Marvel Studios’ Werewolf By Night

Humans are villains and monsters are antiheroes in Marvel's atmospheric, retro-style special.

Werewolf by Night is a Marvel Studios special that brings together action, horror and superhero genres. It follows a group of monster hunters, including Jack Russell (played by Gael García Bernal), competing for a powerful relic – the Bloodstone – at Bloodstone Manor. When Jack is revealed to be a werewolf, he teams up with Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly) to rescue a misunderstood monster named Ted (Man-Thing).

Praised for its unique tone, retro black-and-white cinematography and practical effects, the film is a throwback to classic Hollywood monster movies, flipping conventions by casting humans as villains and monsters as antiheroes. Man-Thing, originally a scientist named Ted Sallis, is portrayed as an innocent, emotional creature, rather than the villainous figure from his comic origins.

Jack Russell stands out as a classic antihero. Struggling between his human and werewolf sides, Jack wrestles with his identity as a man cursed to become a dangerous beast during the full moon. His actions, while heroic, are often motivated by personal struggles rather than pure altruism, placing him on the fringes of both human and monster societies.

– Professor Angela Ndalianis, Professor Emeritus, Centre for Transformative Media Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology