While “Werewolf By Night” is set on paper in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the Avengers and other well-known MCU characters, however, the new Marvel film does not have much in common. But with werewolf Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal) and monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), at least two well-known Marvel characters are the focus – and in the course of the story a third character is added: A monster reminiscent of an elephant at first glance, behind which the iconic Marvel character Man-Thing is hiding.
Man-Thing is sort of the Marvel counterpart to the DC monster Swamp-Thing, invented at the same time. In the Marvel Comics, Man-Thing is originally the scientist Dr. Theodore “Ted” Sallisdesigned to recreate the super soldier serum that made Steve Rogers Captain America.
However, he injects himself with the immature drug out of necessity and after an accident in a mysterious swamp, he becomes a gigantic plant creature through the serum and magic. Henceforth he watches over the so-called Nexus Of All Realitiesi.e. the junction of the various Marvel parallel dimensions.
In Werewolf By Night, we learn that the MCU Man-Thing is also named Ted, so it’s safe to assume that this version of the character has a similar backstory. But we don’t learn much more about the swamp creature, only that she and main character Jack apparently already know each other from previous adventures together.
But what is Man-Thing doing in Werewolf By Night? The idea for it came from Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige, director (and composer!) Michael Giacchino told the site fandomand Feige put him under additional pressure because he appreciates the character and the comics that go with it.
and Giacchino explained that he intentionally didn’t want to show Werewolf-By-Night and Man-Thing as the film’s villains: “Far too often, even in Marvel movies, monsters are there just to be killed or defeated. But I think no, monsters are nothing more than a person with a problem that that person can’t solve and needs help with.”
It can’t always be about wanting to destroy different things, because there are already enough of those in the world, according to Giacchino. “I wanted to do something where we get to the heart of the matter and understand what’s behind the monster. Why is this happening? No monster wants to be a monster. They don’t want to go around killing people and destroying things indiscriminately.”
