10 Shocking Cover Ups Marvel Comics Wants You To Forget

Like Jack Kirby before him, Steve Gerber is no stranger to contract disputes with Marvel, as well as other powerful companies. When his satirical character Howard the Duck was unveiled in 1973, he was immediately scrutinised by Disney for bearing a more than striking resemblance to Donald Duck. This didn't stop him from becoming a huge hit with comic book fans, leading to him being the title character in the first ever cinematic Marvel movie in 1986.

However, when Gerber saw the amount of money that the company was making from his creation, he became dissatisfied with his standard "work-for-hire" contract. Even though he had developed a smash hit, he was still only paid by the page and didn't own the rights to Howard. When they started to allow other writers to work on the character, Gerber became so frustrated that he quit Marvel altogether.

He teamed up with Jack Kirby to create Destroyer Duck for Eclipse Comics. This duck's main storyline involved him trying to save his friend, a duck known as "the Little Guy", who had been held hostage and exploited by a thoughtless giant conglomeration called “Godcorp”. It was later revealed that the Little Guy was actually a clone of the original Howard, named Leonard the Duck. Then, in a crossover with Savage Dragon, it was revealed that Leonard was actually the original Howard, and the Howard in the Marvel comics was the clone.

It was essentially a very complicated but very effective middle finger to Gerber's former employers.