Alright, so the first look and trailer for Marvel’s Werewolf By Night is now out, and
throughout this video we’re going to be breaking down the easter eggs in it, some
comic lore, theories, and our general thoughts on this first Marvel Studios one-off Halloween
Special.
We had been hearing rumors about this for roughly a year, and it's cool to actually
see this first Marvel special, because of its older black and white style, that’s
not necessarily fitting with the MCU standard.
While being labeled as a comedy, there is no shortage of graphic horror elements with
its TV-14 rating.
I’ve gotta give a hand….
To Marvel for shaking it up, because I’m already dancing in the moonlight.
Anyway we’re going to be going over it all, but there will also be heavy spoilers in this
video due to us talking about what we have heard about some of the characters.
There are a few potential rumors of how these characters tie in with some other MCU properties,
so if you don’t want that potentially ruined, then I recommend that you turn this off now.
With that out of the way, a howling thank you for clicking this, now let's get into
Werewolf By Night.
Now the trailer first opens on this new Marvel Studios Special Presentation title screen,
and to my understanding Werewolf By Night is going to be the first of a handful of upcoming
specials.
I’m curious what the runtime of this will be, but rumors have it slighted for a runtime
somewhere in the 45 to 50 minute range.
With the style of a 30’s or 40s black and white film, heavy on the film grain and reel
burn, with a cliched movie announcer setting the tone and feel.
We are then quickly introduced to the plot, revolving around a handful of monster hunters,
all hunting an unknown threat that is actually hiding in plain sight as one of the other
hunters.
The official synopsis adds some more details stating that all of these hunters gather at
Bloodstone Castle, following the death of their leader, and engage in this deadly competition
for a powerful relic.
We’ll touch on what could be this so-called powerful relic later, but around the room
we get glimpses of the hunters.
Of which is Harriet Sansom Harris as Verusa, who appears to be the leader of this cabal.
Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone, who is a famed monster hunter, and daughter of Ulysses
Bloodstone, who seems to be the talking corpse in the coffin, or at least the voiceover is
from him according to subtitles.
So it’s probably Ulysses Bloodstone’s death that brings all of them back for the
night.
We also see a handful of other monster hunters, all sporting the same pendant to show they
are in the same clan of hunters.
Unfortunately I couldn't figure out who these four characters are, aside from this dude
with a beard named Joe-Van in the subtitles.
So if you’re a smartypants, drop their names in the comments and let Paul know I am a chump
and the man needs to fire me….
Yet again.
And lastly Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell aka the Werewolf By Night.
Who I’m sure is going to be doing this the entire time.
Now some comic backstory on this character shows us that the Jack Russell character is…
well he’s a werewolf.
That’s all you need to know right?
Essentially a descendant of Russell has been inflicted by a werewolf’s crushed centuries
earlier when fighting Dracula, and therefore passed on generation to generation, making
Russell the current Werewolf By Night.
His origins are a bit messy, ranging from almost a Teen Wolf approach with him finding
out about his powers when he turns 18, to his ancestors having been involved in finding
pages to the darkhold scene in Multiverse of Madness.
When turning into the savage werewolf, he possesses all of the traits and abilities
you’d think comes along with that, obviously silver being his one big weakness.
He does lose his intellect in the transformation, becoming a savage beast, however years later
Russell is able to hone in on this, allowing his intellect to stay with him, similar to
what we saw was done with Smart Hulk in Endgame.
Getting back into the trailer, it appears the hunt will take up a majority of the story
but there are a handful of things that really interest me.
Because there is a quick shot of Man-Thing attacking some of the hunters in a maze.
If you didn’t know, in the comics Man-Thing used to be Dr. Theodore Sallis, who was a
biochemist working in the everglades, attempting to recreate the super soldier serum.
However after AIM tried to steal his research, he injects himself with the serum, crashes
his car into a magical swamp, and ends up turning into a slow moving, swamp monster
called Man-Thing.
It’s later revealed the magical swamp is a Nexus to all realities, essentially a pathway
to any and all realities, like a reality where this didn't happen, Ahhhh my eyes, and Man-Thing
essentially becomes its guardian.
So it could potentially be Man-Thing who is the monster everyone is hunting rather than
Jack Russell, or he’s the bigger antagonist of the special.
However another thing that very much raises questions, is the appearance of TVA agents.
If you take a closer look at who Werewolf By Night is fighting and who locked Elsa in
a cage, the outfits of these guards or intruders have a striking similarity to the TVA agents
we saw in Loki Season 1.
So the fact they are here, has me wondering if one or multiple events that are happening
in this story cause a Nexus event, or that the TVA is trying to get rid of Man-Thing
to have control of the Nexus to all realities
And shout out to The Nerd Doc on youtube for making this connection, but the powerful relic
that all of the hunters are in a competition for could be the Bloodstone gem.
In the comics, Ulysses Bloodstone originally possessed this, later passing it on to his
daughter Elsa.
This gem gives its wearer a whole bevy of abilities from superhuman strength and speed,
to psychic abilities and immortality.
Think the Philosopher's stone, but like uummm way cooler.
This would explain why all of the hunters are called back, whoever finds the relic becomes
the new leader of the Bloodstone hunter clan, with Man-Thing essentially being the final
boss who is protecting it.
Anyway this first look at Werewolf By Night had me instantly excited.
Out of all of the D23 announcements and trailers, this is the one that has stuck with me over
the last few days.
The fact that Marvel is leaning into these one off specials is something that intrigues
me, but for this one, it is entirely the different style that we haven't seen the MCU explore
yet.
Like this feels and looks like a 1930’s or 40s universal monster movie.
From the cinematography, editing style, the voiceover, even the cheesy humor of “I’ll
be rotting for you.”
But also it doesn’t look like it’s holding back, because the TVA agents or whoever they
are get torn up in some graphic looking bloodshed.
And the final nail in the coffin is Michael Giacchino directing this fright-fest.
He might not be the most well known on the directing side of things, but his composing
talents are unmatched.
So I’m curious how much free reign Marvel gave him.
This one-off special could also be setting up a much larger section of supernatural beings
in the MCU that I am 100% on board for.
Say they continue this trend with a Dracula movie, potentially Ghost Rider or Black Knight,
hell even Mephisto, and then weave these into the MCU bigger budget features like Blade,
eventually leading to a team up film, forming the Midnight Suns.
Sure this is wishful thinking, but with the positive reception of Moon Knight, and the
first reactions of Werewolf By Night, there is something here to be mined, and get real
weird with things.
I love 2003’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because of that supernatural, fantasy team
up dynamic, so make it happen Kevin Feige.
I wanna see a vampire, werewolf, and frankenstein punch people in the face.
Plus you can rub it in Universal’s face for their failed DUCU.
You remember that, the Dark Universe Cinemtatic Universe, that was supposed to do exactly
what I’m wishing for.
This picture….
Never forget.
Obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new Marvel special, so comment below
and let me know.
We’re currently running a competition giving away 3 copies of Top Gun Maverick on the 15th
of September.
And all you have to do, to be in for a chance of winning, is like the video, make sure you
subscribe with notifications on, and drop a comment below with your own thoughts on
the trailer.
We pick the comments at random at the end of the month, and the winners of the last
one are on screen right now.
So if that’s you, message me on twitter at heavy spoilers
If you want something else to watch, be sure to check out some of our other cool videos
over there, whether it be our House of The Dragon breakdowns or Rick & Morty Season 6.
Click one, you know you want to.
With that out of the way, thanks for sticking through the video, I’ve been Jared and I’ll
see you next time.
WEREWOLF NOOOIIISSEEEE.
Take care and peace.