Marvel Just Dropped a Gruesome Twist on the Most Notorious Scene in Superhero Movie History

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for What If...? season 3For all the success of UCM era, there have been some dark days in Marvel comic book movies' past, and one of them has taken an even darker turn thanks to 2024's latest big superhero release. Before the MCU, there were several attempts to adapt Marvel Comics, from the early era of the series, with 1940s adaptations of both Captain Marvel and Captain America to the weirdness of the Spider-Man and Captain America films of the late 1970s.

But it wasn't until the 1980s that studios started investing real money in Marvel rights, well before Sam Raimi's release. Spider-Man and the original X-Men films changed everything. It's a forgotten period for Marvel, but in 1986, George Lucas threatened to ruin Marvel's good name with a film so terrible it belongs in a museum. Never Thought I'd Write This, But Marvel's Modern Timeline Just Did Howard the duck more relevant than ever.

Almost 40 years ago, George Lucas made one of the worst Marvel movies of all time

Why would anyone throw over $30 million at a smart duck?!

In 1977, thanks to the success of the first Star Wars film, George Lucas did the unthinkable: he stopped directing. His hiatus lasted until the 1990s, with Lucas taking on the role of producer and writer for several projects that spawned hits such as Maze and Willowas well as a series of failures. No one will be remembered as well as the one he made in 1986 with director Willard Huyck: Howard the Duck.

Marvel's first big-screen adaptation since 1944, and still one of its most bizarre, was destined to become a notorious flop, costing a staggering $37 million to make - for reference, the highest-grossing film of 1986, Superior weaponit only cost $15 million – it barely managed to gross $16 million at the domestic box office. Accounts differ on how instrumental Lucas was in the film's genesis, but he was apparently fascinated by the funny/noir tone of the comic and led its production, opting for the live-action adaptation which increased its cost about the initial plan to make an animated version.

Critics basically attacked Howard the Duck upon release, with Gene Siskel memorably calling it “stupid movie”. Today, the film holds an impressive and terrible 13% on Rotten Tomatoes - 2% below the Morbius event horizon. Despite your failure, Howard the Duck has become something of a cult fascination, if not a classic, and is one of the most surreal things you'll ever watch as a Marvel fan. If you can do that.

Howard the Duck's love scene is the lowest point in Marvel cinema history

As one of the characters says, “This relationship defies all laws of nature.”

It's fair to say that Howard the Duck It has an adult tone and pushed its edgy agenda to the limit for 1986 sensibilities. That's another way of saying that at one point the film includes a love scene between Howard and Lea Thompson's very human Beverly Switzler. Filmed in a moody fashion and prefaced by some hair-raising flirtatious foreplay, the scene pushes the boundaries of common decency, and while there is clearly a playful spirit, it is genuinely uncomfortable. Much is left to the imagination, as the duo ends up being interrupted, but the film he wants you fill in the gaps.

Worse still, the film was absurdly marketed as a family comedy, but it's punctuated by awkward adult moments, raunchy humor, and a long scene in a duck-themed brothel. Oh, and a topless duck with decidedly human anatomy. At one point, Howard interrupts his existential crisis to “appreciate” Beverly’s figure, as the script chillingly captures:

“I gave up trying to assimilate. I have to return to my kind! [notices Beverly’s behind as he watches her crawl across the top of her bed in her underwear] Although I have developed a greater appreciation for the female version of the human anatomy. Aroooo!”

Naturally, outrage followed and even now, decades later, Howard the DuckThe strange foray of furry fetishism stands out against even more mature themes like Dead Pool or Logan. Those ones the newer films wear their R ratings on their sleeves, with hyperviolence and colorful language, but Howard the Duck it was so tonally inconsistent it's shocking. And in one of the most unexpected developments in recent MCU history, we now have what amounts to a sequel to the scene showing the terrifying implications of superhero duck sex.

What if Season 3 went one step further than the Howard the Duck sex scene with a gruesome reveal

Marvel And if...? It's been an opportunity for the studio's animated branch to answer some, shall we say, creative questions using the MCU's multiverse. The final season explores the idea of ​​an evolved Hulk fighting the Avengers, a result of the Emergence of Eternals destroying Earth and the consequences of the Observer's interference. All quite normal.

But then, in And if...? season 3 episode 4, released on Christmas Day no less, the MCU introduces a new Messiah, in the form of Byrdie (later played by Natasha Lyonne in subsequent episodes). And because this might be the most disturbing animated superhero show ever made, Byrdie is the son of Howard The Duck and Darcy (Kat Dennings), who fell in love in And if...? 2nd seasonjoining in with his taste for sarcasm, presumably.

The problem here, and the reason why this goes beyond Howard the DuckThe notorious love scene of, is that And if...? reveals that the result of interspecies sex with Howard is a giant egg. Yes, after they fell in love, the couple got married, consummated like... well, ducks, and Darcy got pregnant and laid an egg much bigger than an ostrich egg. The logistics alone defy the imagination. So if you've ever wondered about the implications of that 1986 sex scene and what could... happen, now you have an answer. Personally, I'm not sure I wanted that.

Is this worse than being asked to imagine the rest of the love scene between Howard and Beverly? I'm not sure we need to debate this entirely, but I'm haunted by the same incentive to imagine what hasn't been shown. And I really have to question why And if...?The film's writing room decided that the question they wanted to ask would ultimately come down to the imminent, unspoken vision of a human laying an egg.

New episodes of And if...? release every day on Disney+ until December 29th