Marvel Studios director Michael Giacchino may have just teased the next chapter in the MCU’s Midnight Sons saga after Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider announcement. Just as Marvel Studios once sprinkled the crumbs for the Avengers and Thunderbolts across multiple movies and Disney+ shows, the Multiverse Saga has laid the groundwork for the Midnight Sons. On the pages of Marvel Comics, the team famously unites supernatural heroes like Blade, Moon Knight, Werewolf by Night, and Ghost Rider against occult threats and demons.
Werewolf by Night director recently spoke with ScreenRant at the world premiere of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and was asked about whether his Disney+ Special Presentation will ever get a sequel. Fortunately, Giacchino had some exciting news to offer as he confirmed that they have been “talking about” Werewolf by Night 2, but explains that “there’s a lot of planning” involved:
“Come on, people, rise up! Let’s do it! We’re talking about it. Everything takes forever to do. There’s a lot of planning. Everything has to fit in a particular place at a particular time. Nothing moves as fast as we’d like it to. But, I hope one day that you will be sitting there watching another ‘Werewolf by Night.’ That’s my hope.”
The Cosmic Circus reported last year that Werewolf by Night 2 was in the works and that it would reunite the original special’s three prospective Midnight Sons members: the titular Jack Russell, Man-Thing, and Elsa Bloodstone. In the four years since his first Halloween special, Giacchino has kept himself attached to Werewolf by Night by writing a one-shot comic, Blood Moon Rise.
As Disney+’s first Werewolf by Night was shot just 6 months before release and spent only on production, a potential sequel may have a fast turnaround time if it ever gets the greenlight at Marvel Television. Perhaps Werewolf by Night 2 could copy the original’s fall release ahead of Halloween, landing either in 2027 or 2028, the latter of which would place it in the same year as Ghost Rider.
Marvel Studios’ 8 Crucial Midnight Sons Set-Up Projects Explained
Ghost Rider (Movie)
Ghost Rider is the latest and greatest addition to Marvel Studios’ upcoming release calendar, officially debuting Barbie actor Ryan Gosling as the Spirit of Vengeance before he reportedly leads the MCU’s Midnight Sons team-up. It’s easy to imagine potential recruits appearing in Ghost Rider to establish
The Phase 7 flick will land in 2028 and may be the perfect prequel to Midnight Sons, as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto is the driving force behind Ghost Rider’s powers, and he is heavily rumored to be the team’s first major antagonist.
Blade (Movie)
Blade has been lingering on the MCU calendar for seven years already, since two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali officially announced the project at SDCC 2019. The vampire hunter is a cornerstone of the Midnight Sons, so, provided his solo movie isn’t canceled, it may be a crucial stepping stone to the team-up.
Supposedly, Blade will be introduced in next year’s Avengers: Secret Wars, forcing Marvel Studios to either commit to or abandon Mahershala Ali. If the Jurassic World: Rebirth star finds his way into Secret Wars, it could make up for Blade‘s potential cancellation by ensuring the character appears before Midnight Sons.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Movie)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may not contain any classic Midnight Sons members, but its exploration of dark magic through the Darkhold and the hints of demons like Chthon make it a clear piece of the supernatural puzzle.
There are characters in the Doctor Strange sequel who could find a place in the MCU’s Midnight Sons, namely the Sorcerer Supreme, Benedict Wong’s Wong. It’s also easy to imagine Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch earning a place on the team, given her dark magic connections and massive popularity.
Eternals (Movie)
2021’s Eternals may have focused on expanding the cosmic corner of the MCU, but there were also glimmers of movement on the supernatural front. Audiences met Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman, who is destined to wield the mystical Ebony Blade and follow in his ancestors’ footsteps to become Black Knight.
The Game of Thrones alum could one day join the Midnight Sons, especially as he may already have links to two expected members. Not only did Blade warn him about the dangers of the Ebony Blade in Eternals, but his day job is at a museum in London, much like one of Moon Knight’s alters, Steven Grant.
Werewolf by Night (Disney+ Special)
The MCU’s classic horror-inspired black-and-white special, Werewolf by Night, debuted three potential Midnight Sons in just 50 minutes. The star of the show was Gael Garcia Bernal’s Jack Russell, who is cursed to turn into a werewolf when a full moon strikes, which could fit epically into Midnight Sons as a white light hits his face and he is transformed into his deadly form at the height of a battle.
The Special Presentation featured an impressive animatronic character in Ted Sallis, aka Man-Thing, a gentle but lethal swamp creature. Lastly, fans met Laura Donnelly’s Elsa Bloodstone, the daughter of a monster hunter who befriended Russell and now possesses supernatural powers thanks to an ancient relic.
Agatha All Along (Disney+ Series)
Disney+’s first WandaVision sequel expanded the MCU’s witchy mythos in notable ways, including the introduction of Aubrey Plaza’s Death. The series also namedropped the Midnight Sons’ expected first foe, as Agatha’s coven wrongly speculated that her son may have become an “agent of Mephisto.”
Interestingly, Agatha All Along introduced a character with strong ties to Ghost Rider: Sasheer Zamata’s Jennifer Kale. The coven’s potions witch is famously the cousin of both Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch’s Ghost Riders, while also having her own ancestral link to the Spirit of Vengeance itself.
Ironheart (Disney+ Series)
Almost nobody would have expected an Iron Man Disney+ spin-off like Ironheart to set up the Midnight Sons, but it may be the most crucial chapter yet. Years after all of the WandaVision theories, the six-episode saga finally brought Marvel’s devil, Mephisto, into the MCU, played by Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen.
The manipulative devil was revealed to have been lurking over the MCU, making deals with important figures and, most recently, both Anthony Ramos’ Parker Robbins and Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams. Now that she has surrendered her soul to Mephisto to resurrect her late best friend, Ironheart is a strong contender to join the MCU’s Midnight Sons, even though she has never before in the comics.
Moon Knight (Disney+ Series)
Moon Knight‘s six-episode run dropped on Disney+ in Phase 4 at a time when Marvel Studios was introducing new characters en masse. The series established the MCU’s take on Egyptian mythology through Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector, aka Steven Grant, in a rather standalone tale that has never been truly followed up on.
Marvel Studios has a major problem to address before Moon Knight joins the Midnight Sons: Spector and Grant believe they are free of Khonshu, while their secret third alter, Jake Lockley, is still under his thumb. That may require either a second season of Moon Knight to land before Midnight Sons to avoid overcomplicating the ensemble movie with old Disney+ narrative threads.
BONUS.) Midnight Sons
Marvel Studios has been developing and building up to a Midnight Sons movie for several years now, sprinkling new supernatural heroes across the Multiverse Saga. The ensemble has potential to be the MCU’s third saga’s answer to Thunderbolts* as it brings together like-minded characters in Avengers-esque fashion, albeit on a slightly smaller scale than Marvel Studios’ premier superhero franchise.
There were once reports that Marvel Studios was fast-tracking a Midnight Sons movie and was searching for a new writer and director after Logan scribe Michael Green moved on from the supernatural ensemble. But that news circulated almost two years ago at the tail end of 2024, and it’s tough to imagine the ensemble being a priority anytime soon now that Ghost Rider is in the mix.
