Howard the Duck is back — and he’s got some famous friends with him. Marvel Television and Hulu are developingfour adult-oriented animated seriesbased on second-tier Marvel characters that will culminate in a special one-off crossover event calledMarvel’s The Offenders. Basically, it’sThe Defendersall over again — except, you know, funnier.
Howard the Duck, which chronicles the struggle between “America’s favorite fighting fowl” and his nemesis, Dr. Bong, comes from cult filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks) and animation industry veteran Dave Willis (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Comedian Patton Oswalt andAmerican Dad’sJordan Blum will overseeMODOK, a supervillain story whose star has “a really big head and a really little body.”
Meanwhile,Hit-MonkeybyBlades of Gloryco-directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon will poke fun at Hollywood revenge flicks, whileMarvel’s Tigra & Dazzler Showfollows two superheroines in search of Hollywood stardom.Tigra & Dazzlercomes courtesy of comedian Chelsea Handler and writer Erica Rivinoja.
The Offenderswill combine all five of those heroes join forces into a team that “no one asked for,” and will be overseen by Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb. Loeb hinted that other semi-famous Marvel characters will join the fray inThe Offenders, too. “Wait until you see who the Team Leader is,” Loeb teased in an official statement.
This isn’t Hulu and Marvel’s first team-up. In December,Marvel’s Runawayssecond season launched on Hulu, Marvel parent company Disney is set to control once itsacquisition of 21st Century Foxis finalized. It’s possible that theTigra & Dazzler Showrelies on the Fox deal, too. As a mutant, Dazzler is traditionally considered part of Marvel’s X-Men franchise, which was controlled by Fox, not Disney, until the deal was made.
The cartoons aren’t the only television projects that Marvel has in development, either. A number of live-action miniseries starring established Marvel Cinematic Universe characters are scheduled to air onDisney Plus, Disney’sotherstreaming service.
While all of these characters are established Marvel Universe mainstays — Hit-Monkey, who debuted in 2010, is the newest — these series are the first starring roles for all of them outside of comics, with one big exception. George Lucas’ 1986Howard the Duckwas the very first feature film adaptation of a Marvel property. It is also, according to both critics and audience members, not particularly good.
