The MCU Is About to Introduce Vampires & Zombies - So Why Not Capwolf?


With the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brought to a close with Avengers: Endgame, now is the perfect time explore some of the weirder, untouched concepts from the comic books. The newly announced Blade  will obviously involve vampires, and the Disney+ animated series What If...? hints at zombies. Add in the promised horror of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the MCU appears to be leaning into the supernatural for the foreseeable future.

If the undead will soon prowl the ever-expanding cinematic universe, surely werewolves can't be too far behind. If that's the case, then is it too much to hope Capwolf might make the leap to the MCU? Who's Capwolf, you ask?


As you may have surmised, Capwolf is, yes, a werewolf Steve Rogers. In 1992's Captain America #404, by writer Mark Gruenwald and artist Rik Levins, Captain America is captured by the villain Deadly Nightshade, the Queen of the Werewolves. She had vexed Captain America before, in a story where in which tortured his partner Falcon before turning him into a werewolf.

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Upon her reunion with Cap, she transforms him into a werewolf, although one significantly more in control of his faculties. That dovetails to a story in which Capwolf leads a wolf mutiny against another villain named Starwolf, fighting alongside other wolf-based heroe,s such as Man-Wolf, Werewolf By Night and the mutant Wolfsbane. Wolverine and Cable also show up, because ... it was the 1990s.


The reason the Capwolf storyline has become so infamous is because of, frankly, how patently ridiculous it is. Despite being written in the "grim and gritty" 1990s, its concept reads more like something from a Silver Age DC comic. More modern Captain America comics are known for their political and military intrigue, such as the storyline that reintroduced Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier.

Thus, having such a laughably weird Captain America with which to contrast them also presents the possibility of bringing this side of the character to a wider audience, whatever the reception may be.



As dumb as the concept is, there are now more opportunities than ever to bring this "classic" element of Captain America's mythology to the big or small screen. Produced by Marvel Studios, the aforementioned What If...? animated series would be the perfect avenue to explore outlandish changes to the status quo, and that's exactly what Capwolf is.

RELATED: The Glorious Debut of ... Capwolf!

And as Doctor Strange explores the horrors of the multiverse, a lycanthrope version of the Sentinel of Liberty could be one such fright. It could even be a werewolf that Blade fights, perhaps simply someone wearing a Captain America costume who transforms into a werewolf.

The concept would be a good way to still use the Steve Rogers in some capacity, without having to actually utilize Chris Evans. The actor's appearance in Endgame is expected to be his final turn as Captain America, and ended with him passing the torch (or shield) to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson. Thus, Capwolf could be some version of the Captain America fans know and love, simply turned into a werewolf, therefore permitting anyone to play the character.


As previously mentioned, Mackie's Sam Wilson is set up to become the new Captain America, and will co-star with Sebastian Stan on the new Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Given the turning of both Falcon and Captain America into werewolves in the comics, the chance of someone becoming Capwolf on screen is that much higher -- or at least as high as it possibly can be.

Keep in mind that Bucky has recently gone by the moniker of "The White Wolf" in the MCU, meaning he could very well howl at moon as well. Could. Come on, the fans are demanding Capwolf, in some form.


Nightshade was responsible for transforming Falcon and Captain America into werewolves in the comics, on separate occasions, so why couldn't she do so in the MCU? The character previously appeared in the second season of Luke Cage, still having at least a tangential connection to the dark arts.

Unfortunately, the tenuous-at-best relationship between the Marvel Netflix dramas and the rest of the MCU may keep her from interacting with Falcon and Winter Soldier. This is complicated further by Mahershala Ali, who played Cottonmouth in the first season of Luke Cage, recently being cast as Blade. However, as great as it would be to see a werewolf throw the iconic shield, fans may simply be shooting the moon with this one.

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