Werewolf by Night’s Swamp Thing is actually Man-Thing, a different thing

Marvel’s Halloween special, Werewolf by NightThe Marvel Cinematic Universe is now enriched with new flavours thanks to. There’s the Hammer Horror of it all, and the stark black and white colors, and of course, the titular werewolf.

But there’s another monster making his debut in You Werewolf at NightWith Man-Thing, one of Marvel Comics’ most famous characters. And the hour-long special doesn’t even do him the courtesy of calling him by his name!

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Werewolf by Night on Disney Plus.]

You Werewolf at NightA group of top monster hunters gathers in competition to hunt for the Bloodstone. This power allows monsters to come out of hiding. This story is more twisty than usual, but it suffices to say that Ted, a large, swampy creature with the ability to burn, is the central character of this challenge.

Marvel Comics calls Ted another name.

That’s Man-Thing, not Swamp Thing

The Man-Thing, or “Ted,” in Werewolf by Night, a creature of mold and mushrooms, three face tentacles, and two glowing eyes.

Created in 1971 by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway, and artist Gray Morrow, Man-Thing used to be Dr. Ted Sallis, a scientist who — like every other scientist in the Marvel Comics universe — was trying to reengineer Steve Rogers’ super-soldier serum. Sallis, fleeing from less scrupulous scientists who had no evidence that his serum existed, injected the chemical himself just before his car crashed into a magical swamp. The organic material was his only evidence of the serum and he became the swamp monster with a big green face.

Wait a minute, you’re asking, isn’t that exactly the same as Swamp Thing, the DC Comics character? Yes. Len Wein, the writer of Swamp Thing had already published Man-Thing over a year before. No accusations of plagiarism were ever made — though they have a shared origin and look, the two characters diverged pretty precipitously from there. Swamp Thing was finally retconned as an elemental force in nature, who only Think about itIt was once a scientist and Man-Thing has always been more popular than the best selling Marvel comic. The legal action was not initiated.

Another pretty big difference between Man-Thing and Swamp Thing is the former’s signature superpower: Lighting people on freakin’ fire. As the tagline of later Man-Thing stories would put it, “Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch!” Man-Thing might not be able to talk, but he’s still a very empathetic monster who can sense strong emotions. Negative emotions cause him to become agitated and he burns down his enemies with chemical-mystical fire.

Yes, everyone knows Ted as Man-Thing. Ted, not Ted!