A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 237 Cosmo and Howard

The dog and duck that Li Wei wanted were certainly not ordinary creatures.

In fact, anyone who knows a bit about Marvel knows these two very special characters, and they are quite famous.

The dog is Cosmo, the space dog.

The duck is Howard the Bizarre Duck.

The former refers to the time when the character was sent into space during the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Bear" era, as part of preliminary experiments for manned spaceflight.

The prototype is the Earth where Li Wei lived in his previous life, and the Laika sent into space by the Russian Bear Country.

The difference is that Laika in the original world was a mixed-breed stray dog ​​on the streets of Moscow. Not long after being sent into space, she died for various reasons, and her body is still drifting in Earth's orbit decades later, along with the spacecraft that launched her.

In the Marvel Universe, Cosmo is a purebred golden retriever who survives being sent into space by a bear.

Instead, it left Earth's orbit by chance, drifted into space, and then somehow ended up in the hands of the collector.

And very importantly, during decades of wandering in space, Cosmo, for unknown and special reasons, developed intelligence no less than that of humans and possessed extremely powerful mind manipulation abilities—although Levi had not seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and was unaware that this dog had performed exceptionally well against the Supreme Evolutionary Legion and had officially joined the new generation of Guardians of the Galaxy, led by Rocket.

However, Levi had seen the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, in which Cosmo had already begun to demonstrate its intelligence and abilities.

(In the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Collector has sold the Land of No Return to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Rocket Commander Cosmo is hanging up the protective plate.)

In fact, although he hadn't seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it didn't stop him from deducing from various clues in the movie that Cosmo would have a significant role in future Guardians of the Galaxy storylines.

Such a special existence, and also a fellow "fellow countryman" of Earth.

Li Wei certainly wouldn't let it go.

Howard Duck's situation is a bit more complicated.

Unlike Cosmo or Rocket, Howard the Duck is not a biological mutation.

Rather, he is more like a transmigrator like Li Wei—he comes from a duck world—actually, Earth in a parallel universe where ducks are the main intelligent life form.

Like Cosmo, he appeared as a passerby in many scenes throughout the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Like Cosmo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, he was locked in a display case.

However, he and Cosmo were released when the Collector's residence was destroyed by the power of the Raging Power Gem.

In the post-credits scene, he's drinking with the Collector, while Cosmo is licking the Collector's face.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, he appeared on Contrasia, indulging in pleasure.

What few people know is that Howard the Duck also participated in the final battle of Avengers: Endgame alongside the Marauders.

However, there were very few shots of her at the time; it was just a fleeting glimpse of the Wasp when she appeared.

(The duck in the bottom right corner)
It was precisely because of the special nature of these two individuals that Li Wei was willing to pay a price to gain their freedom, in order to enrich the alliance's talent pool to some extent.

However, the collectors' blatant price gouging has really annoyed Li Wei.

You sold the Land of No Return to the Guardians of the Galaxy (Nebula said in the Guardians of the Galaxy special that they bought the Land of No Return from the Collectors, but personally, I think that given the Guardians of the Galaxy's not-so-wealthy assets, the Collectors probably sold it to them at most, and gave it away), put a lot of collectibles there, and didn't have any special requirements.

Why are you raising prices on the spot when it comes to me?

Of course, Li Wei also understood that the Collector gave the Nowhere to the Guardians of the Galaxy, which was essentially a sale or a gift, mainly because the Guardians of the Galaxy had saved him—after all, Thanos had almost completely destroyed the Nowhere in Avengers: Infinity War.

The collector himself was probably beaten half to death before he had no choice but to hand over the Reality Stone. But even knowing this, Li Wei was still very unhappy.

So...should we try to steal it?

With the Power Stone, Time Stone, and Space Stone in hand, why would he be afraid of a mere Collector?
Thinking this, Li Wei's gaze became somewhat unfocused.

"Ah... I suddenly realize I don't really like these two collectibles anymore. If you want them, I'll give them to you at the current price!" Just as Li Wei was considering whether to change the transaction to robbery, the collector suddenly shuddered, then changed his tune and agreed to the deal.

"That's great! Thank you for your generosity. The deal is done!" Li Wei, who was still thinking, heard the Collector's words. Although he didn't know why the other party's attitude suddenly changed, wasn't this a good thing?

So he immediately threw the items he had agreed on, including the magic carpet, onto the collector's table, fearing that the other party might return.

The collector seemed to have no intention of backing out and directly ordered the maid to open the display cases for Cosmo and Howard the Duck.

"Woof woof (Thank you, you saved me! I was locked in that box for decades, I was suffocating!)!" Cosmo pounced on Levi as soon as he was released from the display case.

At the same time as it cried out, Li Wei and his companions were surprised to hear a clear female voice thanking them.

"Wow, that's amazing! Was that you speaking just now?" Jessica exclaimed, looking at Cosmo.

Although Levi had already told them about Cosmo's amazing features before they came.

But when she actually heard Cosmo speak, she was still very surprised.

Mantis and Bullseye also performed similarly.

"So you're a girl?" But compared to the other three, Li Wei's focus was clearly more unique.

Because in the early comics, Cosmo was portrayed as a male dog.

However, in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Cosmo had lines for the first time, but its voice actor was a woman.

However, Marvel has not officially stated that it is female.

Therefore, Li Wei was quite curious about this.

“Yes, I’m a girl. By the way, are you from Earth? Bear people? Did you come here specifically to rescue me?” Cosmo replied, then asked with great curiosity.

“That’s right, we are Earthlings, and we did come here specifically to save you. However, we are not Bear People, because unfortunately, the Bear Country no longer exists. We heard your story and found out you were here by chance, so we came to save you!” Li Wei replied, stroking the other’s smooth fur.

"The bear is gone? That's such a shame." Cosmo was enjoying being petted by Levi. Although he had gained intelligence, after being kept in captivity for decades, his nature as a pet dog hadn't changed much. He still loved his owner's praise and pats.

Even when talking about how the Russian bear no longer exists, although he expressed regret, his tone was full of schadenfreude.

It's not hard to see that although he is very friendly to humans, Cosmo still harbors resentment about being sent into space back then.

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately comforted Cosmo and handed it over to Mantis and Jessica, two little girls who love small animals.

Then he looked at Howard, who was dressed in a suit and walked away leisurely.

"Hello Howard, I think the situation is self-evident. In fact, my purpose is to invite you to join our organization!" Li Wei said, extending an invitation.

"I don't want to talk about anything else right now, I just want to have a drink, is that okay?" Howard Duck didn't agree immediately, but asked in return.

"Of course!"

(End of this chapter)