There’s one side of the Marvel world that the MCU has yet to touch just yet: the supernatural. While it’s inevitable, seeing as Blade is on the way, it hasn’t quite happened yet within the main story. But years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing, Marvel did attempt to adapt one of their biggest monster characters into a movie with Man-Thing.
In the comics, Man-Thing once went by the name of Theodore Sallis. After injecting himself with a super soldier serum-copycat formula, its side effects ended up turning him into a monster. It didn’t help that he also crashed his car into a magical swamp, whose energies helped complete his transformation into the big mossy green monster.
The character’s solo outing didn’t do so great, which is why many might not have even known it existed. Having come out in 2005, the project boasts a 4/10 rating on IMDB and an abysmal 17% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a new interview, some new details have come to light about the old movie. Among them was how current Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige reacted to it all at the time.
Feige’s Reaction to 2005’s Man-Thing
In a new interview with ComicBook, 2005’s Man-Thing director Brett Leonard revealed how Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige offered nothing but support for his take on the character.
Leonard noted how “he was… one of the greatest supporting energies,” and that the producer’s current “success is well deserved:”
“He was actually one of the greatest supporting energies because when I sent the dailies, he really loved the dailies… he loved how I was moving the camera. He was very, very helpful. He was a great guy. And he was just a sweet man and is to this day. His success is well deserved. He was a great executive to work with.”
One of the aspects of Man-Thing that Feige specifically noted he liked was the camera movements:
“I have great emails from him, complimenting me on the camera movement… so I always think, well, there you go. I got somebody in Marvel that loved this film. Because this is, again, it’s an outlier in the Marvel universe. The way it was made, the budget it was made at, how it was made, what the scripting process was, and how that changed. All of those things were unique in this film."
When Will Man-Thing Show Up Again?
It’s no surprise that Feige sounds like a solid, classy dude. He's become this successful with the MCU for a reason—being on the talent’s side has almost certainly helped aid his own experience and reputation in the industry.
Now, when it comes to Man-Thing, many fans are likely to think of DC Comic's Swamp Thing. Sure, both revolve around a mysterious serum and even stranger swamps, but in reality, the two characters are actually quite different.
One of the key parts of Man-Thing that really sets him apart is how the big monster is the Guardian of the Nexus of All Realities—aka a key Multiversal concept, which hasn’t been introduced in the MCU just yet.
So when will the big green ball of moss and vines make it to live-action once again? Well, funny enough, the character is rumored to show his face in the upcoming Werewolf By Night Halloween Disney+ special—which Marvel Studios has still not made official, even if it’s already filmed and in post-production.
A Halloween special is the perfect place for a character like Man-Thing to appear. If something like a Midnight Suns project ever does go forward, audiences should expect him to show up in some fashion. At the very least, Marvel will probably try to craft some reason for Blade to come down to his swamp and exchange a few words.
Werewolf By Night is expected to drop on Disney+ sometime later this year.
