How Marvel's Werewolf By Night Sets Up Some Key MCU Lore for Blade
Marvel's Werewolf By Night special presentation was the dark horse hit of Halloween season 2022. Marvel fans barely believe the project existed before it was officially announced in late Summer/early Fall and released on Disney+ shortly thereafter. Director/composer Michael Giacchino has earned overwhelming praise for both honoring the legacy of classic monster movies and opening a bigger door to the horror side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One doorway that Werewolf by Night definitely cracks open is the dark world of vampires that will be explored through Marvel's Blade character.
How Werewolf By Night Sets Up Blade
The most obvious Blade "Easter eggs" that Marvel fans pointed out in Werewolf by Night were the many trophies on the wall of Bloostone Manor, where the ritual monster hunt is being held. Some of the trophies that Ulysses Bloodstone collected included vampiric fangs – most notably the creature that looked like DC's Man-Bat, which Jack Russell/Werewolf by Night (Gael Garcia Bernal) calls out as an old foe who he battled on several occasions.
Werewolf by Night's tease of vampires in the MCU is just one of several we've seen in Phase 4. Loki name-dropped vampires as creatures the TVA has to deal with, officially establishing them in the MCU. She-Hulk featured an indirect reference to vampiric villain Baroness Blood, as well as a character (Saracen) who claimed to be an ancient vampire (...and actually is, in the comics). Werewolf by Night establishing them as real beasts is just another step.
However, Werewolf by Night does much more to set up Blade than vampire references.
A lot of moviegoers are familiar with the version of Blade played by Wesley Snipes in New Line's late 1990s/200s movie trilogy. That version of Blade didn't have the massive playground of a Marvel movie universe at his back – but Mahershala Ali's Blade will. Werewolf by Night does a subtle and deft job of getting a corner of the MCU all carved out for Blade's lore.
Monster Hunters
First, Werewolf by Night introduces us to a whole order of monster hunters that exist in the MCU – are first real introduction to such characters. The passing of Ulysses Bloodstone and ritual hunt to inherit his magic power source was a small event, but came with many brushstrokes of the larger monster hunter order and its history. In the new sandbox of the MCU, Blade and his mentor Whistler will be part of that larger order of creature-killers – whether they are official members or rogues who don't quite fit in. In fact, the latter is more likely, as Werewolf by Night also reveals there's a special sub-set of monster hunters that also exist in the MCU...
Monsters vs. Monsters
Werewolf by Night's biggest "twists" were no doubt the revelations that Jack Russell and Man-Thing (aka Ted) were friends, working together to escape the hunt, and that Jack Russell wasn't just a monster-hunter: he was a monster himself.
Both Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing turn out to be "cursed" monsters who still retain enough of their "humanity" to fight monsters (in any sense of the word). That's a very esoteric fraternity within Marvel – one that Blade (a half-vampire, half-human, "Daywalker") definitely belongs in – as do characters like The Black Knight and Ghost-Rider. It's now so much easier to accept that Blade will have been in operation in the MCU all along – and that he would know other characters like Jack, Ted, and/or the Bloodstones, all too well.
Werewolf by Night is streaming on Disney+. Blade has been delayed until September 6, 2024.
