Captain America Once Became A Werewolf To Fight Wolverine

Comic fans have seen some wild stories of their favorite heroes and villains undergoing strange, even horrifying transformations, but no list of strange superhero transformations would be complete without mentioning Captain America #405 — otherwise known as the story that saw Cap transform into a werewolf… to do battle with Wolverine.

The corruption of a superhero into a monster has produced some memorable tales, from The Punisher becoming Marvel’s version of Frankenstein’s monster, or the nightmare that is the Spider-Man made of actual spiders. But not every one of those formerly-heroic nightmares gets to put their transformation up against Marvel’s deadliest killer – Wolverine. Talk about a memorable Avenger/X-Men mix-up.

The 1968 issue finds Captain America captured and restrained in the lab of Tilda Johnson, better known as the villainous ‘Dr. Nightshade.’ Cap is in trouble from the very first panel, as we see Nightshade injecting him with a a serum, telling the helpless hero to, “get ready to howl.” Within moments, Cap’s face begins to distort, his nose extending into a snout as hair sprouts all over his body and his finger and toenails sharpen themselves into claws. Now in full werewolf mode, Cap-Wolf breaks free of his harnesses and escapes the facility, fleeing into the distance.

Confused and barely intelligible, Cap-Wolf makes a break for the nearby forest, but not before Nightshade’s compatriot Dredmund the Druid orders the local townsfolk to hunt him down, using his powers to transform them into werewolves as well and siccing them on The First Avenger. Cap takes a break in the woods, where he finds himself confused and unable to form complete thoughts in his head – or even speak at all. Suddenly finding himself surrounded by Druid’s freshly-minted werewolf army, Cap decides it’s not worth the fight and easily evades them, with the combination of his super strength and the werewolf serum allowing him to simply leap out of the fray. But it turns out they weren’t the only hairy, fanged adversaries in that forest – and this one comes with adamantium claws.

Wolverine descends from the treetops, ready to fight, but Cap uses his shield (or, as Cap-Wolf calls it, his “shiny thing”) to fend off the first few attacks. He recognizes Logan, but is unable to communicate that they’re allies as Wolverine is unrelenting. Cap-Wolf tries to deflect Wolverine’s attacks, but when he gets three metal claws to the shoulder, the serum’s effects really kick in and Cap goes into full werewolf berserk mode. Slashing Wolverine across the face, before lifting the mutant above his head with one hand and hurling him into the pack of werewolves still in pursuit. Cap-Wolf escapes in the mayhem.

It takes a couple issues, but as is usually the case in comics, things eventually return to the status quo and Cap-Wolf reverts back to the Steve Rogers we know and love. While it’d be great to see a take on Cap-Wolf on film, it’s likely that Chris Evans’ glorious Infinity War beard will be the closest we’ll get. However, between the Morbius trailer dropping serious hints toward vampires existing the MCU, as well as the upcoming introduction of Blade to the universe, we just may be seeing the introduction of more classic monsters onscreen. Even if it’s just once in a full moon.

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