Honestly, I went back and forth on reporting this rumor. But it wouldn’t be the first time Marvel’s stepped in to reform a bad movie made from one of their comics, and really, where else but in a movie featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy would you insert Howard The Duck?
Yes, we’re talking about the Steve Gerber character. This rumor comes to us courtesy of Stitch Kingdom, which claims they were released the full cast and credits and that, among other things, Nathon Fillion plays a random mook, Rob Zombie voices a spaceship, and that Cosmo does turn up in the movie played by “Fred the Dog.”
The site, which says it has no easy way of releasing the credits, theorizes that Howard might not actually show up in the movie, but instead that Peter Quill was familiar with the infamous ’80s duck softcore starring Lea Thompson. But we’re not entirely sure that’ll be the case.
Believe it or not, Disney owning Marvel and Lucasfilm actually clears up a lot of problems surrounding Howard; Marvel had to cut a deal with the Mouse back in the ’70s to keep using the cigar-smoking curmudgeonly mallard, which, among other things, required him to wear pants, and Lucasfilm was rather embarrassed about how badly the movie bombed and sat on it. So this is actually fairly credible.
On the other hand, it is Howard the Duck. Great though the comics may be, the comic never really recovered from, well, this:
At least the sex scene in Howard The Duck wasn’t scientifically accurate. We’ll find out if Howard has a much-needed redemption August 1st.