While Marvel Studios has dipped into the supernatural before, the Hollywood giant took a full-on joyride into spooky territory with Werewolf By Night. The Disney+ special presentation is streaming now and has fans shaking in their boots as they are introduced to Gael García Bernal's Jack Russell and Laura Donnelly's Elsa Bloodstone.
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Werewolf by Night.
Another name that audiences became familiar with in the streaming event was Marvel's Man-Thing. Although he is simply known as Ted at this point, the brooding monster, alongside Bernal's titular werewolf, is set to "pop up again," becoming a key fixture in the next few years of MCU storytelling.
With the black-and-white nature of Werewolf by Night (except for a few brief moments), it was quite hard for viewers to get a good look at the giant green Man-Thing; however, with a new peak behind the Marvel Studios curtain, fans now have the chance to ogle and pour over what the monster looked like on-set.
A Good Look at Man-Thing
Reddit user Godparticx posted the first good behind-the-scenes look at Werewolf by Night's Man-Thing (portrayed on set by Carey Jones).
The image is a shot of the entire crew standing alongside the on-set reference or the monster amid filming for the title.
Some may be shocked to see an actual Man-Thing standing there with the crew of the project, with most monsters of this nature being largely CGI. It seems as though the Man-Thing seen on-screen in Werewolf by Night had a lot of practical elements with touches of digital effects.
Looking at the monster that was seen on-screen alongside Gael García Bernal's Jack Russell at the tail end of the special after the black-and-white sheen has been wiped away, this looks to be mostly the same character.
Obviously, there was some technological retouching done to the monster for the final cut, but this seems to be a case of Marvel Studios going more practical than digital, something that is done less and less these days on the big and small screens.
A Real-Life Man-Thing
Man-Thing (aka Ted) was scary enough throughout Werewolf by Night, but seeing that Marvel Studios possesses a real-life version of the character is even scarier. This beast was mostly practical, giving off the natural, swampy milieu the character is known for.
One can only hope this continues as the Marvel monsters start to take over the MCU. Going practical with this character, makes every little wrinkle and sprouting mushroom feel that much more real.
What will be neat to see is if any more behind-the-scenes looks at the character start to come out. Are there videos of on-set dance parties amongst the titular werewolf and swamp monster somewhere out there?
Also, could this make it any easier for Marvel if they were to bring the character to the real world? Does this costume provide the template for a potential Man-Thing at Avenger Campus? With Halloween around the corner that would make a lot of sense.
Werewolf by Night is available to stream now on Disney+.
