Howard the Duck made his MCU debut in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, making a surprise appearance in the movie's post-credits scene. Seth Green lent his voice to the fan favourite fowl and reprised his role in the sequels and Marvel Animation's What If...?.
Eagle-eyed fans also spotted Howard on the battlefield during the final stand against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. Despite that, Green isn't counting his eggs before they hatch when it comes to a possible Avengers: Doomsday role.
Talking to The Direct, the Family Guy star confirmed he hasn't heard anything about a possible return as Howard in live-action. "No, nothing of any substance," he said. "I love [playing the character]. It's one of my greatest privileges. You don't even know, man, how much this means to have done it in all the ways that I have. It's awesome."
Pushed on whether an Avengers: Doomsday cameo is a possibility, Green replied, "I'm pretty sure I would have heard earlier that that was gonna happen. Nobody gave me a tip sheet or teed me up with talking points. So no, I have zero confidence that that's ever going to happen."
The movie boasts enough characters (and is currently missing heavy-hitters like Deadpool, Wolverine, and Spider-Man), so Howard the Duck falling by the wayside isn't hugely surprising. Avengers: Secret Wars is always a possibility for him, too.
For what it's worth, the Russo Brothers did intend to give Howard a meatier role in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. "Howard the Duck was in one draft of the script," Anthony previously said. "Howard the Duck actually had a really good scene... we were going to cameo with [The Hangover and Community star] Ken Jeong, with Howard the Duck. That was a much-beloved scene by us but it just didn’t end up fitting at all."
Joe later elaborated on what the scene would have consisted of. "Yeah, it was [Peter] Quill trying to track down some information from Howard the Duck on some outlier planet and interrupting him during a poker game."
There's always a chance that Green could be a last-minute addition to the Avengers: Doomsday cast, though that will likely hinge on how much of a cosmic adventure the movie is. Plus, we can't discount the notion that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum isn't telling the truth!
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman all make the Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, and Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
The Russo Brothers direct the movie from a script by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Captain America and Avengers franchises.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.