These days, superheroes are a fixture on the big screen. Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, comics fans and even just regular moviegoers have gotten used to having large scale, action-packed adventures following some of pop culture’s most iconic heroes with excitement for each movie only growing — something that is more evident than ever after CinemaCon’s Avengers: Doomsday footage. However, the popularity of superhero movies hasn’t always been so high and some of the movies fans have gotten, particularly in the pre-Iron Man days were downright weird — and you’re about to miss your chance to watch what might be the weirdest one of them all for free.
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Even from its theatrical release in 1986, Howard the Duck has been an infamous entry in Marvel’s overall live-action lineup. Directed by Willard Huyck, to call Howard the Duck a failure would be a massive understatement. The film was a box office flop, making a mere $37.9 million off a budget that is estimated to have been $30-37 million and, more than that, it was ravaged by critics and still sits at a miserable 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. It features an anthropomorphic duck (the titular Howard) who comes to earth from Duckworld and ends up an accidental superhero and starts a relationship with the human woman he saves from attackers — and that’s just the high notes. The movie is currently streaming on Tubi making it free for everyone, but it’s expected to leave the platform by the end of April.
Howard the Duck Really is That Bad (But It’s Also Become a Cult Classic)
While many times when a movie does poorly at the box office and is also dragged by critics, audiences years later revisit the film and discover that it was better than they gave it credit for. To be clear, that’s not exactly the case with Howard the Duck. The movie is bad, weird, and extremely cheesy, but that is honestly part of its charm. There’s something absolutely bonkers about an anthropomorphic duck from space coming to Earth, finding love, and saving the day. It’s also wildly ‘80s, which makes it a pretty good time even if it’s fundamentally weird as hell.
But even beyond the “what were they thinking” nature of Howard the Duck, there is also a pretty moving story with some deep themes at play. Howard, despite finding love on Earth, very badly just wants to go home and it takes him a little bit of time to realize it’s not going to happen so he has to make the best of the situation. There’s something really relatable in that and even more so in the idea that just as he starts to find his place, everything gets turned upside down when a way back home appears. This heart of the story and the themes within it give Howard the Duck a surprising amount of heart for an extremely weird movie.
Of course, there are some great performances in Howard the Duck, thanks to its pretty solid cast. Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins both star (Thompson plays Beverly, Howard’s love interest) and the supporting cast is solid as well, with Jeffrey Jones, David Paymer, Paul Guilfoyle, Liz Sagal, Holly Robinson Peete, Tom Swerdlow, Miguel Sandoval, and John Fleck all appearing. You can also tell while watching that the cast just had fun — and honestly, that alone elevates the movie and makes it easy to understand why people have come to love and appreciate Howard the Duck over the years. If you haven’t seen it or if it’s been a while since you have, Howard the Duck is definitely worth checking out while it’s still free to stream and, who knows, maybe we’ll see Howard himself return to the big screen at some point since seemingly everyone else in the Marvel Universe is making their way to Doomsday.
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