LEGION of HOWARDSLEGION of HOWARDS
Membership: Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Howard the Duck of Earth-88011, Mjolnir-wielding Howard the Duck of Earth-20160, Howard the Roboduck of Earth-19171, Sister Howard the Duck of Earth-39251, duck-bill costume wearing redheaded human woman Howard the Duck of Earth-89517 (presumably Beverly Switzler?), Strangeduck of Earth-80118)
Purpose: "Hyperjustice" (whatever that is...presumably justice across the Multiverse?)
Aliases: None
Affiliations: S.H.I.E.L.D. of Earth-616 (notably Leo Fitz and indirectly Jeremiah Warrick...and -- even less directly -- Phil Coulson);
Howard the Duck; (you know...not FROM -616, but lives there; for the rest of the profile, I'm going with the
616-dwelling Howard for conciseness/clarity/because I feel like it);
Unrevealed, if any, connection to the Howard the Duck who died in a park and/or the Howard the Duck who died in an alley (other than they were both apparently slain by Ducanard-15110) or to the Howards glimpsed by Earth-616-dwelling Howard as he prepared to return "home."
Enemies: Ducanard of Earth-15110, Liverer of Reality-12115;
evil-doers in general
Base of Operations: Unrevealed (see comments)
First Appearance: S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (November, 2015)
History:
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The
Legion of Howards, a "cross-existential reality force"
(group of alternate reality) Howard the Ducks that fought for
"hyperjustice," was formed by and/or included <at least>
the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Howard the Duck of Earth-88011, Howard the
Roboduck of
Earth-19171, the Mjolnir-wielding Howard the Duck of Earth-20160,
Sister Howard the Duck of Earth-32951), Strangeduck of Earth-80118, and duck bill costume-wearing redheaded human woman Howard the Duck.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Legion of Howards did not invite the Howard the Duck active on Earth-616 because, well, you know...
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS)
- The Multiversal "Spider-Verse" conflict involving numerous alternate
reality Spider-beings fighting the spider-totem-eating Inheritors led
to progressive spatial anomalies -- an epidemic of strange
coincidences, probability distortions, shifting spatial anomalies, etc.
-- that apparently threatened the entire
Multiverse.
After the "Zipper Unripper" (a
talisman from a parallel Earth that could be used to mend the
"Omniversal zipper") was spat out by the chaos, Earth-616's S.H.I.E.L.D.
mystic agent Jeremiah Warrick determined that it could only be utilized
to mend the damage by a being from an alternate reality.
It was
determined that Howard the Duck could be that being.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS) - The Legion of Howards gathered to "save all of <the> universes" and to oppose the threat of Ducanard of Earth-15110, who felt he was born to create a perfect pate from the blended livers of one single duck who existed in many forms across diverse realities.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 - BTS) - On Earth-616, Warrick and fellow agent Leo Fitz summoned (616-dwelling) Howard the Duck and informed him of his role, after which Warrick magically transported Howard to an alternate Earth (or perhaps a location where realities were crossing-over) to utilize the Zipper Unripper...and then he accidentally transported Fitz there as well.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (fb) - BTS)
- Strangeduck informed the rest of the Legion that the 616-dwelling
Howard had the device needed to save their universes.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - The Legion of Howards encountered the 616-dwelling Howard
and Fitz and introduced themselves, with Howard-89517 taking the lead,
referencing Ducanard, and identifying herself and Howard the Roboduck.
When the 616-dwelling Howard questioned the Legion's story, asking why he had never been invited to join their group, the other Howards all looked away awkwardly (presumably preferring to avoid voicing something like, "because you're a jerk.").
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - As the Mjolnir-wielding Howard-20160 advised the 616-dwelling Howard that he needed to use the tool he had been given to save all of their universes, Ducanard suddenly impaled Howard-20160 with his long fork deal, apparently killing him. Clearly distraught, Howard-89517 screamed "Ducky!"
After Ducanard blew up Howard the Roboduck-19171, explained his motives (in French, but there were subtitles/translation boxes),
and wounded Fitz with his fork-deal, Fitz apparently modified pieces of
Roboduck into a weapon he used to blast and incapacitate Ducanard.
A blast from the giant Liverer them apparently incinerated Ducanard. Seeing the giant, partially open zipper/warp on the Liverer, the 616-dwelling Howard drew the Zipper Unripper, but the Liverer grabbed the 616-dwelling Howard, causing him to drop the Unripper.
However, Sister Howard, aided by Fitz, used the Unripper to grab the Liverer's zipper and pull it down to reclose it.
Howard-89517 noted that it
was working and the zipper was closing, and she grabbed Fitz's foot and
helped pull.
Strangeduck then grabbed Bev's foot, and the Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Howard/Thing/Duck-88011 grabbed Strangeduck's foot and held Howard.
As the zipper approached closure, Fitz noted that
everyone was headed back to their proper realities and they had to stay
together if they wanted to end up back home.
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 - BTS) - Glimpsing and considering multiple other realities, the 616-dwelling Howard nonetheless completed the zipper's closure and returned to Earth-616 with Fitz.
Warrick noted that the Multiversal anomaly had vanished a second before Howard and Fitz had reappeared.
The surviving Howards were presumably sent back to their respective worlds.Comments: Created by Mark Waid and Evan "Doc" Shaner.
It is not clear if the world on
which the Legion of Howards gathered to oppose Ducanard was Ducanard's
world (15110), the Liverer's (12115), one of their own, or a completely
different world.
Was this the world on which they generally gathered, or was it the first time they traveled there?
Without much more than
circumstantial evidence to support my suspicion, the fact that they
were gathered to oppose Ducanard might make it his world...or perhaps
it was the Liverer's because he was the true Multiversal threat the
Legion had been gathered to oppose.
Or something else. Dorcas Farkas.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Legion of Howards have no known connections to:
|
Howard the Duck After Warrick mystically transported the
Earth-616-dwelling Howard alongside Leo Fitz to oppose a Multiversal
threat for which he would need the Zipper Unripper, Howard and Fitz
first arrived in a park to find a dyring Howard leaning up against a tree. They then vanished and reappeared in an alley where they found another semi-humanoid duck dying of a wound to the right upper abdominal region...PRESUMABLY, he had been stabbed by Ducanard-15110, who harvested a piece of his liver and left him to bleed out. Wearing tuxedo-ish suit, a tophat, gloves, and a monocle (left eye), this duck only had time to cough and note, "Remember...me...to Lady Beverl..." before dying. As 616-dwelling Howard began
to vent his frustration and sort of threaten Fitz, the two were
confronted by the Legion of Howards. --S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 Note: He is certainly reminiscent of Scrooge McDrake of Disney's Donald Duck stories...or perhaps Scrounge McDrake of Duckworld. Without much more than circumstantial evidence to support my suspicion, the fact that the Legion were gathered there to oppose Ducanard might make it his world (15110)...or not...if Ducanard was moving across realities to assault Howards, they could have tracked him to his most recent anatocide (I don't think it's a word, but I used the adjective for duck (anatine) with cide (from "cidum," the act of killing)). A younger/chronologically earlier version of this Howard MAY have been glimpsed by Earth-616-dwelling Howard before his return. |
|
(S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10) - As the Legion of Howards closed the Omniversal Zipper on the Liverer, the various Howards were sent to the respective realities. The Earth-616-dwelling Howard saw a number of realities as he sought to return "home." When urged to focus by Fitz, Howard snapped out of and focused on returning to -616. --S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 Note: Big thanks to Mike Castle, Kevin Garcia, HBK123, and Markus Raymond for their guidance in identifying these various Howards! The top left image appears
to show a happy life with a happy family (a wife and two kids;
certainly a daughter and probably a son, although the other child is
cropped out of the image. This Howard used a cane in his right hand,
perhaps indicating a lameness in his left leg (or right leg, if it's Frasier's dad), or perhaps he just found it stylish... Also toward the top left (at the 2 o'clock position relative to the larger family picture) is Howard the Human of Earth-82081's New Quack City, a portion of which was part of Doom's Battleworld, from Howard the Human#1 (2015) Bottom left is the Howard of Earth-199999, as pictured in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie; he was less ugly in the second Guardians movie. Also toward the bottom left (at the 2 o'clock position to the larger Howard-199999 picture) is Howard-58470, from the Howard the Duck movie (1986). Top right is the character Indiana Drake from Earth-86018, which mirrored the Breeders of the Lost Stork movie shown on Howard-58470's homeworld, as shown in the Howard the Duck movie (1986). Central and the the far right, just below Indiana Drake, is likely Howard of Earth-982 ("MC-2"), the blindfold-wearing master of Quak Fu from J2#11 (1999). Also on the central far-right (at the 9 o'clock position relative to Quak Fu Howard) is presumably Earth-2149 ("Marvel Zombies")'s zombie Howard, from Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness#2 (2007). Bottom right, appears to be Webster of
Earth-31232, from Spider-Man Annual (2019), or some other Howard
Spider-Man variant. Let me know if you have further insight to these Howards! |
images: (without ads)
SHIELD #10, pg. 7, panel 2-3 (dying Howard in the park);
pg. 8, panel 1 & 6 (dying and dead Howard in the alley);
pg. 9 (main image);
pg. 18, panel 2 (Howard-chain on zipper);
panel 3 (Howard glimpsing multiple realities);
panel 4 (Howards getting warped back home)
Appearances:
S.H.I.E.L.D.III#10 (November, 2015) - Mark Waid (writer), Evan "Doc"
Shaner (artist) Jon Moisan (assistant editor), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First posted: 09/19/2020
Last updated: 10/11/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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