With the change of seasons coming near and the vibes of October coming very soon, everyone’s excited to see what frights and terrors bump in the night for new shows and movies coming soon. For Marvel Studios, the answer to that very question comes in the form of the monstrous beast that hunts evil-doers in the night, Jack Russell a.k.a. Werewolf by Night, in a Halloween special of his own under the same name.
Jack Russell, otherwise known as Werewolf by Night, is a superhero who, after gaining the curse of lycanthropy from his grandparents through the Darkhold, gains the supernatural abilities of a werewolf. Throughout the comics, Russell became a crime-fighter, occasionally teaming up with other heroes like Iron Man and teams like Morbius’ Midnight Sons. However, he’s been more recently paired with other supernatural heroes like Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing as his skills take him into the Monster Metropolis below Manhattan’s streets.
With the Halloween special being directed by Michael Giacchino, known for scoring movies like Doctor Strange, The Batman, and the Jurassic World franchise, Marvel Studios’ Werewolf By Night highlights itself as being a black-and-white, monster-horror classic reminisce of movies like The Wolf Man and Werewolf of London. Werewolf By Night stars Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell/Werewolf By Night and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone. From the trailer, the special follows Jack Russell’s infiltration into a secret organization of monster hunters as Russell tries to survive the night of blood-riveting mayhem.
A closer look at the plot, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, states that Jack Russel, whose been prowling in the Southwest, strives to protect his people from the dangers of the outside world. From this closer look alongside the trailer’s contents, we could be seeing Jack Russell work alongside characters like Man-Thing to fight off the hunters throughout the special (and we’ll be definitely seeing blood and bits being tossed around the floor!)
With the addition of Werewolf By Night, it looks like Marvel Studios plans to branch out from the multiversal misadventures planned ahead of Phase Five and Six following Moon Knight, which released earlier this year. Luckily, Marvel fans have had a taste of the supernatural world in previous shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Gabriel Luna’s Ghost Rider and now the incorporation of horror thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Long-standing Marvel characters like Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing (who we’ve seen as an easter egg in Thor: Ragnarok) are finally being introduced to the larger-scale MCU and expanding this side of the universe. However, will fans get to see Marvel’s monsters interact with other main-stay characters? We’ll have to wait and see.
Werewolf by Night comes to Disney+ on October 7, 2022.
