Howard the Duck’s connection to Marvel is already a stretch of comic proportions. Episode four of What If…? goes the extra mile, stringing the loveable character into the larger MCU thread in the oddly imaginative role of husband and father with Kat Denning’s Darcy. What shouldn’t work does, making for a delightfully quaint entry.
Continuing the season one narrative from “What If…Thor Was An Only Child?”, Thor’s presence on Earth establishes a more diplomatic contingency between those in the stars and below. This joint inhabitation welcomes another peculiar union — Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and Darcy getting married. Soon, the two newlyweds produce a child, a beautifully white egg. As they experience the anxiety of being new parents, the two are randomly invited to an all-expenses paid cruise courtesy of the Grandmaster himself.
The family of three boards the luxury spacecraft in anticipation. But the parents’ joy soon turns to worry when they discover their beloved child has been hunted to be the evening’s main course. The two seek to escape the disguised paradise only to run into more trouble. Their bundle of joy is a prophecized magical being the entire universe wants to possess. Nicky Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) arrive with S.H.I.E.L.D to confiscate the child for safekeeping; meanwhile, Yondu (Michael Rooker) and the space raiders have a bounty for the child’s arrest. If that isn’t enough, followers of Dormammu seek to present the relic to the magical entity.
As Darcy and Howard barely escape capture, the list of hunters grows. They evade pursuit for help from Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who has grown up with his original family as a frost giant. Their hiding place is exposed once Zeus arrives, followed by Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his select henchmen. The Ducks have all but surrendered when their egg begins to glow. The prophecy is true as the egg hatches, emitting a bright and powerful beam, eliminating the hunters.
The strangest pairing in the galaxy produced a powerful episode about family and belonging, against the odds. The banter between Green and Denning is solid, and they soon are believable as a couple. The episode boasts a lot of original MCU talent, even for the slightest cameos. It’s always a pleasure hearing Gregg as Agent Coulson, the original hero of The Avengers and fearless leader of the underrated S.H.E.I.L.D. TV series. And Hiddleston as this more jovial, content Loki is awesome to witness.
Rating: 8/10