The Bloodstone is now in the hands of Elsa. It will be interesting to see how this will impact the future of the MCU. Not much is known about the Bloodstone in the MCU. It seems to have magical properties since it was used to transform Jack into his werewolf self. The Bloodstone could be seen in Blade especially if Elsa winds up appearing in the movie. It would be interesting to see Elsa and Blade (Mahershala Ali) interact since Elsa is more sympathetic to monsters than Blade. In the comics Werewolf by Night has had dealings with Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac). There was speculation if Moon Knight or Blade would show up in the special which did not happen. If Moon Knight gets a second season, maybe he would meet Jack Russell. Another character who has huge potential for the future is Man-Thing. In the comics Man-Thing has an important role being a guardian of the Nexus of All Realities. It is possible he could have an important role as the Multiverse Saga continues especially once Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars happens.

I am excited to see more of the monster sector of the MCU and I look forward to seeing these characters again.