It's been out almost a whole month and Guardians Of The Galaxy is still surprising everyone. Reclaiming the top-spot at the US box office thanks to a typically lacklustre selection of August releases, much of that success comes from the film's insane rewatchability. The jokes are properly funny and the plot never slows down, making it a great film to revisit. And, of course, many people will want to catch the post-credits scene they may have missed the first time around. The film is so thick with wider MCU plot, giving us our first non-sting time with Thanos, that, with Avengers: Age Of Ultron less than a year away, everyone expected the post-credit tease to be something building the world towards that (or beyond). In a turn that mirrors that pulled off with Iron Man 3 (only better), the scene instead plays up the humour. Taking us back to the Collector's museum, we get an appearance from a cocktail sipping Howard the Duck. Now we did not see that coming. Best known for the bestiality-promoting, George Lucas-produced eighties disaster, the character is actually one of Marvel's most unique creations. Reactions to the scene vary from confusion from regular moviegoers (who now habitually stick through the scrolling text) to sighs from those who thought it was a sign a new take on Howard is on the horizon (which, for the record, could be awesome). What it actually is is Marvel highlighting just how far they've come; three decades ago this character almost destroyed their cinematic prospects, now they've come so far even he can pop up in a big budget version of a D-List comic book.
