That Time Captain America Became a Werewolf - Comic Tropes (Episode 56)

Mark Gruenwald wrote Captain America for 10 years straight - 1985 to 1995. He created some cool stuff: Scourge, USAgent, Crossbones. But there were a few clunkers in there too, like the time Captain America was turned into a werewolf. But not a werewolf that hunted people and had a bloodlust. He just had extra powers and couldn't talk well. I break down one of the issues and let the actual CapWolf visit and try out his new career in standup comedy.
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[@NoshuHyena]

Compared to the other werewolves, the way Capwolf was drawn makes him look like such a good boy.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Doctor Druid, when you can't get Dr. Strange and Dr. Voodoo won't return your calls.

[@HCC788]

There's a werewolf character called Jack Russell? That joke may be more painful that CapWolf's standup act!

[@gotohellaaron]

I didn't get it at first until I googled "Jack Russell" and found out it was some type of dog.

[@thesoundoffear]

It could have been worse. You know... He could have been bitten by his radioactive terrier... 😂

[@cardsfanboy]

Remember though, Jack Russell was introduced in the early 70's... it was a transitional time in comics... the comic code was relaxing but still it was mostly just a kids book.

[@TupocalypseShakur]

Superhero squad made a joke about it

[@MrTeijo]

Jack Russell needs to be a priest, a sporting parson.

[@stuflames4769]

Capwolf may not be a highly regarded comedian, but I think his jokes are good, his delivery is great, and best of all - he's a nice, clean comedian. Doesn't rely on cursing and filth to be hilarious.

[@MichaelWhismanACBA]

Haha, nice! So many people were surprised when Hasbro released a Classic(ish) Captain America Marvel Legends figure with an alternate CapWolf head.

[@cardsfanboy]

I was ecstatic. I get every Captain America Marvel Legends figure anyway, but this was doubly important to me, and yes I got multiples of it so I would have one permanently as CapWolf.

[@arufle3797]

Nothing brings me more joy than getting drunk and watching this show.

[@dalemark45]

Pretty sure this storyline was the first Captain America thing I ever read as a kid. Somehow he remains a favourite to this day!

[@sharkfinbite]

I remember coming across story online while reading old comics online. OMG. I laughed at this. What dumb ass turns their enemy into a being more DANGEROUS than he already was?

[@cardsfanboy]

to be fair, the concept was that she would be able to control Cap Wolf... but at the same time, Cap had a well established history of being able to overcome brainwashing, (basically since 1941) If Steve Rogers existed in the DC universe, Abin Sur's ring absolutely would have locked on him before Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner or John Stewart.

[@_Dogbeard_]

I loved the old cap stuff - I remember owning an old comic where cap is looking for d-man in an iceworm and it turns out to be jack frost. they fight it together. man i love comics.

[@jackwenus]

I love the cap wolf bits. They genuinely made me laugh a caouple times

[@EndlessLaymon]

I love this channel, easily the best comic channel on KZbin. Capwolf is what happens when 90's Marvel tries to emulate Judge Dredd.

[@Rometiklan]

I never got into Captain America comics, even though I liked the character (limited budget as a kid), so I missed Grenwald's entire 10 year run. It's hilarious how the mask managed to stay on his wolf-face. Ironic that someone with the name Jack Russell would turn into a wolf, right? Anyways, another great vid, Chris! And please don't mind if I use some of those wolf jokes haHA!

[@psychicflora]

A friend has a figure of capwolf, we get a laugh of it from time to time

[@TheZutter]

Captain liefield off in the right

[@ganjjabarsmedium2347]

I have all six parts, so glad I picked them up at the flea market ! 😂🐺🦊

[@memorydrain7806]

Loved Capwolf!

[@RCCarDude]

And you're right to love it.

[@roproart6529]

I got so excited when I saw this video. I thought there was a whole awesome story line I had never heard of about a werewolf Captain; that was good. I probably would have liked it as a kid too though. Keep up the good work!

[@adamgreenspan4988]

16:34 Werewolf-By-Night finally makes a cameo, as you naturally expect he eventually would.

[@oliverl.5834]

I kinda enjoyed that Story back in the day. Gruenwald's run is - all in all - my favorite run with the character. It turned downhill at the end though. Another great Video, btw.

[@cardsfanboy]

Yep... towards the end of his run it became apparent that things were changing in the industry, where the stories all had to be six issues to accommodate the trade paperback sales. Before the rise of trades, you could gradually tell a subplot like caps armor over 18 or so issues, with it culminating in a one or two issue finale... but they were forced to make it a full 6 issue storyline for the most part.

[@RighteousBrother]

Liked Gruenwald's run on Cao - especially with Paul Neary's art. Some good villains too, Flag Smasher, Madcap, Scourge.

[@cardsfanboy]

Gruenwald introduced a lot of great characters, the problem is that he thought of them as comic book villains, and it was happening in an age where people were pushing deconstruction or reality and his characters didn't hold up to their level of arguments... so of course future writers decided to piss on many of these characters because they were clearly comic book villains.

[@samuelchristie570]

@@cardsfanboy I want Flagsmasher back!

[@cardsfanboy]

@@samuelchristie570 Agree... I loved the original one... hated what happened to his character later on.. The guy actually had a point and it was an attack on Captain America's belief system, but his methods was the issue..... same with pretty much any other extreme beliefs (in some ways it was a way to attack religious zealots, without calling them out and to be able to tell comic based stories at the time on those issues, without having to deal with potentially strong negative reactions) At the same time, his belief system is something that could potentially have merit.

[@samuelchristie570]

@@cardsfanboy Could you imagine a modern writer actually trying on this character? Someone who wants to knock all the walls of the world down to unite mankind everywhere and keeps coming up against so called "superheroes" anxiously maintaining the disastrous and divisive status quo. Why do they hate their own brothers? I'd be psyched if Ta-Nahisi Coates took a shot in his current Cap run(Captain America is the perfect foil for Flagsmasher) but I just know no one cares as much as I do.

[@cardsfanboy]

@@samuelchristie570 as long as they don't ruin the character and maintain the quality... I would love it, but for some reason they killed him off in the 2000's and made him some weird ass mutation or something, because the concept of a non-powered person actually being used as an opponent is something that they couldn't comprehend.... I hate it when writers do that.... at least during Civil War and all the super powered people in prison were put in depowered status, that Batroc was mentioned as someone that was well respected... and that is somewhat the point, it's not the powers that make you great, it's your desire and passion....anyone can be a mutant, only a select few can be a hero or a villain.

[@EmoEmu]

I liked his work a lot. It wasn't flashy but it was solid and he had a good grasp on Steve Rogers.

[@RealRoknRollr3108]

Dude your opinion is heresy. Capwolf rocked big time!

[@davegould7016]

Streets of Poison was pretty rad as well.

[@WeWillAlwaysHaveVALIS]

You're off your rocker mate haha!

[@brucegrossman3531]

Loved it and still do

[@jimslav6973]

Is that the one where Cap is all coked up? I think I have those individual issues somewhere. It was off the hook.

[@BF-Gator]

I never thought I'd find captain america appealing but this comic sure proved me wrong!

[@samus88]

Mark Gruenwald was a treasure. Damn, his Cap run was fine. Sure, the final couple of issues weren't the best (I guess "armor cap" was Gru's way to go full 90s), but overall? Legendary run. Plus Gruenwald's work on Squadorn Supreme? Plus his editorial work, Mark's Remarks. Damn, if only he hadn't passed away, maybe he would have become EiC and the 90s would have ended differently. Altho I do love Marvel '98 renaissance era post-reborn, how knows what would have been with Gru leading the way?

[@cardsfanboy]

I'm so upset I never got the special run of the Squadron Supreme trade paperback. I was (and am) a huge Gruenwald fan... " He's the type of writer and editor I imagined I would like to be if I ever had those positions. He enjoyed comics, fully understood the concept and limitations of a shared universe, and even understood the flaws with traditional comic story telling.

[@TheeGrumpy]

OHOTMU (Deluxe Edition) and DP7 were two of my favorites.

[@siratheist1048]

I haven't read it yet but I think there is an arc from when Sam Wilson first became Captain America where he became a werewolf as well. I was pretty familiar with this story so I had a good chuckle when I was going through back issues a few months back and saw that cover.

[@ComicTropes]

Sir Atheist Yeah, that was the work of Nightshade.

[@RCCarDude]

I actually loved this arc. It was so weird and dumb but I loved it.

[@russellsmith1605]

Some classic DadWolf jokes, CapWolf!

[@samt5911]

DC wishes they thought of a werewolf pyramid! Go Cap!

[@Transubstantiate]

The series Werewolf by Night is about Jack Russell, an actual werewolf. Horror and terror are synonyms. That means the subject of the book is Jack Russell Terror.

[@vakash]

HAVE A BISCUIT!! *Tosses a biscuit at capwolfs face.

[@bipolarewok]

I remember founding some of these issues in a Wolfmart

[@kurumais]

moonhunter became caps personal pilot after this story

[@samuelchristie570]

He was before. John Jameson Jr. was the pilot for Cap from Bloodstone on

[@grantbaugh2773]

The story is not good, but the whole thing may be worth it because of the sweet cover we got for issue 405

[@TheVetoSkreeemer]

My favorite story from this run is the New Captain America (John Walker).

[@CougarLeonII]

And years later, during the "Hail Hydra" dark period... Sam Wilson became the new Cap Wolf for a few issues.

[@kurumais]

nick senser did some pretty good call backs ala mark grunwald. moonhunter became cap's pilot after this story. btw nightshade became a supporting character in nighthawk and no one read it.

[@JMD501]

Dude the flowbe is terrifying "it's sucking my will to live".

[@Xehanort10]

7:06 "Dr Druid I will be.....your barber. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA."

[@meaguy3216]

Captain America was coming out EVERY OTHER WEEK at the time...crazy! Marvel did that with Cap, Uncanny X-Men, and (I think) Amazing Spider-Man. Stories for all three were padded.

[@boscopit]

That moonhunter reveal reminds me of when Zodiac in Stampede wrestling got unmasked and the announcer said "I have no idea who that is".

[@leavonfletcher4197]

He also did "City on Ice" as well.

[@sawtooth808]

Streets of Poison

[@NuffunThis]

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it, but Cap was turned into a werewolf back in another issue where Wolverine appears in, so that is why he get lured like the other werewolf characters.

[@TrashmanCZ]

Don´t forget how captain america fought against his evil doppelganger because he just showed up.

[@tripleg2513]

CAP WAS A WEREWOLF!!!!!!! my life is complete

[@stephencollins4480]

I loved this run as a kid! Thank you for doing a video on this!

[@XX-sp3tt]

Why is it 'infamous'? That's a BAD thing. Cap Wolf was FUN and COOL storyline! Why the heck would it be considered a NEGATIVE? THAT'S JUST WEIRD!!!!

[@cardsfanboy]

The reason it was infamous is because of the massive number of needless cameos that was more or less forced on it. This was the 90's and you had to have cameos... Wolverine, X-factor were kinda just randomly inserted into the story for no reason. The story was not nearly as bad as he makes it out to be, heck contrary to his comment about Moonhunter never showing up again, he actually became a member of Captain America's supporting cast after this. And of course Cap becoming Capwolf... in the 90's you had a growing movement of people who hated comic books and wanted "realism" and this story was no where near that, it was a fun story that was basically designed to be a six episode story arc(which was a new thing then) for a trade paperback, but if this story was done a decade earlier it would have been one or two issues, and a decade later it would have taken 12 or so issues.

[@XX-sp3tt]

@@cardsfanboy Given the characters were mostly wolf related, they tied into the theme.

[@cardsfanboy]

@@XX-sp3tt A wolverine is not wolf based... but the point was that the cameos were non-important to the story and just thrown in there to add the name to the cover. Even the most important character in the entire story, Jack Russell, was barely used(at least from memory.... it was a long time ago) Don't get me wrong. I love Gruenwald and loved this story personally, but it was ridiculed nearly from the get go.

[@pbgauthier5487]

Best channel on youtube in my humble opinion

[@joebaker5581]

I know this story isn't the best, but for some reason I just love it. It makes me laugh every time I read it.

[@animalmother8037]

Dr Druid had hair?! Lol

[@jmguinn7029]

Capwolfs stand up material is awesonenesssssss!!!!!!

[@AlVainactual]

7:20 I thought you were going to say "Because Vampires suck"

[@RobotsPajamas]

I love Mark Gruenwald. Fun fact: He went to the small state college that I went to.

[@TheDamnWinner]

Jason Gruenwald went to my middleschool. They arent related at all, but pretty cool

[@adinocc2042]

Maybe someone else's also mentioned it, but there's a Marvel Legends Captain America figure that comes with an alternate werewolf head! Very weird!

[@alexandermacdougall7873]

every time I think I've seen all the old videos ,along comes another one. lol. (not counting the drawing ones...i dont watch those as my artistic talent is limited. I can barely draw a conclusion).

[@ghostly9450]

that's the weird borderline shit that I love about comics.

[@d36williams]

this series got me into comic collecting as a kid

[@goodlookingcorpse]

' searching for the Moon-Gem to become the Star-Wolf' sounds like something out of Rainbow Brite.

[@dragonlordthekingofdragons6373]

I remember learning about Capwolf in a marvel character dictionary abd i remember being amazing and thinking it was a awesome and great idea

[@dragonlordthekingofdragons6373]

I think Doctor Druid was turned into a poison in Venomized

[@johnnyyu9882]

fan correction: the central value is called the median, "average is the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are being averaged"

[@ramiroamorena2352]

I love that issue

[@HiddenHandMedia]

Hey..Looks like you caught me naked by the river with a dead deer...did you know Cpt. America was a werewolf?

[@jaebee81]

American Werewolf in...... America.... Lol

[@aldi404]

And now there's a Capwolf costume in the Avengers videogame 😅

[@jeremy6005]

Moonhunter became Caps pilot later. He didn’t have that costume though. Did you happen to read those issues? Do you know D-Man’s back story? There was a reason why he was mentally unstable and “frequently homeless”.

[@shibolinemress8913]

It can't be coincidence that there's a dog breed called the Jack Russel terrier, can it? So, who was named after whom? And why the name Werewolf by Night? Don't all werewolves transform at night? Not to mention that in the Ultimate Spiderman cartoon, Jack Russel stays a werewolf day and night... 🤔 Side note: That 2-parter with Blade and the "real" Howling Commandos is one of my top favourites in that series. The kid in me, who loved The Munsters, The Addams Family and The Groovy Ghoulies, gives a squeal of glee at every character reveal, even the Monster Truck! 😁

[@jagheerasage9633]

That dentist joke was kinda funny.

[@blckspice5167]

I need more wolf cap puns hahahahha

[@macsnafu]

All those TV sitcoms got one thing right. A laughtrack really *does* get laughs, even for howlers like these! ;-)

[@jessewilley531]

I always heard Why are werewolves better than vampires? Because they don't suck.

[@yaoblack3579]

Nobody talking about how the movie The Howling influenced bipedal werewolf design across mediums, from movies to comics.

[@nagilumsnangilima]

@Comic Tropes: Did you remind them about Robo-Cap? Too bad Gruenwald did not combine the two for Robo-Cap-Wolf!

[@Screwfacecapone]

They missed an opportunity in Luke Cage season 2 when Tilda Swenson didn't turn anyone into a werewolf.

[@spiderphil]

I remember when Captain America was hooked on Meth

[@RamManNo1]

I like to think Gruenwald wrote this on a dare. Most his Cap run is solid. He’s normally a clutch writer. Side note: Moonhunter went on to work with Cap.

[@blaineleavitt3600]

Sounds like Cap Wolf borrowed a joke book from an elementary school library.

[@HamazuraGOD]

CapWolf's jokes had me HOWLING in laughter!

[@romaindanze1512]

Could've been worse, he could have truned into a hedgehog werewolf!

[@AlohaBlade]

There’s one too many Druids in your life... the one you say you love and the one you call your wife... 🎶

[@jamesfletcher3720]

Capwolf was filmed in front of a live studio audience.

[@chrisbeck9011]

I think it's important to note at the time of Cap-Wolf Marvel had made the book bi-monthly( meaning it came out every 2 weeks or is that bi-weekly?). Mark Gruenwald perhaps didn't have as much time to devote to the book as unusual thus explaining the relative poor quality for a relatively good writer while also managing his regular editorial duties. That arch always stands out as a sore thumb espsally compared to Guenwald's Power Broker stuff

[@ComicTropes]

chris beck Bi-Weekly. Yeah, that was a thing Marvel pushed in the early 90s for the summer. It probably did affect the quality.

[@Clay3613]

Glad someone else knows what a Flowbee is!

[@2445elijah]

Why does that blood look like cola

[@erikponciano]

it has a great toy

[@miffedakko9312]

Badshroom I have that one

[@gtmcmahon3058]

I sooo had this issue!!!!!!

[@rickhobson3211]

... JACK RUSSLE... terrier by night

[@jessewilley531]

Feral was a werecat.

[@terciosonic6767]

have you heard ´bout the story that gruenwald had a heart-attack after he read the first issue of cap america by jeph loeb, the guy who did hush ad the colr mini-series, ( who sometimes sucks, sometimes kicks ass) and rob liefeld, the guy who created deadpool and cable (Heroes reborn)?

[@ComicTropes]

Tercio Aragão brilhante filho I have heard that story and I sure hope it's not true. Gruenwald sounded like a sweet guy.

[@MrPhoenixQuill]

Look out, it's Starwolf!

[@walterendres4829]

Shouldn't Jack Russell rather be "Wereterrier by Night"? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Russell_Terrier

[@ezion6032]

Jack Russel is a canine character? Awesome

[@CollegeDroputPowerpoints]

Shouldve called him Captain Awerica. Missed opportunity.

[@rameybutler6555]

I wish they would revisit the acts of vengence side story where magneto kidnapped red skull because magneto was in a death camp in ww2, and the red skull was a nazi. Loved that concept.

[@Bucky749]

I feel like yang from the rwby series would love cap wolf stand up .

[@gabrielurbaniak7810]

I love werewolf by night i love werewolf comics. There should be more. Out there

[@cardsfanboy]

Years before this in my own fan fiction, I had my ersatz Captain America actually get infected with the Werewolf curse....so I was loving this storyline, it went obviously a different direction, but still I loved it... And for people that argued why Cap was able to overcome the conditioning of being a Werewolf that others couldn't, that has always been one of his super powers... he's consistently from the 40's on, has beaten mind control or attitude control, this was no different.

[@JoeJoe-lq6bd]

Gruenwald definitely loved Captain America but his run was so uneven. You could tell when the stories were ones he spent a lot of time on and ones that he just needed to finish to hit a deadline.

[@jdrvargo287]

So what you're saying is, Dr. Druid is the Dr. Nick of Marvel comics?

[@tedstanek2583]

I have this run lol

[@gotohellaaron]

If they forgot to draw blood how come they didn't just draw it in at the end? Maybe they thought that just having the color without lines would make it look like a better effect.

[@Bucky749]

Marvel team Halloween special were wolfs unite ? I didn't reales there so many were wolfs in the marvel universe the only two i knew about till now was jhon Jameson and were wolf by night .

[@jacobstaten2366]

I feel like the "guests" ate a comedic misstep.