Marvel's Bloodstone Family Tree Explained
Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is broadly understood to be the phase of genre exploration. Consider "Eternals," which was essentially a three-hour slow burn about the fallout from religious trauma, and "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law," the only Disney+ series that truly captures the essence of an episodic adventure. Now, there's also "Werewolf by Night," Marvel's first Halloween special. Broadly, the story follows Jack Russel (Gael García Bernal) and Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnely) as they struggle to survive a deadly trial that stands between them and their respective goals. Also, Man-Thing is there!
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the shakeup to Marvel's regular formula was a rousing success, with critics and audiences alike loving the hour-long spooky-adjacent project. Possibly one of the reasons why viewers took to "Werewolf by Night" is that it refused to linger in its exposition. An ominous narrator sets the premise, then viewers are thrown almost immediately into the story. As such, there's room for a little elaboration. Let's take a closer look at the Bloodstone family tree.
The Bloodstone family tree is wider than it is tall
In "Werewolf by Night" (the title is a nom de plume used by Jack Russel for his fuzzier side), it's quickly established that Elsa Bloodstone is the estranged daughter of the late Ulysses Bloodstone (voiced by Richard Dixon), the once mighty leader of a secret group of monster hunters. Ulysses' widow, Verussa Bloodstone (Harriet Sansom Harris), is the steward of the order until a new leader can be selected via the hunt. There's little else provided by the special, but it's enough to make referencing the source material ... difficult. Here's the deal: Ulysses is supposed to be immortal.
Comic lore changes from run to run, but according to his official Marvel biography, in the comics, Ulysses can trace his life back to 8250 B.C. or, to put it another way, Ulysses has been around for over 10,000 years. He wasn't originally immortal — once, Ulysses was a regular dude, a truth which forever changed when he tried to steal a magical gem because it literally blew up in his face. Fortunately for him, a piece of the gem, called the Blood Gem, lodged inside of him and, for whatever reason, bestowed him with immortality.
Now, with this information, although it's probably understood that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing its own thing with the character (i.e., immediately killing him off and ripping the gem out of his corpse), the change makes tracing the family tree a little more difficult. Ulysses notably sired a number of children over the years, and his official Marvel biography suggests that the true extent of his bloodline is unknown, he's THAT busy. Elsa's mom, an archeologist named Elise, is but one of the many women in Ulysses' long, long life. He's a white Genghis Khan.