MARVEL REVISITED #1 - 'Howard the Duck' (1986)

Welcome to ‘Marvel Revisited’! In this article, I’m taking a look back at the Marvel films that came out before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was created in 2008. Before Marvel decided to create a gigantic mega franchise worth billions of dollars, they licensed their characters out to several studios.

Eventually, we’ll get to some great stuff, but to say that Marvel’s first foray into live-action films was rough is putting it mildly. Today, I took a look at “Howard the Duck” and let’s just say… Well, let’s just get to it.

Okay, so you have Universal Pictures distributing a movie based on a Marvel Comic. George Lucas, the mastermind behind what was then the “Star Wars” trilogy, is producing the movie. You also have two solid actors with Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins along with Jeffrey Jones as an actor that is always dependable to be your villain.

With Lucas’ involvement also comes Industrial Light & Magic, the best special-effects house in all of Hollywood. On top of that, you have the writers of both “American Graffiti” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” penning the script. So, just how in the hell did they all fuck up “Howard the Duck” so badly!?

Unfortunately for her, Lea Thompson stars in 'Howard the Duck'.

We’re introduced to Howard, an anthropomorphic duck from Duckworld who is almost immediately ripped from his world and sent spiraling through the galaxy until he crash lands on Earth. He has no idea how he got here or how he’s going to get back.

He’s shunned by almost everyone he meets until he runs into Beverly Switzier (Thompson), an up and coming musician who Howard saves from a couple of thugs. There is also Phil Blumburtt (Robbins), a lab assistant that wants to get famous after “discovering” Howard, but he also wants to get Howard home if he can. Meanwhile, the same thing that brought Howard to Earth may have also brought something more menacing back as well.

So, I hadn’t seen this movie since I was a kid and really couldn’t remember almost any of it, so this was like a first time viewing for me. The only thing I ever remembered hearing over the years was that it was one of the worst movies ever made. However, it has gained something of a cult following over the years, so I went in with an open mind.

Well, that mind quickly closed about ten minutes into the movie. The biggest problem is that it just isn’t that funny and 99% of the time when they go for the jokes, they fall flat on their face. Also, the movie is rated PG though there is enough here that it should have at least gotten a PG-13.

They even managed to convince Tim Robbins to star in this garbage.

That’s another problem with the movie. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be a straight up kids movie or if it wants to appeal to the adults in the audience. Instead, it loses both as it is obvious that the writers gave us a far more toned down version of a comic book character that is made more for adults than he is for kids.

I will admit that there are a couple of special-effects that are kind of fun, especially when the movie’s villain, the Dark Overlord, uses his powers. However, Howard himself looks terrible and I was shocked to learn that they spent $2 million on the suit alone. Why? So it could puff smoke every once in awhile? Or was it so the beak could move just a little bit more than up and down? No matter the reason, the studio spent too much fucking money on this atrocious suit.

Jeffrey Jones stars as a scientist possessed by the Dark Overlord.

Okay, I think I’ve established that the movie is absolute garbage and there is no way in hell that I can recommend it, so I’ll leave you with a fun movie fact. It is perhaps the silver lining that can be taken away from this turd of a movie. “Howard the Duck” bombed so hard that Lucas needed to recuperate financially. This meant that he had to sell off some of his assets.

Steve Jobs stepped in with Disney and he brought Lucas’ company that specialized in computer generated effects and he paid generously for the company to boot. That company was Pixar, the studio that would eventually rise to fame with the release of “Toy Story” in 1995. Therefore, the argument could be made that if we didn’t get this giant shit show, we may have never gotten one of the most celebrated animation companies the world has ever known.

Also, Disney would eventually buy Marvel, so at least we know things didn’t come crashing down for Marvel, either. Even so, “Howard the Duck” was a terrible start for live-action adaptations of characters from Marvel Comics.