"Guardians of the Galaxy" Post-Credits Scene Explained- What Does it Mean for "Guardians 2?"

By Adam Bellotto

Aug 06 2014, 19:19 PM EDT

A lot of people saw "Guardians of the Galaxy" last weekend. A lot. Roughly ninety million dollars' worth of tickets were sold to what may be Marvel's biggest movie of the year.

But chances are, a lot of those people have questions about just who that was after the credits.

Note- there will be SPOILERS for all those that haven't seen "Guardians of the Galaxy" yet.

So earlier in the film, when the Guardians show the Orb to the Collector, and his assistant grabs it and destroys most of his ancient space oddity collection, there are all kinds of little tidbits hidden in various cages around the room. There's a Dark Elf from "Thor: The Dark World," one of the alien slugs from director James Gunn's previous film, "Slither," and there's also a little duck man in a blazer.

And after the credits, we see the destroyed remains of the Collector's outpost, and sitting in one such container, sipping a drink, is the duck. As a dog in a cosmonaut suit licks the Collector, we hear:

"What do you let him lick you like that for?" says the duck. "Gross."

The dog is also a nod to "Guardians of the Galaxy" fans, as the talking cosmonaut dog Cosmo is a major character in the comics. But the duck is none other than Howard the Duck, an infamous Marvel character best known for being sued by Disney (for resembling Donald Duck a little too much) and for being in a truly terrible '80s movie. Although, according to Marvel.com, he's also encountered the X-Men and She-Hulk in various comic books.

Howard's cameo was first picked out by ComicBook.com a few weeks before the film, who noted that in the leaked credits for "Guardians," there contained the words "Howard the Duck created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik."

Some sites, like Nerdist, think that the inclusion of Howard the Duck is a sign that the character may be due for a resurgence, perhaps in "Guardians of the Galaxy 2." But given Gunn's tendency to play jokes on his audience, it's more likely that Howard the Duck is a spoof of the usual Marvel end-credits scene, that hints at future superheroes to come. As a gag, Gunn included the one superhero that no one in their right mind would want to reboot.

Check back soon for more news on "Guardians of the Galaxy" and its upcoming sequel.