The spooky season has officially arrived, and Marvel is getting into the holiday spirit with their Halloween special Werewolf by Night. Director/composer Michael Giacchino brings us a throwback to classic Universal monster movies with the black and white special, which stars Gael García Bernal (Old) as Jack Russell, the titular werewolf and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone. The premise sees Bernal and a group of fellow monster hunters on an all-night hunt, where one of the hunters is a monster themselves. In a new featurette, Giacchino discusses his inspiration for the project, saying “[It’s] a giant mashup love letter to all of these old movies I absolutely loved and lived on growing up,” adding “I love monster movies, because they’re such allegories for feeling different from everyone else.”

At this stage, Marvel is successful enough to gamble on more creative and risk-taking projects (although anything Marvel is sure to be a moneymaker, so the idea of risk is relative). Still, dabbling in different genres allows the behemoth studio to freshen up its roster and provide something new to the audience. Series like WandaVision and Moon Knight have expanded on the Marvel formula to create weirder, more artistic worlds that are creator-driven. But while these are exciting variations on the canon, will all these interesting characters and stylistic choices melt away in the larger MCU films?