How Werewolf By Night Could Lead to She-Hulk Season 2

By Jenna Anderson

This week has been a particularly epic one for Marvel fans, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe delivering on some long-awaited character beats and interactions. The eighth episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law arrived on Thursday, showcasing the dynamic between Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) and Matt Murdock / Daredevil (Charlie Cox), as well as the live-action debut of Eugene Patillio / Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley). The next day, it was followed by the premiere of Werewolf by Night, the first "Special Presentation" within the MCU, and a wild dive into Marvel's horror landscape. Oddly enough, one component of Werewolf by Night does have a comic-accurate connection to She-Hulk — and could potentially lay the groundwork for a second season of her show or a future appearance.

Werewolf by Night features the MCU debut of Ted Sallis / Man-Thing (Carey Jones), a gigantic swamp monster trapped by a cabal of monster hunters, who ultimately gets freed by — and later helps free — Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly). The special ends with Jack waking up in Ted's swamp home, which features various domestic amenities like a tent and food. In that scene, Jack seems to be in a role of Man-Thing's ally/swamp roommate — a position held by a number of characters in the comics, including Richard Rory.

Created by Steve Gerber (and initially serving as a sort of stand-in for the writer), Richard Rory is a disaffected DJ at a radio station in Ohio who has an almost-absurd string of bad luck. Through a series of events, Rory becomes one of Man-Thing's closest friends — in part because he isn't afraid of the swamp creature, something that fuels Ted's deadly powers. Rory goes through various exploits with and without Man-Thing over the years, and often lives with him in the swamp when he's down on his luck.

Cut to the initial Savage She-Hulk run, where writer David Anthony Kraft decided to weave in Rory as a friend-turned-love interest of Jen's. After hitting the jackpot at a Vegas casino, Rory makes his way to Los Angeles and crosses paths with She-Hulk, and begins to develop a connection with her human form as Jen. Rory then becomes a supporting player for much of the Savage era, creating a love triangle of sorts between Jen and She-Hulk's love interest, Daniel "Zapper" Ridge, only to be unceremoniously cast aside in the series' final issue. He then returned in the Dan Slott-penned She-Hulk run decades later, only to have his car stolen by Stu Cicero, an employee of Jen's law firm who had accidentally been sent to and from another universe.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has uniquely played with the idea of Jen's romances and love interests in both her human and Hulk lives — so it certainly wouldn't be out of the question for Rory to enter into that fold, in a second season of the show or otherwise. And now that Man-Thing has made his epic and already-beloved debut in the MCU, it's definitely easy to establish an MCU Rory as a former (or future) swamp ally of his, and only make She-Hulk's grasp on Marvel lore weirder in the process.

Werewolf by Night and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

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