Between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and everything released before it, there are close to 100 feature-length major movies based on Marvel Comics. With that sort of output, there are bound to be some duds. But while many audiences might be familiar with recent Marvel misfires like Madame Web or Morbius, which were so derided by their fans that they became a meme and managed to fail at the box office twice, there was a 2005 Marvel offering that flew under the radar and makes those films look like masterpieces: Man-Thing.
An R-rated horror movie schlock fest, Man-Thing currently sits with a 14% Rotten Tomatoes score from both audiences and critics. It has all the makings of a classic B-movie. The writing is corny, the violence and nudity are gratuitous, the editing is bizarre and jarring, and the sound is mixed so inconsistently that viewers will be constantly adjusting their volume.
Then there’s the acting.
Despite being set in the Louisiana bayou, Man-Thing was shot entirely on location in Sydney, Australia. As such, nearly the entire cast is made up of Australians trying their best to sound like they were from the southern United States. The end result is borderline distracting.
But what comic book fans might find the most offensive thing about the movie is how it bizarrely rewrote Man-Thing’s lore.
Man-Thing’s New Origin
In the comics, Man-Thing is Ted Sallis, a scientist working to recreate Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum when he’s forced to inject himself with it, transforming him into the titular monster. But Ted Sallis never even makes an appearance in the movie.
He’s name dropped several times throughout, but the character is never once seen on screen. Instead of being a scientist, the movie’s version of Ted Sallis was an “Indian medicine man” who was murdered by an oil tycoon in a scheme to steal his tribe’s ancestral land. There’s no real origin story offered in the movie. Man-Thing just kind of emerges from the swamp once the villain establishes an oil rig in the swamp and proceeds to slaughter every person he comes across.
Maybe the most notable change to the character, though, is in his powerset. In the comics, his signature power is his ability to burn anyone who “knows fear” simply by touching them. There’s none of that here. Instead, this Man-Thing just impales and rips his victims to shreds, leaving, as the movie’s coroner notes, “swamp stuff growing inside them.”
Despite everything, the movie isn’t entirely without its merits. There are some decent practical gore effects, and the Man-Thing suit doesn’t look so bad, considering the movie it’s surrounded by. Despite any positives, a lot is going against them.
The MCU Proves Man-Thing Has Potential
It took nearly two decades, but Man-Thing did make a live-action return, this time to the MCU proper, in 2022’s Werewolf By Night. In that special, the character was much more in line with his comic book counterparts, though there’s no word on whether he’ll appear in future projects.
But for anyone wanting to witness the original 2005 movie, Man-Thing is currently available to stream for free through Tubi and Pluto TV. It’s a Marvel horror movie that’s scary in all the wrong ways.
