Which was the first big-screen Marvel movie? Most of you would probably say Blade. Some of you might think it’s the 1989 Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren. But no, the first Marvel Comics hero to get his own film was none other than Howard the Duck. The comedic character, who was indeed a part of the Marvel universe proper, received a George Lucas-produced film in 1986. Howard the Duck was a massive flop, critically and commercially. And as a report from Slashfilm reminded us, no one hates it more than Howard the Duck comics fan (and current DC Studios co-head) James Gunn. Here’s what he told Yahoo News back in 2017:
I’m a huge Howard the Duck fan. […] For people who don’t know, I’m a huge Marvel Comics fan. But Howard the Duck was maybe my favorite character as a kid. I loved the Steve Gerber Howard the Duck. I went back and I collected all of those comics, I had every comic he was ever in. […] I was young, and I went so excited about it. […] I wasn’t hip with the Caucasian eyelids. That upset me. Because they had the puppet, and it was a duck, and instead of having feathery or white eyelids, he had Caucasian eyelids, and it was creepy.
Gunn gave us a more comics-accurate Howard in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, even if it’s just in cameo form. In those cameos, actor Seth Green provided the voice. Now we know he did it as an attempt to salvage the character, although in a small way. But if Howard has any future appearances in the MCU (he’s already shown up on What If…?) it will likely be based on the version Gunn created. So Gunn’s version of Howard will no doubt have a longer shelf life than this ’80s big-screen counterpart. Which is probably for the best.