Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.: Giant Womb-Wrecking Head

M.O.D.O.K., Tigra & Dazzler, Howard The Duck and Hit-Monkey were announced as animated series coming to Hulu back in 2019. They would be more adult oriented and less family friendly as previous projects. When Marvel Television was absorbed into Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige cancelled Tigra & Dazzler and Howard The Duck as well as a planned live-action Ghost Rider series. I don’t know what the cancelled shows would have been like, but allowing M.O.D.O.K. to go through was a wise move on Marvel’s part. The show is a silly and fantastic addition to Marvel’s stable of entertainment. Just as WandaVision was a unique and different approach to how Marvel had told stories before, Marvel’s M.O.D.OK. pushes the boundaries in the animation department.

Using stop-motion puppetry to bring M.O.D.O.K. to life, it’s another evolutionary step for Marvel in the area of animation…just as Into The Spider-Verse was. Marvel has come a long way since their first animated project, Marvel Super Heroes, premiered in the 60s featuring static animated adventures of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk and the Sub-Mariner. Back then it was more or less cut outs moving across the screen but the series are remembered fondly for adapting actual comic stories seriously. The stop-motion style has been done before on shows like Robot Chicken and Marvel has refined it well for M.O.D.O.K. especially for some of the over-the-top violence in the show. This one is not for the kiddies, folks.

While not the voice I was hearing in my head reading the comics, Patton Oswalt nevertheless does a fantastic job in voicing the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. Instead of being some kind of AIM science experiment, M.O.D.O.K. here is given a family. When young M.O.D.O.K. comes home from school after being bullied and beaten for his enormous head, his mom reassures him that “…one day that big, beautiful, womb wrecking head of yours is going to dream up fantastic things and you’re going to change the world!” Then the show cuts to the M.O.D.O.K. we know battling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Iron Man. M.O.D.O.K. is now the, er, head of the evil scientific organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). He clashes with fellow AIM scientist Monica who tells him he is running AIM into the ground. The organization is now bankrupt and unable to pay its bills (as the electricity goes off). Then Austin Vandersleet (who talks like Bill and Ted) arrives from a company called Grumblr and saves AIM by buying a controlling interest in the company.

When M.O.D.O.K. isn’t trying to take over the world or destroying Iron Man, he’s the, er, head of his family which includes wife Jody, a would be self help guru, and two children: Melissa who takes after her father (a big head in a chair) and Luis who takes after his mom (regular looking people).

At the heart of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is a gift for comic book fans. There are appearances from D-List characters only the fans can truly appreciate. We have the Super Adaptoid who M.O.D.O.K. uses for ridiculous purposes such as turning him into a TV or a blender or even a get-away-van. There are cameos from characters like Whirlwind, The Mysterious Melter, Armadillo, Iron Man and even Wonder Man who begins dating M.O.D.O.K.’s wife after she files for divorce. We even get Fin Fang Foom who now owns a restaurant serving Asian cuisine.