Infinity War Script Originally Had a Howard the Duck Cameo

Published Aug 13, 2018

Mansoor Mithaiwala is the Deputy Editor of Movies at Screen Rant based out of Orange County, CA. He manages the site's movie teams, overseeing all facets of movie coverage - news, features, lists, and so forth. When not working, Mansoor Mithaiwala enjoys time with his friends and family, and perhaps spends too much time drinking tea. At least it's a healthy obsession, right?

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An early draft of the Avengers: Infinity War script included a cameo for Howard the Duck. As one of the strangest Marvel Comics characters ever created, Howard the Duck has been adapted in various media forms over the years, such as video games, television, and, of course, film. In the mid-1980s, Lucasfilm and Universal Pictures partnered for a live-actionHoward the Duck movie starring Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins, as well as Chip Zien as the voice of the eponymous comic book character.

Due to the movie adaptation being a critical and commercial failure, a sequel was never explored. However, that didn't stop James Gunn from including the character in 2014'sGuardians of the Galaxy. Seth Green voiced Howard the Duck in the movie's post-credits scene, in which the anthropomorphic character was seen having a drink inside what remained of the Collector's vault on Knowhere. Then, he appeared again on theplanet of Contraxia in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. While his current whereabouts are unclear, it seems that he was briefly considered forAvengers: Infinity War.

In an interview withFandom for thehome video release ofAvengers: Infinity War, directors Anthony and Joe Russo revealed that Howard the Duck was in an early draft of the movie's script, which was co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Unfortunately, Anthony Russo says the sequence was cut because "it just didn’t end up fitting at all.” Interestingly, it turns out that Howard the Duck would've come into the movie thanks to a scene with Chris Pratt's Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord. Joe Russo said: “Yeah, it was [Peter] Quill trying to track down some information from Howard the Duck on some outlier planet and interrupting him during a poker game.”

Howard the Duck breaks the fourth wall in his office

What's even more interesting is that Anthony Russo suggests Ken Jeong would've voiced Howard the Duck for the cameo. While that would be a departure from theGuardians of the Galaxy movies in which Seth Green voiced the character, it makes sense given that Jeong played an integral role on the comedy seriesCommunity, which the Russos had produced. In fact, over the years, they've included a number of actors (and even characters,like Tobias Funke) from their past projects in their Marvel films, beginning withCaptain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014. There's no reason thatInfinity War would've been any different.

While Howard the Duck didn't get his cameo inAvengers: Infinity War, that doesn't mean there isn't a chance for him to appear once again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Aside from the fact that he was even considered for the thirdAvengers movie, Thompson recently said that she was planning onpitching aHoward the Duck reboot to Marvel Studios. Although there hasn't been any word on that front in some time, at least Howard the Duck fans know he's on the studio's mind.