It appears that Marvel Studios is organizing the many, many projects they’re producing by trimming the unnecessary fat or projects that aren’t necessarily needing to see the light of day right now.
On January 22nd Writer/Executive Producer Kevin Smith told sources he was notified that the writing staff on his upcoming ’Howard The Duck’ series had halted developmen.
"I got a text from [fellow executive producer] Dave Willis in the morning saying, 'We got Tigra and Dazzler’d,'" Smith said. "I called him and asked ‘Is that what I think that means?’ And Dave said he had just got the word that there will be no Howard the Duck show. The only explanation was ‘We have no plans for this character at this time,'."
Howard the Duck, Tigra & Dazzler, M.O.D.O.K., and Hit Monkey were all supposed to be a part of a linked cartoon universe set to stream on Hulu. All four series were set to build to a crossover called The Offenders.
The cast for M.O.D.O.K. was announced just days ago, and work will reportedly continue on both that series and Hit Monkey for eventual showing on Hulu.
Smith had no real details about Howard the Duck's cancelation.
"We had a lot of great writers who put in a lot of really hard work and came up with some inventive scripts, but we all got paid, so no one’s complaining," he said. "But we were all there to do the show, so that’s a bit of a bummer."
With Marvel making leadership changes back in October 2019, which saw Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige placed in charge of Marvel TV and publishing as well. It was only a matter of time before planned television projects ceased to see the light of day.
"As a fan of the Marvel Universe, I like Kevin being in charge of things in the sense of everything - comics, TV and movies," Smith said. "It makes sense to have it under one guy, especially the one guy who’s brought Marvel the most success in recent years."
Smith then added...
“Look, by the time What If…? airs on Disney+, this will be a distant memory," Smith said. "People will be like, ‘Look! It’s Uatu! He’s telling his stories!’ So as someone who was working on the show, it’s a bummer. But as someone who’s a fan of Kevin Feige, I’m like, 'Kevin, whatever you say.' He’s the most important Kevin in the universe, the Kevin who must be spared above all others. Even my mother agrees. I’m not offended in the least."
So what do you all think? Are you upset that the Howard The Duck cartoon has been placed on ice indefinitely? Let us know what you think in the comments!