What Only Hardcore Marvel Fans Know About Werewolf By Night's Elsa Bloodstone And Her Powers
Elsa Bloodstone is long overdue for a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Escapist Magazine even argued as such in an article from March 2022 entitled "Elsa Bloodstone Is the Hilarious Bada** the MCU Desperately Needs." In the new MCU Halloween special "Werewolf By Night," Elsa Bloodstone is finally brought to life by "The Nevers" actor Laura Donnelly. First appearing in the comics in "Bloodstone" #1 in 2001, her character earned comparisons to Buffy Summers of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Lara Croft of "Tomb Raider" in her early days before the writers found ways to make her more unique.
In an interview with Scary Stuff, Donnelly explained her take on the character. "We find her at a point now where she is kind of between two worlds," Donnelly said. "She doesn't know whether she still wants to be involved with [monster hunting]. She has dissociated from her family and her father and all of that world for quite some time and is now coming back to it, and is trying to find herself within that context." Donnelly went on to explain how she finds that to be the most relatable aspect of her character as most people have to reconcile who they were with who they want to be.
In Elsa's first appearance in the MCU, some changes to the character were made to fit the plot, most notably the elimination of Elsa's superpowers.
Elsa's powers are given to her by the Bloodstone
According to Marvel's website, in the comics, Elsa Bloodstone is usually seen with her trademark choker, which contains a tiny shard from the Bloodstone itself, which gave her father powers. The choker gives her super strength, agility, speed, endurance, and regenerative ability. It's unclear if the character would still have powers without the choker. At one point in the comics, she was killed by Nosferatu, but the choker not only revived her, it cured Nosferatu of being a vampire, forcing him to suddenly feel his true age and making him easy for Elsa to defeat. Additionally, she also has her father's magic lamp which can teleport her to places that are "mystical trouble spots."
Elsa is not seen with her choker in the MCU special, but then again, it wouldn't make sense in terms of the plot. In "Werewolf by Night," Elsa is trying to gain possession of the Bloodstone, which she believes is rightfully hers by birthright. If she already had a shard of the Bloodstone giving her powers, it would make less sense that she would want to obtain the full stone.
In an interview with IGN about "Werewolf by Night," MCU czar Kevin Feige said that the Halloween special will have implications for the rest of the franchise going forward. "We are introducing a world that will ultimately become quite important to the future of the MCU," Feige said with his characteristic vagueness. Thus, "Werewolf by Night" opens up the possibility that Elsa will return, possibly even with her powers from the comics.