- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for “Avengers: Endgame.”
- The fourth “Avengers” outing teams up dozens of Marvel characters on screen. It may be tough to keep track of them all.
- There’s at least one minor Marvel character you probably missed the first time watching unless you know where to look.
- Visit INSIDER’s homepage for more stories.
“Avengers: Endgame” brings together dozens of Marvel characters on the big screen. There are so many heroes in the film’s final big battle that it’s easy to miss some of the characters who join the fight.
There’s at least one you probably missed the first time you saw the movie.
This is your last chance to head back before spoilers.
When Doctor Strange, Wong, and the other sorcerers begin bringing hundreds of Marvel characters to join the battle against Thanos and his armies at the movie's end, pay close attention to Hope van Dyne's (Evangeline Lilly) big entrance.
While you're focused on Lilly's return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since her disappearance in "Ant-Man and the Wasp," take a look at what's happening on screen to her right.
Some of the Ravagers, including Kraglin (Sean Gunn), can be seen entering the fight. Look closely, and you'll see Howard the Duck is among them.
An eagle-eyed Reddit user named richwhaat pointed out that the character appears in the final battle. Howard the Duck first appeared in 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy" and was a part of the film's post-credit scenes.
Who's Howard the Duck?
Howard was a controversial Marvel comic character introduced in 1973. Disney later threatened Marvel with legal action, saying Howard the Duck's satirical design looked a lot like the Mouse House's famous duck, Donald.
According to a Silver Bullet Comics interview with Steve Gerber, a creator of Howard the Duck, Marvel came to a bizarre deal with Disney that virtually allowed Disney to redesign the character.
The article has since been removed online, but Gerber also spoke about the redesign in an interview with The Austin Chronicle in 2002.
Marvel "literally let another company redesign their own character for them," Gerber said. "I can just picture the Disney artists, hunched over their drawing boards, cackling like hyenas, as they designed the ugliest duck they could possibly imagine. Disney's lawyers and management must have had a real belly laugh, too, when Marvel accepted their design without balking."
Here's how the Howard redesign looked:
The Howard the Duck seen in "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Endgame" is closer to the original vision.
You can read our full explainer on Howard and his history with Disney here.
Follow along with our "Avengers: Endgame" coverage here.
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