Marvel’s first Special Presentation arrives on Disney+ just in time for the Halloween season. And that’s appropriate, considering that the roughly hour-long short film focuses on Werewolf by Night and is decidedly steeped in the horror genre.
Werewolf by Night, described as “fun scary” by Kevin Feige himself, centers on a cabal of monster hunters as they learn that a supernatural creature exists within their ranks. The director of the special is none other than film composer extraordinaire and frequent Marvel Studios collaborator Michael Giacchino in his directorial debut.
Now, even though the special is set to include other Marvel characters beyond the Werewolf, (such as Man-Thing and Elsa Bloodstone) many have speculated, and outright hoped, that Blade would show up in Werewolf by Night and do what he does best. But does the Daywalker make his presence known? Giacchino did his best to clear things up in a spoiler-free fashion.
Giacchino Discusses Werewolf’s Blade Potential
During an interview with One Take News, Werewolf by Night director Michael Giacchino responded to a query regarding rumors of Mahershala Ali’s Blade making an appearance in the Marvel Studios Special Presentation. Giacchino replied by neither confirming nor denying Blade’s involvement but noted that “rumors are insanely inaccurate…99.9% of the time.”
You know what, rumors are insanely inaccurate I would say…99.9% of the time. The thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is everyone thinks that every single thing is going to be connected. EVERY single thing. And it doesn’t mean that we’re not connected. But, I didn’t feel the need to blatantly say we were. You know, every other show has done that and they’ve done it brilliantly and I thought “you know what?“, when I was a kid, I would pull a comic off the shelf and this particular Werewolf By Night issue had nothing to do with anything else in the Marvel Universe. What’s wrong with that? That’s okay!
The director went on to cite The Twilight Zone as a “huge influence” for him and how his love for the classic 1960s sci-fi show led him to approach Werewolf like an anthology-type installment:
You know, they can all live together, but we don’t need to always show them together. You know, let’s have a moment where we’re dealing with this. One of the shows that was a huge influence for me growing up was The Twilight Zone and what I loved about it was each one was its own thing and each story was something that you had to think about for days afterwards and I said “Let’s do that! Let’s just worry about this”.
Still, Giacchino was sure to drop some breadcrumbs about where some of these characters could head next:
You know, in the future, who knows? We’ll see where the characters go, we’ll see where we take them but for now, let’s just worry about this one thing right here."
Blade’s Inclusion Is Up in the Air
Going by Michael Giacchino’s quite cryptic remarks alone, it would seem like Ali’s Blade stands an equal chance of appearing or not appearing in Werewolf by Night.
Even if he doesn’t show up, the special seems like the perfect place to make his full debut, given the spooky atmosphere and all the characters being slayers of supernatural and otherworldly creatures.
At any rate, fans are understandably itching for Blade’s first MCU appearance. The character, of course, made an off-screen, voice-only cameo in 2021’s Eternals. And his solo film is set for November 2023, but considering that Mahershala Ali’s casting was initially announced three years ago, Blade cropping up on-screen is starting to feel overdue.
Marvel Studios’ Werewolf by Night will creep onto Disney+ on Friday, October 7, Blade or no Blade.
