The first ever Marvel special has been released for the franchise with Werewolf by Night which has taken the whole world into something similar to a classic horror movie given its black and white cinematography throughout most of the run but why is it like that, though?
Why is Werewolf By Night in Black and White?
Werewolf By Night surprised everyone with how far the Marvel Cinematic Universe could go as this time, it takes everyone to a homage to a classic horror movie with the monsters and cult-ish vibes of the special release. Also, for 95% of the special, it is in black and white.
Michael Giacchino, the director of the Marvel special, shared in an interview with Variety why they decided to put Werewolf By Night into black and white, “In my mind, from the very beginning, it needed to be in black-and-white."
Giacchino added, “I felt like if we were going to do something new in the Marvel Universe, let’s really do something different and bold. Not worry about where it’s going or how it’s going to connect to something else."
Giacchino pointed out that the Marvel Special took the Rod Serling approach, "Let’s take the Rod Serling approach, tell a single isolated story, a night in the life of Jack and Elsa. That’s really what I wanted to do.”
To add to Giacchino's perspective, Brian Gay spoke with ComicBook.com about the decision to have Werewolf By Night in black and white, “I think the black and white is something that makes it special and makes it, I’ll call it just like a little bit of an extra twist on top that makes you, ‘Oh, this is really different and this is cool.’"
Gay indicates that having Werewolf By Night feels new to the MCU, "There’s a stylization to it that not only is an homage to those classic monster movies but just feels new within the MCU.”
To note, it isn't the first time something is black and white in the MCU as WandaVision did it first in their first few episodes given that the series had a transition-like style of telling the story having Wanda go through every episode living a certain time period.
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Still, Werewolf By Night feels different given its genre and its whole vibe. It's something new in the MCU and it fits perfectly for the debut of the characters such as Jack Russell or Elsa Bloodstone.
Either way, Werewolf By Night isn't entirely in black and white as around 5% of the Marvel special had some color like for the Bloodstone and by the end of it, as the long night ended, the screen started to burst with color, showing what the series could have looked like if not done in black and white.
Have you seen Werewolf By Night already? If not, check it out on Disney Plus where it is currently streaming on!