Let's Talk About The Ridiculousness of M.O.D.O.K. in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA
One of the aspects of Marvel’s Ant-Man of The Wasp: Quantumania that fans have enjoyed discussing is the big MCU debut of M.O.D.O.K. His inclusion was one of the weirdest and most ridiculous parts of the movie. The way the character was handled was fun though, and every time he popped up on screen audiences busted up laughing! He was the comic relief in the film.
M.O.D.O.K. has always been a fan-favorite character, but I don’t think anyone was expecting how they worked him into the story. It is revealed in the film that Corey Stoll's villainous Darren Cross from the first Ant-Man movie is the MCU’s version of M.O.D.O.K. Darren was defeated by Scott Lang, by sabotaging his suit which caused it to shrink chaotically. We learn that in this movie he ended up in the Quantum Realm, and the shrinking madness he went through caused him to be deformed with little baby arms and legs and a huge face. He’s working as Kang the Conqueror's enforcer and is sent out to hunt down Scott and his daughter, Cassie.
M.O.D.O.K. was created by Marvel Comics legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. His original name was George Tarleton, and he was an employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.). In the comic book, M.O.D.O.K. was created after an experiment went terribly wrong while trying to increase his intelligence. His brain grew to the point where it stunted his body, giving him his silly strange look.
M.O.D.O.K. was actually a nightmarishly terrifying character in several stories in the comics. But over the years, he has become more of a joke-type character, an absurd villain who sees himself as a powerful and sinister villain. This was the tone of the character that the creative team went with in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and audiences seemed to enjoy it! I enjoyed it! What they did worked.
While he thinks of himself as a brutal and unstoppable killing machine, the funny reactions of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), showed that they saw him as a pathetic person and now he’s even more pathetic as M.O.D.O.K. The whole thing was just goofy, and I accepted that. It certainly gave the movie strong Rick and Morty vibes.
But, I also wouldn’t have minded seeing a truly menacing version of the villain. The comedic route seems like the obvious choice to go with because that’s how the character has been handled in more recent years. I think it would have been interesting to see the creative team take the character and play with him as a true monster, a nightmarish version of M.O.D.O.K. that would scare the hell out of the characters instead of making them laugh and feel sorry about how pathetic he is.
I don’t know! Those are just my thoughts on M.O.D.O.K., what did you all think of the character? Did you enjoy how he was handled? Is there another direction you would have liked to see the creative team go?
