How Howard The Duck & Thor Are The Same Movie

It’s been said that there are seven basic plots to all fiction, so it’s arguably not surprising that when you compare different movies based on Marvel Comics — who at this point have had dozens of movies based on their properties — you could find a couple that are the “same story.”

It’s possibly more surprising that the pair Couch Tomato found were Thor and Howard the Duck.

It would be difficult to find a more disparate pair in many ways: Thor, directed by veteran Shakespearean filmmaker Kenneth Branagh, takes itself as seriously as any Marvel Studios movie ever has, while basically every moment of Howard the Duck is slapstick.

(That isn’t to say that there aren’t any stakes at some points in Howard, or any humor in Thor. These are generalizations, people, try to keep up.)

And, of course, as ever there will be those who disagree with all or some of the Couch Tomato video, especially because rather than make broader statements about plot structure, they give “24 reasons” that the films as “the same movie.” That gives anybody who’s potentially offended by the comparison, or even just disagrees, 24 new bites at the apple to rebut. But it’s funny and at least a little bit insightful…just like Howard the Duck.

(Kidding.)

Of course, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe we later learned that both Thor and Howard know The Collector, so who knows? Maybe eventually they can share the screen, share a beer, and swap war stories.

While George Lucas believes they’ll eventually get around to it, there’s currently no plan for a stand-alone Howard the Duck film, and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has indicated that Howard will sit out Volume 2.

Thor: Ragnarok will be released on November 3, 2017, and adds Cate Blancett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, and Karl Urban to the Asgardian pantheon.

Check out these related stories:

5 Quack-Tastic Howard the Duck Stories

George Lucas Things Marvel Will Make a Howard the Duck Remake

Lea Thompson Returns to Howard the Duck

George Lucas Thinks Howard The Duck Could Be A Good Movie With A Digital Duck

James Gunn Addresses The Possibility of a Howard the Duck Movie