The Guardians of the Galaxy End Credits Scene: What Does It Mean?

Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is in cinemas today and as with all their films there’s a scene hidden at the very end of the film, after the credits have rolled.

The post-credit sequence wasn’t made available to press before release, so we stumped up the cash at our local multiplex to get you the scoop on what happens in that scene.

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Those of you who’d like to remain surprised, leave now – spoilers ahead.

What Happens In The Guardians Post-Credit Tag?

As the credits finish rolling, we cut to Knowhere, the severed head of an ancient celestial being that the Guardians visit halfway through the film.

We see The Collector, played by Benicio Del Toro, sat disheveled amongst the ruins of his building, with a bright green cocktail in hand and a bandage around his head.

The dog in the space suit that we saw earlier in the film (more on him in a minute), trots up to the forlorn-looking Collector and starts licking his face. A gruff voice is heard off-screen asking, “What do you let him lick you like that for?”

The camera turns around and we see Howard The Duck, sitting in a broken display cage, sipping an identical cocktail.

Yes, THE Howard The Duck, the star of the ill-fated and critically-derided 1986 George Lucas film, rendered in CGI.

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“Gross”, he says taking a long audible slurp from his drink. Fade to black, then it sounds like Howard adds “Your burn is going down.”

The screen says “Howard The Duck Created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik”, in case you didn’t believe your own eyes. We didn’t.

It’s not clear who voices Howard in the film, but could this be Nathan Fillion’s long-rumoured contribution? We don’t know for sure at this point.

What Does It Mean?

It’s safe to say, unless you’re a hardcore Marvel fan, you might be slightly disappointed by the brief post-credit scene, especially if you were hoping for an Avengers or even Ant-Man cameo.

However, for comics acolytes, Howard The Duck is a cool little cameo of one of the more obscure characters in the Marvel universe. Talking of obscure characters, the space dog? That’s Cosmo, a telepathic Russian space dog who, in the comics, is the head of security at Knowhere and liaison to the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Does this mean we’re going to get a new Howard The Duck movie? It seems highly unlikely seeing as the 1986 effort, which flopped commercially and critically on release, is still acknowledged as one of the worst films ever made, even if it has the honour of being the first full-length live-action Marvel film committed to film.

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However, the comedy has become a bit of a cult classic, and after the success seen by Marvel bringing the obscure Guardians to the screen, we wouldn’t put it past them.

Will we see a Howard The Duck film announced in the near future? Possibly. Will Howard be back for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’? We’d put money on it.

The wise-cracking talking duck known for his sarcastic sense of humor seems a perfect fit for the world director James Gunn is building.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is in cinemas now.