WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsin the rearview mirror, we now have to wait a long time before the nextMarvel Cinematic Universemovie,Spider-Man: Brand New Day, hits theaters on August 15, 2025. Paired with the nostalgia some fans are experiencing for the oldFantastic Fourmovies and the recent critical reappraisals ofHulkandSpider-Man 3, that makes this the perfect opportunity to revisit some of Marvel’s pre-MCU attempts to adapt its heroes for the silver screen. But there’s one Marvel movie that nobody remembers, fondly or otherwise:Man-Thing.
Modern MCU fans probably know Man-Thing as Ted,the swamp creaturethat showed up inDisney+’sWerewolf by NightTV special, but the character actually appeared in a solo monster movie produced by Marvel 20 years ago. Though not well-received by anyone, it wouldn’t be totally accurate to refer to the movie as a box office bomb… because it barely came out in theaters at all. In the United States, it was dumped on what is now called Syfy (formerly the Sci-Fi Channel) in 2005, andit only made about $1 millionwhen it snuck into international theaters. But, if you’re morbidly curious,you can actually watch the movie right nowfor free on The Roku Channel.
What Is ‘Man-Thing’ About?
Not to be confused withDC’s aesthetically similar Swamp Thing(or even Marvel’s own The Thing), the comics origin of Man-Thing is that he was a man trying to develop a version of the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America. When bad guys attacked, he accidentally crashed his car in a magic swamp, took the serum, and fused with the local flora to become a more or less sentient monster. Obviously, since we’re talking about a pre-MCU movie that came out before the normalization of completely ridiculous comic book concepts, none of that is inMan-Thing.
The movie, directed by Brett Leonard (better known for making cult-classicThe Lawnmower Man), doesn’t offer much of an explanation for who or what the Man-Thing was as a person. Instead, it just positions him as a murderous monster defending a swamp from an oil company, which isn’t too different from the plot ofShrek. In fact, save for the name of the character and his general appearance, you’d be forgiven for not realizing it’s a comic book movie at all — which was sort of the point in the pre-MCU era of superhero filmmaking. Still, there is a small bit of MCU-related fun in the film, since one of its main characters is played byRachael Taylor, a.k.a. Trish Walker fromJessica Jones.
Hypothetically, Trish Walker could someday meet Man-Thing in the MCU proper, and you’ll only be able to appreciate the minor significance of that event if you check outMan-Thingon The Roku Channel.
Marvel’s Werewolf By Night
