Thanks to the recent Marvel Studios Special Presentation Werewolf by Night on Disney+, audiences have been introduced to a whole host of new characters. While the title character has been gaining a lot of attention, the breakout star is without question Man-Thing is also known as Ted. The giant plant-like character has won audiences over and many are wondering when this lovable monster will appear in the MCU next.

Yet this is not the first time the character has been adapted into live-action. Man-Thing was actually the star of his own movie in 2005, simply titled Man-Thing. Yet unlike Spider-Man or the X-Men, Man-Thing’s movie was seen by few and forgotten about quickly. This low-budget flick was originally set to be part of an interconnected Marvel plan years before the MCU, but in the end, became a Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie (before it was rebranded as SyFy). But is Man-Thing that bad? How did this cult hero get his own schlocky horror movie and how it might have shifted the course of Marvel’s future forever?

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Yes, Man-Thing is That Bad

     Lionsgate Pictures

No need to drag this out, Man-Thing is a bad movie. The movie is clearly a low-budget work that has very little interest in the original comic other than pulling a few minor elements from the comics. It essentially crafts its own monster movie and slaps Man-Thing on top of it. It belonged with other straight-to-video Marvel productions of the 90s like the 1990 Captain America film, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Generation X.

Man-Thing’s comics were very much inspired by B-horror movies of the ’50s and ’60s, so on a technical level, it is somewhat appropriate for the character to be imagined in a direct-to-video horror movie that aired on the Sci-Fi network, known for its cheap schlocky original movies. Yet that blend of comic book and real-life cinematic inspiration still does not lead to an overall good film or even an entertainingly bad movie.

There have been a number of reasons listed for why Man-Thing turned out the way it did. Former CEO of Marvel Studios Avi Arad said it was because they did not keep close enough on production as they were filming in Australia. While they might have been a factor in the film, and likely inspired Marvel Studios to take an even more hands-on approach with their characters, the film was actually the result of an early attempt at launching a Marvel movie universe with a studio that paints a more fascinating picture.

Artisan and Marvel Strike a Deal

     Lions Gate Films

In 2000, shortly before the release of X-Men, Marvel Entertainment entered a joint venture with Artisan Entertainment to create 15 projects through movies and television based on Marvel superheroes. These were intended to be low-budget productions as at the time superhero movies were not the box office guarantee they would become two years later after Spider-Man.

Artisan Entertainment was known for acquiring smaller critically acclaimed films like Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project, and Pi. But at the turn of the 21st century, they were looking to break out big and the Marvel library of characters seemed to be their ticket. It even seemed they planned to feature crossovers with their various heroes, an early sign of what Marvel would do when they created their own studio and created the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The deal includes characters like Deadpool, Black Widow, Ant-Man (this is when director Edgar Wright first started circling the project), and Iron Fist which was originally intended to be the first Artisan Entertainment Marvel film with Ray Park set to play the lead role. However, those plans fell through the first and really only theatrical project to come out of this deal with 2004 The Punisher.

The Punisher comics drew its roots from 1970s urban crime films, so it felt like the perfect low-budget superhero to launch this new partnership. Sadly The Punisher underperformed at the box office (it opened the same weekend as Kill Bill Vol. 2). Before The Punisher opened, Artisan was purchased by Lionsgate Pictures which gained the rights to The Punisher and any Marvel projects being developed under the original deal. This meant Lionsgate acquired the second film Artisan had in production: Man-Thing.

Man-Thing Goes From Theaters to Straight-To-Video

The Marvel Entertainment deal with Artisan Entertainment originally was supposed to be for direct-to-video films, but following the box office success of Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man they were updated to theatrical releases. Man-Thing began out as a direct-to-video plan, got upgraded to theatrical, only to be pushed back down to home video release. Man-Thing entered production in 2003 and was the second film Artisan Entertainment planned after The Punisher. By the time production finished Lionsgate has acquired the film.

Man-Thing was originally intended to open in theaters on August 27, 2004, which would have made it the third movie based on a Marvel Comic that year following Lionsgate’s own The Punisher and Sony’s Spider-Man 2. The film was then delayed to hit theaters on Halloween Day 2004 but was then bumped back to 2005 with no release date decided. Reportedly the test screenings for the movie were so bad many people walked out before it finished, so it was decided to release it straight to video as it would be the only financially viable way to make any money back on it. It then premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and a Sci-Fi Original Movie on April 30, 2005. Man-Thing was one of three critically trashed Marvel films released that year, released between Elektra and Fantastic Four.

Man-Thing’s Future

     Marvel StudiosDisney

While Man-Thing’s first film was torn apart by critics, the very fact that it was a direct-to-video film meant that not many people saw it, so the character’s legacy was not really tarnished other than being the only live-action adaptation of the hero for years.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe launched in 2008 with the dual releases of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and it helped realize the idea that Marvel Entertainment and Artisan Pictures had of taking obscure Marvel characters and making them into blockbuster franchises. Shortly after Marvel Studios acquired the rights to Man-Thing and started planting references to him in films like Iron Man 3 and Thor: Ragnarok as well as on the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. With his recent appearance in Werewolf by Night it certainly seems like Man-Thing is back in a big way and will be sticking around for years to come with his first movie nothing more than a minor footnote in his history.