Believe it or not, superhero movies weren’t always a thing. Warner Bros. and DC struck gold with the first Superman movies in the early 1980s. Their rival, Marvel struck a deal to bring Spider-Man to the big screen, but it never came to fruition. Instead, the first Marvel character to get his own movie was Howard the Duck!
Howard the Duck was created by writer Steve Gerber, with art by Val Mayerik. He was first introduced in the series Adventure Into Fear featuring Man-Thing, in 1973, before graduating to his own series, drawn by Gene Colon, which was a satire of other comics (including Marvel’s) and other aspects of pop culture.
In 1976, Gerber introduced the All-Night Party, a political party that parodied the Democrat and Republican parties, and the slogan “Get Down, America!” (It WAS the disco era, after all.) This reportedly led to Howard the Duck receiving thousands of write-in votes during that year’s Presidential election. (Democrat Jimmy Carter actually won.)
Howard the Duck was kind of like an underground indie comic that happened to be published by one of the biggest companies in the business. For a time, Howard was one of their bestsellers, and the character appeared on various pieces of merchandise, so it’s not insane that Howard was chosen to be featured in a film.
The movie had the backing of George Lucas, who executive produced. Willard Huyck directed the film, after having worked with Lucas on the original Star Wars, American Graffiti (Lucas’ first major success), and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom among others. Unfortunately, due to the poor reception of Howard, Huyck never directed another film, but he does still work as a screenwriter.
In the film, Howard was a mixture of a live-action performer in a suit, Ed Gale with Jordan Prentice in certain scenes, and puppetry. Chip Zien provided his voice. (As recently reported, Robin Williams was originally attached to voice Howard. Can you imagine?)
Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, Red Dawn) starred as Howard’s human love interest, Beverly Switzer, an aspiring rock star. The film also starred Tim Robbins as Phil Blumburtt and Jeffrey Jones (Principal Rooney in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off) played the scientist, Dr. Walter Jenning who becomes possessed by an alien conqueror and becomes the film’s antagonist.
In the film, Howard originally lives on a planet where duck-people are the dominant species, but he finds himself ripped from that world to Earth, as it turns out, due to the experiments of Jenning and his associates.
On Earth, he befriends Beverly, who is the lead singer of the rock band Cherry Bomb (possibly named after the Runaways song). The band is a multicultural mix, similar to Jem and the Holograms, who debuted on weekend mornings later in 1986. The group’s drummer is named Ronette (played by Liz Sagal). The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group who had a hit with “Be My Baby.”
Cherry Bomb also included keytar-player K.C., played by Holly Robinson, who would go on to star on the hit TV shows 21 Jump Street and Hangin’ With Mister Cooper among other projects. (In case you missed it, yes, I said “KEYTAR!”) The other band member is guitarist Cal, played by Dominique Davalos.
The Cherry Bomb songs were co-written and produced by Thomas Dolby, who scored an MTV-era smash with “She Blinded Me With Science.” Despite the poor box office performance of Howard the Duck, the title song received radio airplay.
Yes, I said it. Howard the Duck was a critical and financial flop, earning just $38 million at the global box office, on a budget of between $30-37 million. At the time, it was criticized for its weak humor and poor acting. While I concede that the humor was not great, the acting isn’t bad at all. Maybe it’s because I’m an ’80s kid, but Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, and Jeffrey Jones are always welcome on my TV! Jones, in particular, gives a brilliant scenery-chewing performance after he is possessed by a Dark Overlord.
Howard also took home four Golden Raspberry Awards or “Razzies,” including Worst Picture.
Because this film was produced by Universal Pictures, it’s doubtful it will ever end up on Disney+ with the rest of the Marvel movies. That, plus the fact that in the opening title sequence there are exposed duck boobs. (But ducks aren’t mammals…. they shouldn’t have mammaries… my brain hurts.) There is also a shot of Howard perusing the latest issue of Playduck magazine, and early on, Beverly finds a condom in his wallet. Also, the fact that the film features an inter-species love story… it’s just… probably not Disney+ material overall.
But despite its failure, Howard the Duck has become a cult classic over the years. Sure, it’s corny in that super ’80s kind of way, but it’s not AWFUL. I mean… maybe it is. But it’s not unwatchable. The budget was pretty huge for the time, so it’s not a cheap piece of schlock. It’s just… misguided.
After Steve Gerber left the Howard comic book, it was eventually canceled and the character has faded into the background of the Marvel Universe, although he has resurfaced here and there, occasionally getting his own book at times.
Recently, there were plans to create a Howard Hulu original animated series, with Kevin Smith attached, but those plans were scrapped after Disney+ was announced and Marvel’s TV division was shut down, in favor of allowing Marvel Studios to create all Marvel film and television material.
Howard the Duck is established as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He popped up in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, voiced by Seth Green. He also had a non-speaking role in Avengers: Endgame. (It’s when Wasp returns post-snap. If you look to her left, Howard is seen toting a rifle into the epic final battle.) So there is hope that he could play a larger role in the MCU in the future.
As for the original Howard the Duck movie, it’s campy as hell, but it’s a short, fun watch if you’re into that sort of thing. Unfortunately, it isn’t streaming for free anywhere, but you can usually find a DVD copy in Walmart’s discount movie bin or you can buy it digitally for pretty cheap.
Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think?
