Last year, fans learned that Marvel Studios was interested in using the character Werewolf by Night for a project within the MCU. Soon after that, it was revealed that this would in fact be an entire Halloween special focused on the character.
But, the more news that came out of the project, the weirder it got, such as the project being shot in black and white and including out-there characters like Man-Thing. Otherwise, not much else was known about the special aside from it being rumored to be wildly different than anything Marvel Studios had done before.
So, after the release of the trailer for Werewolf by Night at D23, here are the many firsts for Marvel Studios with this project.
1.) A Marvel Studios Special Presentation
Werewolf by Night will be the first project from Marvel Studios to use their new branding of "A Marvel Studios Special Presentation." This classification will likely be used for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special later this year in December.
Not only will this be a new format for Marvel Studios to tell stories, but it's almost the return of those classic self-contained One-Shots, only this one is excepted to 40 minutes long. However, Werewolf by Night comes with an even greater format switch.
2.) Marvel Goes Full Monochrome
Marvel Studios did the first two episodes of WandaVision in black and white, replicating the appearance of shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Love Lucy. But, while that show only did it for two episodes, this will be the first project that is entirely in black and white in the vein of classic Universal monster movies.
Additionally, it doesn't seem to have any pretext for its presentation like with WandaVision and how Wanda purposefully made her reality appear like the shows of her youth. For Werewolf by Night, it's simply a stylistic choice to help reinforce the inspiration of classic monster movies.
Of course, this leads to another monstrous milestone for Marvel Studios.
3.) Monster Mash Milestone
Werewolf by Night will be Marvel Studios' first real venture into the supernatural side of the MCU. The MCU has only briefly touched on the occult aspects of Marvel with the Darkhold's appearances in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, along with Mahershala Ali's minor cameo as Blade in Eternals.
But, this special will explore multiple characters that evoke both the occult and classic Universal monsters for the first time, like the titular Werewolf by Night and most especially Man-Thing. It also helps that another significant character, Elsa Bloodstone, will be making her debut portrayed by Laura Donnelly.
A monster hunter who will undoubtedly become a mainstay in the MCU alongside characters like Blade. Bloodstone herself will also be directed by longtime composer Michael Giacchino in this special.
4.) Giacchino Leaves Composing Stand for Director's Chair
Giacchino has composed nearly half a dozen films for Marvel Studios, including all three movies in the Spider-Man trilogy. To see him stepping into the director's chair was a surprise to many, especially since this will be his first big production, which he apparently had a blast making.
Well, that is outside of a 13-minute short starring Patton Oswalt and Ben Schwartz called Monster Challenge. Although, despite the title of that project, it's actually a parody of Japanese game shows.
5.) Full-Body Prosthetics for Lead
Multiple characters in the MCU have used full-body prosthetics for their characters, but all of them have been for supporting or minor characters. According to previous reports and the trailer, Gael Garcia Bernal's Jack Russell will use full-body prosthetics as the titular werewolf.
Of course, by nature of him being a werewolf, he won't have the body prosthetics on the whole special, but it's still going to be a marvel to see him mimicking the revolutionary prosthetics of the 1941 classic, The Wolf Man.
Bold New World for Marvel Studios
It's exciting to see how Marvel Studios will take advantage of all these wildly different elements to make something truly unique in the MCU. It'd be even better if the studio were willing to return to this Universal horror-inspired project again with different characters.
Maybe have Blade appear alongside The Living Mummy and Manphibian, two other characters directly inspired by Universal monsters. Make it a yearly Halloween special where all the monstrous characters of the MCU can bump heads.
Fans can watch Werewolf by Night on Disney+ on October 7.
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