What If's Seth Green Talks Howard the Duck's Marvel Past And Future...? (Exclusive Interview)
Seth Green, a lifelong Marvel Comics fan, joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe when his friend James Gunn asked him to lend a voice to Howard the Duck for Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Since then, Green's voice has been used for the character in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and a couple of episode for the animated What If...? series (including Wednesday's upcoming "Party Thor" episode). Howard showed up in Avengers: Endgame, as well, which came as a surprise to the actor who connected with ComicBook.com for an exclusive interview.
Hopping on a call over Zoom, Green sat in front of a virtual background of a Star Destroyer's command bridge and had his attention immediately go to the collection of mine. As it turns out, the same LEGO Hogwarts castle in my rearview was something he has purchased for a friend over quarantine and he's also a big fan of the sixth-scale Hulkbuster resting on the shelf in sight. All this to say, the Robot Chicken creator is deeply ingrained in geek fandom like many of us so it should come as no surprise that he thoroughly enjoyed What If...? as a comic long before he was a part of the animated series.
"I loved What If...? as a comic growing up," Green said. "I loved the way you would get to see battles between characters that you would never get to see fight, the way you would hear stories or interactions, or just even a chance meeting between characters that never would happen in a normal circumstance, I love that. So getting to see that in an animated series is especially satisfying."
Though the voice coming from Howard the Duck for some fun dialogue opposite Chadwick Boseman's Star-Lord T'Challa in Episoe 2 was new to us, Green hit the recording booth for What If...? longer ago than he is able to recall. "It's a year plus COVID at least," he said. "It was before Endgame came out." Interestingly enough, Green had no idea that his Howard the Duck character was going to show up in Endgame despite already being a part of this future project, at the time!
The full interview with Seth Green can be seen below! What If...? Episode 7 with Green returning as another multiversal versoon of Howard the Duck debuts on Disney+ this Wednesday.
ComicBook.com: I want to start at the beginning, getting involved in What If...?, because you're already a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Now, you take it to the animated series. How did that come about and how long ago?
SG: Oh, geez, I don't know. It's a year plus COVID at least. It's a while, I don't know, it's been awhile. I've lost track of how... Time, it's a circle, right? Time's a circle. I did it quite a while ago, and it's awesome to be a part of it. I loved What If...? as a comic growing up, I loved the way you would get to see battles between characters that you would never get to see fight, the way you would hear stories or interactions, or just even a chance meeting between characters that never would happen in a normal circumstance, I love that. So getting to see that in an animated series is especially satisfying.
CB: I imagine the process might not be too different because Howard the Duck has been in Guardians and Avengers: Endgame but you're voicing an animated character, even though it is a live-action film. I'd love to hear you compare those experiences. Was there anything significantly different?
SG: No.
CB: Are they a little more forthcoming with you or do they keep just as many secrets as the movies?
SG: I didn't know Howard was going to be in Endgame until I saw him come on the screen.
CB: Wait, so did you find out in theaters or something?
SG: Yeah, I was like, "Oh, shoot. Ah, cool."
CB: Did you immediately then call the Russos and be like, "Man I could have hooked y'all up here with some dialogue!"?
SG: No, they wouldn't like that at all. Man, that movie's amazing!
CB: I haven't seen this next episode of What If...? yet, but I believe you are there with Party Thor to some extent. So, I've got to hear a little bit of a tease of what Howard is doing, what it was like? Did you get to work with Chris Hemsworth at all?
SG: No, no, I recorded all my stuff separately, but it was a lot of fun to record, and it's a really, really good episode for all the reasons that you and I like What If...?.
CB: Actually, I want to ask a similar question, because your first episode of What If...? was of course the episode where Chadwick Boseman was Star-Lord. When you're recording these voiceovers, you're not in the booth together, but I'm guessing when you did that episode, nobody knew about Chadwick's illness?
SG: Yeah, it was before Endgame came out.
CB: What does that mean to you now when you look back on it? Does Chadwick's passing alter your perspective of your work on the episode, knowing that you got to voice a scene with Chadwick and it's going to be something that lives forever with part of his legacy?
SG: That's definitely cool, I didn't think about it in those terms. It is obviously... I don't know, he's such a significant and incredible performer, and the performances that he left us with are indelible, right? So, to get to be in a scene with a legend as big as T'Challa is really cool. I only got to meet him in real life once, and it was at the premiere of The Force Awakens, and he had just been cast as Black Panther, so we got to hang out. My buddy, Donald Faison was there, and I think it was John Boyega too, and we were all just sitting there, digesting the fact that a new Star Wars movie had come out, and this guy got to be in it, this guy was going to play Black Panther. It was just a really nice moment, he seemed super cool. But that's really the only time I ever got to interact with him.
CB: On a lighter note, a little bit of fantasy here; Howard the Duck has been in three movies and two episodes of What If...?. In the Seth Green head-canon, what's Howard the duck up to these days in the main MCU? If we see him again, what do you want to see?
SG: Well, it seems like after he got broken out of The Collector's menagerie, he's just sort of visiting planets, checking stuff out, trying to find a hookup on the social apps.
CB: James Gunn says Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the final installment. I know you guys are friends, are you going to be hurt if you don't get the call to go join? Do you know if you're part of it yet?
SG: I don't know if Howard's a part of it, I haven't heard anything about that. The only thing I know is that it's the girls' story, it's the sisters' story, that it's Gamora and Nebula's story. So I don't know if it's a prequel, or if it comes off in the new timeline that's splintered post-the Time Heist. Honestly, I don't know anything about it.
I wouldn't be hurt if Howard's not a central character to the sisters' story.
CB: You don't think we need the Howard the Duck MCU origin story?
SG: I don't know, it's almost like the Hulk, right? Where the Hulk is such a character that you don't necessarily need an origin story. The same way they shouldn't do any kind of Spider-Man origin story, or even a Black Panther origin story. In a real way, that movie is less an origin story than an evolution of this character, post-Winter Soldier.
CB: Last thing Marvel for you, I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you for a ranking. I know it changes depending on what side of the bed you might wake up on, but do you have favorite movies, or are you a little biased because you're a part of a few of them?
SG: I'm a little biased just because there's been... in this new execution, there's so many well-made comic book movies, that I'm satisfied. There's still stories I want to see told, and there's innovations that we have yet to take yet, but man, they're doing such a good job that I'm not wanting for things. My favorite character ever is Spider-Man, it's the most individual comics I ever owned for a character, and the character I related to the most. But after that, it's Fantastic Four, and we have yet to see a good version of them, so I'm hoping that they'll give us the intro we deserve, without necessarily needing an origin story for these characters.
CB: Yeah, hopefully Jon Watts knocks that out, we'll see!
SG: I wouldn't be surprised. It all feels really good. But the movies, obviously, this whole new wealth of movies and shows, it's been phenomenal. I love Civil War, it's probably right up there with the best of these, you know what I mean? And then, I love Homecoming so much.
CB: I think we just became best friends?
SG: It's so good. Everything else is after that, but it's probably right in there, that those do exactly what I want these movies to do, for the characters that I love the most.
CB: The last thing I want to ask you, as a huge Austin Powers fan... You're Scott Evil! Is there anything moving on that front? Do you think anything is going to come up anytime in the near future for Austin Powers 4?
SG: I've definitely heard less rumblings recently than in times past, so I wouldn't put a clock on it.