Marvel Comics is reinventing Werewolf By Night for the 21st century - possibly ahead of his MCU debut. One of Marvel’s oldest supernatural antiheroes, Jack Russell - aka Werewolf By Night - was created back in 1953 but was forgotten for decades due to the Comics Code Authority. He finally returned to Marvel’s superhero universe in 1971, when the CCA began to relax their rules and allow supernatural elements in comic books again.
The Russell family line has long been cursed with lycanthropy, but it had generally been believed the curse went dormant until recent times. Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 revealed that wasn’t the case; it featured a flashback to 1909, introducing one of Jack Russell’s extended family, Claudia Russell. She had been transforming every full moon and was struggling to control her bloodlust when in her more monstrous form. Unfortunately for Claudia, she wound up attracting the attention of the X-Men villain Mr. Sinister, who imprisoned her for experimentation. The last shot of Claudia showed her being dissected - probably alive.
Now, Marvel Comics has announced Werewolf By Night is being reinvented in a brand new supernatural horror series. Written by Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas and with art by Benjamin Jackendoff, this new Werewolf By Night will be very different. This time around the star is a young Native American who inherits the curse.
The timing of this is particularly interesting, given there have been rumors Marvel Studios is looking to introduce the MCU’s Werewolf By Night in the Moon Knight Disney+ series. There’d be a certain degree of irony to that, given Moon Knight first appeared as a villain in 1975’s Werewolf By Night #32. Marvel Comics has always tried to create a synergy between the films and their latest comic book events, and that’s likely easier than ever before; Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, has been given an expanded remit as Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. As a result, oversight on creative, editorial, and narrative decisions across all mediums - including the comics themselves.
We’re going through a Native lens because of my Native American heritage,” Taboo told Comicbook.com. “I always liked storytelling from a native perspective. Although I was born in the city of Los Angeles, recently I’ve been really connected to the Indian country or to native communities to be able to be a service and help native youth, inspire them, especially when it comes to health and wellness, and arts and music. So we built our partnership knowing that when we create, we create through a native lens…
Of course, this raises the interesting question of just what the MCU’s Werewolf By Night would look like. The curse of the werewolf could conceivably be passed to anyone in the Russell bloodline, male or female, young or old. It’s even possible several members of the family could manifest the curse at once, meaning the MCU’s could be an entire family of werewolves. It will be fascinating to see what approach Marvel Studios take, should the rumors of Werewolf By Night’s imminent MCU appearance be true.
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