Howard and the Destiny of the World: when Marvel failed in theaters

Howard and the Destiny of the World

In the beginning it was a duck. Incredible as it may seem, at a time when Marvel heroes in the cinema are gods, supersoldiers or men in hi-tech armor, the first film inspired by a House of Ideas character was not a big hit, but a figure. little known that, incredibly, it became the first experiment in Marvel cinecomics. It was August 1, 1986 when the American theaters welcomed Howard The Duck (in Italian Howard and the destiny of the world), a film that despite the hopes of Marvel became for decades an example on how not to make a film based on comics. Richard Donner's lesson with his Superman, which had marked an era in the early 1980s, seemed to have been completely forgotten, despite some of the hottest personalities of the time behind this particular project.

Thinking about Iron Man, Avengers or Endgame, it seems impossible that the exploitation of the rights of a Marvel character could be misused. If on the one hand this marks a point in favor of the excellent management of the heroic park of the current American publishing house, on the other it cannot make us forget how for years attempts have been made in this direction, a series of timid approaches that have given us the Blade trilogy with Wesley Snipes but also a forgettable David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury. Speaking of cinematic transpositions, Howard and the Destiny of the World still remains the worst experiment in that sense today.

But what went wrong with this movie?

Howard: from comics to cinema

A question with no simple answer. The first perplexity is precisely the choice of the protagonist, a certainly not prominent face in the rich parterre of Marvel's heroes, who could boast many other myths with which to start a serious film serialization project. Past experiences in the television industry, where Spider-Man, Captain America and the Hulk had already arrived with mixed fortunes seemed to show that there was a certain interest in superheroes, and the incredible success of Donner's Superman seemed to indicate that the times were ripe. to bring the metahumans from the comics card to the big screen of cinemas.

From the point of view of comics, the new narrative impulses were leading comic characters to emerge from the last vestiges of the Silver Age, finally freeing them from the limits of the Comics Code Authority and bringing the human side of the hero to the fore slowly, even by launching into a crude examination of the dark side of heroism. In these years small pearls are born such as The Demon in the Bottle, Watchmen or The Return of the Dark Knight, which embody the desire of the authors to portray contemporary society with greater attention, going beyond the concept of pure heroes. A vision that, in a certain sense, contrasts with the image of purity given to Donner by his Superman, and which, if desired, could be partially responsible for the choice of Howard as the protagonist of a film, since he was the perfect representative of a particular trait of comics: satire.

When Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik made their Howard the duck debut in 1973, as part of Adventures into Fear, they could not have imagined that it would be elected as an entrance ticket in Hollywood for Marvel. Foulish, irreverent, at the limits of what is allowed by the Comics Code Authority, Howard is a fierce satire tool, almost an ancestor of Deadpool, capable of changing the narrative register from one issue to another, keeping only his irreverent character unchanged. On the other hand, from an anthropomorphic duck avid cigar smoker you could not ask for anything else, just as it was unthinkable not to imagine that Disney would not bring a millionaire lawsuit, accusing Marvel of plagiarism for having used his Donald Duck as a model. Which was solved in a hilarious way: in one story, the problem of the absence of trousers in the world of Howard emerged, a revelation that led to the introduction of this clothing item, which distinguished the Marvelian duck in a more marked way. from his similar Disney.

This would be enough to make us understand how Howard was the less suitable character to conquer the big screen, in a period in which American society was traversed by strong social tensions that were badly reconciled with parodic intentions or criticism, typical of Howard's early publications. A feature that, however, attracted the attention of a name that at that time was considered one of the stars of the Hollywood firmament: George Lucas.

A paradoxical experience

That Lucas was a fan comics is certainly not a mystery. His Star Wars was born as a fallback for not being able to produce a film about his favorite hero, Flash Gordon, as well as some scenes of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark are a tribute to famous stories from Disney comics, such as Uncle Scrooge and the gold of Cibola. After the incredible success of A New Hope and the first chapter of the adventures of Indiana Jones, Lucas had become a much loved director in Hollywood, part of that gang of filmmakers including Scorsese, De Palma and Coppola that was renamed New Hollywood, for his innovative verve.

STAR WARS: EPISODE VI - THE RETURN OF THE JEDI (US 1983) LUCASFILMS / 20TH FOX GEORGE LUCAS (executive producer) center Date: 1983 For Lucas, the chance to work on a irreverent character like Howard is a very strong temptation, which initially takes the form of an animated film aimed at an adult audience, in the wake of Heavy Metal (1981). The rebellious soul typical of the underground vision of the eighties is perfect for an idea of ​​the genre, but in short, Universal turns the tables and comes up with the brilliant idea of ​​transforming the Lucas concept into a family film, in order to intercept tastes. of a wider target. The mentality of the major imposes itself on Lucas' creative vision, leading to a distortion of the project, a change that is too radical and which becomes the main responsible for the birth of a film that is anything but memorable.

Having to make a film with real actors, Lucas decides to turn to his friend Willard Huyck. Together with Huyck, his wife Gloria Katz also enters the project, whom Lucas knows having studied with both of them at the University of South California and after previous collaborations for two of his films, American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Huyck and Katz then take care of direction and screenplay, trying to make sense of what is becoming an increasingly crazy project. So crazy that not even John Landis, accustomed to directing films like Blues Brothers and Animal House, wanted to direct it, with all due respect to his friendship with Lucas.

The choice to switch to a live action is also due to the presence of Lucas, who with his Industrial Light & Magic showed great things in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. But making a 90 cm duck that moves around the scenes is quite another thing, instead of opting for animatronics Luca decides to re-exploit his contacts with the community of dwarf actors, which has often taken part in his films (just think to the Ewkoks), and managing to convince the actor Ed Gale, former interpreter of Chucky in the horror film of the same name, to wear Howard's feathers.

Only Howard's head was made with an animatronic, requiring five employees who moved all the gears necessary to give expressiveness to the duck. But the costume in which Gale plays is incredibly complicated and poorly made, so much so that Tim Robbins, who plays a rather funny part in Howard and the Destiny of the World, has never made any secret of how this detail was one of the big problems of the film

“Surely we could have done better. From the first day, we realized that it was a duck that was not suitable for the period. Not so much the actors in the costume, as the design of Howard and the characterization of the character "

In fact, Howard had almost nothing of his paper counterpart, giving life to an unattractive character who could not enter in tune with none of the age groups that Universal was aiming for. If in the comics her shoulder, Beverly Switzler was a former porn star saved from the slavery of a powerful alien sorcerer by Howard, in the film her role was rewritten making her the voice of a rock group, the Cherry Bomb, entrusting her face to Lea Thompson , hoping to take advantage of his recent popularity in Back to the Future.

Creating the world of ducks

Even Duckworld, his home world, showed no traits to help complete his characterization. Intentionally similar to the Earth, the planet of ducks is characterized by puns linked to cultural elements of the period, such as Birdweiser beer, instead of Budweiser, or posters of famous films reinterpreted in a volatile key, with Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Ark. Lost that becomes Indiana Drake and the breeders of the lost stork (Breeders of the lost stork), created by the same authors of Becchi (Beaks, instead of Shark, Lo Shark) and Wars of the Poultry (Fowl Wars, instead of Star Wars). Little inside jokes that could be caught by true detail maniacs, but who could not support a film that, even as a plot, showed several gaps, one above all the apparent normality with which the earthlings welcome Howard.

The fault is not only the screenplay, but also the processing times strongly conditioned by the creation of special effects and stop motion shots that take away entire days of work and often require rewriting the screenplay, when the realization of a particular event proves impossible. Not even the legendary experience of Philip Tippet, recognized master of the sector awarded a few years earlier for his work in Return of the Jedi, manages to overcome this bankruptcy.

As the problems grew, so did the costs, and Universal, after having initially believed a lot in Howard and the Destiny of the World, began to think in different terms: let's save what can be saved. The lack of credibility of the film had already pushed a sponsor, Budweiser, to give up having the duck as a testimonial, a warning light that convinced the major to set up an atypical marketing campaign.

The poor quality of the work. made to make Howard, in fact, led to an unprecedented choice: the protagonist would not be seen in the promotional material. All the posters of the film, in fact, contain only a part of Howard's body, and in the images with which he was presented to the press he never appeared in a recognizable way, but always covered by something, whether it was a newspaper or showy dark glasses. >
In order not to clearly show Howard's protagonist and the fate of the world, an unusual idea came from the major: Ducks Calls. In practice, an answering machine that answered the number 1-900-410-DUCK, thanks to which interested parties could listen to, at the modest price of two dollars a minute, the good Howard present the plot of the film, in addition to the other characters, who , through cheap humor, he tried to arouse the interest of the public. Experiment attempted two years earlier by the production of Ghostbusters, which had, unlike Howard and the Destiny of the World, a decidedly greater success.

Also in this respect, therefore, an attempt was made to limit the damage, aware of how Howard and the Destiny of the World were a project doomed to failure.

Howard and the Destiny of the World: a misunderstood cult?

Plagued by all these vicissitudes, on its release to the cinema Howard and the fate of the world turned out to be a resounding flop. Even economically, given that Lucas, who had just finished creating his Skywalker Ranch, was counting on the proceeds of the film to get back on his feet, but this hope was shattered by the poor success of the film. Disappointment that forced Lucas to sell LucasFilm's CG animation division, which was bought for a much higher value by a close friend of Lucas's, as personal support to the struggling director. The fact that it was Steve Jobs and that Pixar Animation Studios was born out of that acquisition should be enough to rehabilitate Howard's good name and the Destiny of the world.

That, years after its release, it can be judged less severely. Despite various ugliness, this cinecomic still has its own charm, made up of pleasant jokes and some interesting ideas, capable of conveying messages that were not taken for granted for the America of the period (from racism to the role) or of mocking the customs of the society of the period, from the feathered version of Playboy to the excess of alcohol. Distinguishable social traits, but which were not enough to save Howard and the Destiny of the world from the dry opinion of the character's creator, Steve Gerber, who even years later had not disposed of his disappointment:

"What can I say ? It sucks. Looking at it now, after eleven years of so many worse movies coming out, it's not as depressing as the reviews might lead us to think. Big problems are still evident, especially the duck costume and the ridiculous voice. I enjoyed the performances of Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins and Lea Thompson, however. Lea was not playing 'my' Beverly, but she still played the role well, according to how it was written. There were rumors about a possible remake of the film, he admitted that Howard and the Destiny of the World was a wrong film, with the main mistake being that he believed that putting a man in a duck costume could work. An incomprehensible thought that was certainly not followed by James Gunn, when in Guardians of the Galaxy he made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, considering it right to give the duck a worthy representation after its disappointing cinematic exploit. A presence that was then repeated in Avengers: Endgame, where Howard appears in the scene of the final gathering of the heroes.

Years later, and after having reviewed Howard and the fate of the world thanks to his presence in the Amazon Prime Video catalog, it must be admitted that all the defects that have always been associated with the film are undeniable, but they are also part of the charm of this film, one of the most exciting guilty pleasure related to the Marvel world. Fortunately, while not being remembered as one of the comics-based films to remember, Howard and the Destiny of the World was not the cinecomics' gravestone, but it did indicate to future directors what mistakes not to make, a lesson perfectly learned by Tim Burton who in the 1989 bewitched the world with his Batman.