Relationship Spotlight: Jack & Ted (Werewolf by Night)

*Spoilers.*

Yep, we’re back for more Werewolf by Night! For such a short piece of media, I’ve managed to find all manner of stuff to talk about with this special. I feel like I’d need a bit more info if I was going to attempt to write a Favorite Characters/Character Highlight post on Man-Thing/Ted, but I have more than enough to talk about his delightful relationship with Jack.

Jack Russell does not want to take part in a winner-take-all monster hunt in the dead of night in a creepy mansion where monster heads are stuffed and mounted on the walls, in part because he knows he could be one of those heads someday. But when Ted is captured by Verussa’s people and used as the competition’s Most Dangerous Game, Jack knows he can’t leave his friend to fend for himself. So he secures an invitation to the belly of the beast, armed with an impressive monster-killing track record, an air of mystery, and some small explosives he doesn’t entirely know how to use.

Of course, he’s in no danger from the monster, and Ted is both relieved and happy to see Jack come for him. But both of them are in danger from the other hunters—even before Jack’s hidden agenda, and his own werewolf nature, are discovered, most of the other hunters wouldn’t hesitate to take him out just to thin the competition. So he’s sticking his neck out in a major way.

But quite simply, that’s what friends do. While both Ted and Jack are capable of being extremely lethal, they’re actually very gentle in nature, preferring cooperation and care to violence and vengeance. Jack’s ready to do what he needs to do to rescue Ted, but he tries to do it with as little collateral damage as possible.

Though Jack is more than willing to help Ted, he does come in with a bit of exasperation. He intimates that Ted is always getting himself into trouble and needing Jack to bail him out. In their dynamic, I’m reminded a little of Rocket and Groot in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and not just because Ted and Groot are both plant-based lifeforms of few words. It’s that sense of the clever little guy looking out for the well-meaning, gentle big guy who can blunder into things, an inseparable odd couple who fit together against all odds. But while Rocket starts out much more critical of Groot, casually insulting his intelligence and getting aggravated when Groot doesn’t understand his instructions, Jack is immediately kinder with Ted. He doesn’t come across as the bossy friend, more like the long-suffering brother’s keeper, and his frustration is mostly an expression of tough love.

And I’d say, ultimately, Jack and Ted are on more equal footing. For all of Jack’s scolding about Ted getting himself into dangerous situations, Ted is the one who looks after Jack when he turns, setting up camp for them and making coffee while he waits for Jack to wake as a human again. Their care for each other is really endearing and makes Werewolf by Night so much more than a straight homage to classic monster movies.

Relationship Spotlight: Jack Russell & Elsa Bloodstone (Werewolf by Night)

*Spoilers.*

I’ve talked about Jack and I’ve talked about Elsa, so now it’s time to look at the two of them together. Considering that Werewolf by Night is less than an hour long and they go into the special not yet having met each other, the connection that grows between these two in that time is impressive.

Elsa and Jack have incredibly different temperaments, which immediately makes for a compelling combo. Elsa comes into the monster-hunting contest with a huge chip on her shoulder and a job to do. She’s pissed that she has to prove herself to win something that she feels should’ve been hers by rights, and she’s prepared to kill to get what she wants. By contrast, Jack doesn’t care about the contest at all. When they first run into each other on the grounds of Bloodstone Manor, Jack suggests that, rather than duke it out and show their prowess, they just pretend they haven’t seen each other and go their separate ways. Hearing this attitude amid the dog-eat-dog environment of the competition stuns Elsa, and she’s entirely unable to figure out what to make of Jack.

He continues to perplex and surprise her. The next time their paths cross, he’s friendly to her and tries to be helpful, offering to assist her in tending an injury she received from another hunter. This is so unlike the other hunters, who spill blood freely, and Elsa doesn’t know whether Jack is dumb, soft, or perhaps something more.

She’s spiky and guarded. He’s warm and inviting. She’s highly competent and lethal. He doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, but the last thing he wants to do is hurt anyone. He reaches out but she’s untrusting, he wants to work together but she’s a lone wolf. She’s a monster hunter. And he’s a monster.

But despite all these major differences between them, something clicks. Maybe it’s because Jack’s relentless openness wears Elsa down, maybe it’s because she’s not as hard-edged as she purports to be. Somehow, they start working together, Elsa helping Jack free Ted (the captured monster they’re supposed to be hunting) in exchange for the Bloodstone. And even when it comes out that Jack is a werewolf and Elsa is ready to paint him as a creature and a traitor, he gets her to still see his humanity. When Verussa forces him to turn, he’s able to hold onto a shred of his memory of Elsa, which protects her during the attack.

By the end of the special, they’ve parted ways—Jack, human again, is waking to a post-werewolf hangover while Elsa has claimed the Bloodstone and her ancestral home once and for all. But see, this is why we need more Werewolf by Night in the MCU (I’ve noticed that my Werewolf by Night posts, like my Moon Knight posts, tend to end with a pitch for more. I’m okay with that.)

Where do Jack and Elsa go from here, separately and (hopefully) together? How will they run into each other again? Has meeting Jack (and Ted) changed Elsa’s attitude toward monsters? What will she do with the Bloodstone now that she finally has it? Will we ever learn about the one other person Jack was able to remember in his werewolf form? Inquiring minds very much want to know, and I’ll gladly take any further specials/series/movies/whatever that the MCU wants to give us.

Favorite Characters: Jack Russell (Werewolf by Night)

*Spoilers.*

I don’t care that he’s only been in less an hour of the MCU so far. Jack is fantastic, and I want more of him on my screen. Shoutout to this TV special, and this character, for coming out of nowhere to be one of the best projects of Phase 4.

Right from his arrival at Bloodstone Manor, it’s clear that Jack isn’t like the other hunters gathered there. While another hunter immediately comes in swinging his stats around and being gleefully bloodthirsty about the prospect of the evening, Jack is polite but quiet, not quite standoffish but definitely not fitting the vibe. He’s quite unassuming, and when the hunter asks if any of the monster heads mounted on the wall are his handiwork, he demurs, only praising the taxidermy work for how good one of the stuffed monsters looks.

Once the monster hunt gets underway, everyone else is out to win at all costs—they all want to be the one to kill the monster, and they’ll gladly kill one another to make that happen. Meanwhile, Jack actively avoids fighting, suggesting when he runs into Elsa that they just pretend they haven’t seen each other. Later, when they’re holed up in the family mausoleum together, he convinces her to let down her guard enough for him to bandage her injured leg.

Jack isn’t there to kill monster hunters, but in fact, he’s not there to kill a monster, either. Instead, Man-Thing/Ted is his friend, and he’s infiltrated the group in order to help him escape. He nearly pulls it off cleanly, until coming into contact with the Bloodstone reveals Jack’s other little secret: he’s a monster, too. A werewolf, to be precise.

Between Jack’s friendship with Ted, his dynamic with Elsa, and his reaction when the hunters capture him with the intention of forcing a transformation so they can kill him, there’s just so much to love about this character. He’s sweet but not suave, confident but not cocky, and above all, he’s a very gentle person. He cares deeply about his friend, risking his own life to try and protect him, and when his secret is out and he realizes what the hunters plan to do, his main objective is not hurting anyone. As Verussa approaches him with the Bloodstone, which will make him change into his werewolf form, he begs her, “Just kill me as I am. Otherwise, there will be no mercy, I promise.” He pleads with his would-be killers, but on behalf of their lives, not his. He asks that he not be made to destroy them and makes it clear that he would willingly die as an alternative.

There’s a moment where Jack’s predicament becomes very real for him, and he goes into overdrive, warning Elsa to maintain eye contact after his transformation and frantically sniffing her. “I need to remember you,” he explains when she asks what on earth he’s doing. “Does it work?” she asks. Softly, he replies, “Once.” That one word makes me want a Werewolf by Night movie/show/Midnight Sons/whatever Marvel wants to give me.

Also? Naming a werewolf character “Jack Russell” is just peak comic book. A+ move right there!