Avengers: Endgame‘s big final battle united just about every hero introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, as the Avengers and co. assembled to take on Thanos and his forces for the sake of the universe. There was even one unlikely soldier in the conflict – Howard the Duck, as noted by eagle-eyed fans who spotted him amongst the crowd.
Marvel Studios VFX lead Matt Aitken later explained how Howard came to make an unexpected appearance in the movie. But does the hero from Duckworld’s presence mean that there are more surprise cameos hidden in the sequence somewhere and fans just haven’t spotted them yet? For instance, should we be keeping an eye out for, say, Man-Thing or Beta Ray Bill?
According to Aitken, no, we shouldn’t get our hopes up. ComicBook.com put the question to the Weta Digital visual effects whizz and Aitken joked that he could play coy but the honest truth is that Howard is the only real easter egg to be found in the sequence.
“No. I could tease it out and say ‘I couldn’t possibly say!’ I think Howard is the big Easter egg that people have seen.”
This makes sense, as there’s really hardly anyone else left who could feasibly turn up for the battle who isn’t there already. Except the original Ant-Man and the Wasp, that is. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have revealed that Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne were originally scripted to be part of the scene, but they were ultimately removed as it was felt there were just two many costumed characters involved.
Howard’s cameo comes after he was cut from Avengers: Infinity War for a “a really good scene,” according to co-director Joe Russo, which may have featured Howard voiced by Community‘s Ken Jeong instead of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Seth Green. Of course, Jeong later played a small role in Avengers: Endgame during the bit where Ant-Man escapes from the Quantum Realm.
