First Look at Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. Animated Series with Patton Oswalt and New Details
Thanks to EW we have our first look at Marvel’s upcoming stop-motion animated series M.O.D.O.K. which is coming to Hulu. Patton Oswalt is set to star in the series, and he will be taking on the role of the megalomaniacal supervillain.
M.O.D.O.K. “has long pursued his dream of one day conquering the world. But after years of setbacks and failures fighting the Earth’s mightiest heroes, M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground. Ousted as A.I.M.’s leader, while also dealing with his crumbling marriage and family life, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is set to confront his greatest challenge yet: a midlife crisis!”
We also have some new details to share with you thanks to interviews conducted with executive producer Jordan Blum, who co-created the comedic series with Oswalt. He said in a statement:
"We obviously love the character as this big villain who is always trying to take over the world and run his evil organization [AIM]. His design by Jack Kirby is so absurd and monstrous that we thought, where does this guy go at night? Does he go home to a house and have all these mundane things he has to do? Does he have a family we never knew about? The more we discussed, the more it just kind of made us laugh and then we tried to figure out well, what would that family be? Who would marry M.O.D.O.K and how hard would it be to be his son or to be a daughter in M.O.D.O.K.'s image?"
The series will explore M.O.D.O.K.’s home life and how he tries to find a balance between running AIM and his demanding family. The series also stars Aimee Garcia (Lucifer) as his wife Jodie, Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) as his oddball son Lou, and Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as his daughter Melissa, who shares her father's striking appearance.
The report reveals that when the series begins, “we learn that M.O.D.O.K. has been a very neglectful husband of late. As M.O.D.O.K. flounders at work, Jodie has found success through her mommy blog-turned-lifestyle brand. This disconnect forces them to reevaluate their relationship, especially after an incident in the pilot captured in the image below.”
I’s explained that things aren't going any better at work because “A.I.M. is on the verge of bankruptcy due to his lackluster leadership. Thus, a Google-like Silicon Valley company named GRUMBL swoops in to acquire M.O.D.O.K.'s evil organization. At first, this seems like a great idea because GRUMBL promises to let M.O.D.O.K. continue what he's been doing — you know, killing henchmen on a whim and fighting the Avengers as much as he wants. Unfortunately, that's not what actually happens because M.O.D.O.K. must now deal with things like a board and H.R.”
M.O.D.O.K.’s main adversary in the series will be Austin Van Der Sleet (SNL's Beck Bennett), GRUMBL's "post-merger-integration-consultant” at A.I.M who elicits quite the reaction from M.O.D.O.K. in the image below. "Even though Austin always kind of smiles and spews corporate jargon at him, [Austin is] constantly gaslighting and manipulating him as M.O.D.O.K. falls further within the organization. He's a much more worth adversary than even Captain America for M.O.D.O.K. because it's a battle of wits between the two."
When talking about finding the right kind of adversary for M.O.D.O.K. Blum said:
"If you're making a show about super villains, you have figure out something more evil [for them to face], so corporations. It seemed like an interesting foe for M.O.D.O.K. to come up again because it's one thing to try to kill Iron Man, but it's another when you have all this corporate red tape. He can't blast his problems away, which is how he solves every problem. It'll be his greatest test: Can he out-smart a corporation and take back control after he unknowingly gives it away?"
This series looks and sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch! The series doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but there’s a virtual NYCC panel taking place later today, Friday, at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT.