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Throughout its first season, Marvel’s What If…? has managed to flip the script on some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest moments, creating some truly wild alternate scenarios in the process. Amid the madness, though, the show also allows fans to spend time with MCU characters that don’t get as much screen time as the likes of the Avengers or the Guardians of the Galaxy. Seth Green’s Howard the Duck falls into this category and, thankfully, the intergalactic bird gets time to shine here. Now, following the character’s first appearance on the series, Green has shared some wild ideas for future episodes, including one that involves an iconic villain.
Seth Green, who first voiced the MCU’s version of Howard the Duck in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, returned to voice Howard in the second episode of What If…?. In the cosmic installment, Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa is reimagined as Star-Lord and crosses paths with Howard in the Collector’s gallery of living antiquities. While the duck has a few nice scenes, he’s very much a supporting character. When I recently spoke with Seth Green about his work on the show, he shared that he’d love to see some stories that relate to Howard’s past:
I mean, I'd be curious [about] what would happen if Howard the Duck never left Duckworld, right? If whatever that event was that pulled him to Earth never happened [in the original Marvel comics], I’d be curious about that. Or even moreso, if he was sent to some different planet instead of earth. That would be interesting.
As the veteran actor and I discussed during our chat, the Collector wanted Howard because of his unique nature. But one can’t help but wonder how things could’ve turned out for the droll duck had he not been abducted. Green went on to mention another potential story, which would put Howard in a more sinister position:
Like, what if Howard the Duck became the herald of Galactus? ‘Galactus, Galactus, I don't want to be weird, but there's like an entire galaxy over [there], you could probably eat it, you could probably eat it.
If I'm being honest, I would love to see a What If…? episode in which Howard the Duck guides Galactus to his next intergalactic meal and simultaneously busts his chops? It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest idea, and it could be possible at some point in the future, Marvel Studios is now in possession of Fox’s library of characters, and there’s a firm chance that the Devourer of Worlds, the Fantastic Four and others may be on his way to the MCU down the road. You can revisit some of those Fox films by streaming them on Disney+, which you can sign up for using this link.
But Seth Green’s hopes for Howard don’t stop at What If…?, either. Green, who’s also a longtime comic book fan, would love to see an adaptation of a 2016 story that pairs Howard with a notable Marvel hero:
There's an entire Gwenpool series that fits between, like, issue zero and issue one of Howard the Duck or one and two. That's Gwenpool’s whole story, which I really like. So there's a bit of a team up between the two of them that I think could be cool. I don't know if it would work as a live action thing, but it does feel like it would make a lot of sense as an animated thing.
There are an infinite number of possibilities for Howard the Duck within the MCU going forward, and Seth Green’s ideas would make wonderful landing spots for the beloved fowl. And regardless of whether those ideas come to fruition, most would probably agree that the cinematic universe could use a little more of him. Marvel Studios may not be out of luck, but that doesn’t mean they can’t go duck.
What If…? drops new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.
