Today (October 7, 2022) saw the arrival of Marvel hour-long special Werewolf By Night make its way onto the Disney Plus streaming platform. The film saw the introduction of a bunch of new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and amongst them was the creature known as The Man-Thing, aka Dr. Theodore “Ted” Sallis. Here’s everything we know about the monster.
How was Man-Thing introduced in Werewolf By Night?
Werewolf By Night is unlike anything Marvel Studios has ever done before. Shown almost completely in black and white, it follows a group of monster hunters who gather at the Bloodstone home after the death of its patriarch, Ulysses Bloodstone. Among them is Jack Russell, familiar to Marvel Comics fans, and Elsa Bloodstone, the estranged daughter of the late Ulysses. Each are hoping to go through the trials set by Ulysses before his passing, and claim his weapon, the Bloodstone, for themselves. To do that, they will have to slay an unknown creature and retrieve the mysterious fragment. That creature is Man-Thing.
How did Ted become Man-Thing?
No backstory is given for Man-Thing in Werewolf By Night, but we can look to the source material to find out exactly how he transformed. Dr. Ted Sallis worked as a biochemistry professor, who was recruited by the United States Army to try and help soldiers survive bio-chemical warfare. He developed the SO-2 Serum, but while it initially worked, it also turned those who used it into monsters.
Sallis would spend some time working on a new formula, but when he was led into an ambush by one of his students who he had fallen in love with, he crashed his car into a swamp. Before he collided, however, he injected the only existing sample of the new serum, which combined with the magical energies of the swamp and turned him into the Man-Thing.
Man-Thing has a range of different powers, and is able to use the fear of others to increase his size and mass, as well as growing his abilities. He has also been known to control and alternate plant matter, open portals to and from alternate realities, and burn those who he gets hold of with just his hands.
