Thursday evening, news began to spread of a potential Werewolf by Night project at Marvel Studios beginning to look for its lead role. Despite rumors earlier in the month of Werewolf by Night being a standalone Disney+ show, the latest report from TheWrap’s Umberto Gonzalez was clear to suggest it’s not a show. Instead, the project in question is a Halloween Special, set to begin filming sometime in 2022. In the same vein of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, this yet-to-be-named Halloween Special is shaping up to be a “one-shot” of sorts, airing just the special before leading into a feature film or separate television series.
In fact if we’re being frank, it’s another win for Marvel Studios as the Kevin Feige-led outfit looks to dominate every potential format available. The studio has run through the box office and is actively dominating streaming ratings with shows like WandaVision and Loki. The introduction of consistent specials gives the Burbank-based powerhouse a third opportunity to tell just the right story.
Now, the occasional special will allow Marvel Studios to tell the story of characters who may not warrant their own film or series. Instead, they’ll get an hour-long special to themselves before becoming a part of some other franchise. A special might not be the best way to introduce characters, as it’s going to be awfully hard to lay the necessary character work in a single hour. They could work, however, if they’re eventually treated like anthologies. Instead of doing a show for each character — say Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Elsa Bloodstone, and others — they could give them each a special before teaming them all together in a separate series.
As we all know by now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is growing increasingly interconnected, and these specials are guaranteed to be just as connected as the Disney+ shows are to the movies. Because of that, introducing regular specials is another check in the win column for the House of Ideas.
Marvel Studios currently has Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings set for release on September 3rd while Eternals is scheduled to be released on November 5th.
What Marvel characters would you like to see get their own special on Disney+? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!
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