A swamp creature… that burns evildoers… and also guards the point where all realities
meet.
Yes, Marvel's Man-Thing is far more than just another grotesque creature.
One of the highlights of Disney's D23 Expo 2022 was the trailer for "Werewolf by Night,"
the long-anticipated special scheduled to hit Disney+ on October 7, just in time for
the spooky Halloween season.
The special will serve as a homecoming, and live-action debut, for several Marvel horror
characters, chief among them the titular Werewolf, Jack Russell, and monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone.
"I can't wait to find out what breed of evil you are."
If you're not a fan of the Marvel Comics horror titles that started in the 1970s, you might
have been a little perplexed by one terrifying monster that makes a very quick appearance
in the trailer, flashing his giant claws and his tentacled head.
He looks like something out of the works of H.P.
Lovecraft, and his backstory is no less weird.
The creature is a shambling, conscience-less heap that appears to be anything but human.
But don't write this off as just a jump scare.
This is no random monster cooked up by one of Disney's visual effects artists.
It is none other than the menacing Man-Thing, one of the most iconic characters in the Marvel
Universe, and an ominous figure whose arrival to the MCU has some fans howling with excitement.
And if you're at all familiar with Man-Thing's role in the comics, you already know that
he could have a much more significant place in the future of the MCU than might be immediately
apparent.
The shambling, remorseless creature known as the Man-Thing may seem like a typical monster
of the week, or a ripoff of DC Comics' Swamp Thing.
But in reality, he's a big deal.
And his first appearance predates Swamp Thing's by two months.
Man-Thing actually carried his own solo comic for years in the 1970s.
Writer Steve Gerber put his own unique spin on the character and turned him into a cult
classic.
The origin of the Man-Thing is simple: A scientist by the name of Ted Sallis, working on a secret
chemical experiment in the Florida Everglades, is pursued by bad guys seeking to steal the
formula.
The chase ends with Sallis crashing his car into a swamp, where mysterious forces combine
with the chemicals he'd been working on to permanently transform Sallis into the bizarre
entity known as the Man-Thing.
Man-Thing is a slow-moving creature with a penchant for thwarting various criminal schemes,
despite the fact that he has very little if any conscious mind left to speak of.
Gerber created the character's classic tagline:
"Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing."
The phrase describes another of Man-Thing's abilities — to sense and feed off of fear
and other emotions in nearby people.
Good people don't tend to fear Man-Thing, as they sense the innate decency within him,
but wrongdoers react with terror.
When they do so, his touch quite literally burns their flesh.
Man-Thing also plays a shockingly prominent role in Marvel's Multiverse, because it turns
out that the Everglades are the Nexus of All Realities.
Man-Thing is the guardian of that Nexus.
It's a no-brainer, then, that the Man-Thing would be part of the "Werewolf by Night" cast
of characters.
The character could prove to be highly significant to the recently announced Multiverse Saga
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, given his role as Guardian of the Nexus.
With MCU characters including Spider-Man and Doctor Strange having already gotten involved
with various multiversal entanglements, the table for "Secret Wars" is well on its way
to being set.
"The multiverse?
Viz had his theories.
He believed it was real.
And dangerous."
Furthermore, some familiar-looking uniforms spotted in the "Werewolf by Night" trailer
indicate what may be the Time Variance Authority from "Loki," possibly hinting that Man-Thing's
extradimensional role may carry over to his MCU incarnation.
With all this multiverse stuff happening, it just makes sense that Man-Thing would take
up that mantle in the MCU, as well.
That's all speculation, though.
Fans will have to wait until October 7, when "Werewolf by Night" hits Disney+, to find
out exactly how Man-Thing fits into the MCU.