Hulu’s M.O.D.O.K. series is giving the iconic villain his very own TV series, and while it’s a standalone show, it will ruin the character if the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever wants to use him. Marvel has been bringing many of its characters to film and television in the past decade, with the MCU being its most successful move, but the company hasn’t limited itself to just adding characters to its ever-expanding cinematic universe, and there are other projects that take place outside of it.

Among those is M.O.D.O.K., a stop-motion series aimed at a more mature audience and produced by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt. M.O.D.O.K. is a supervillain created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and who made his first full appearance in Tales of Suspense #94 in 1967. M.O.D.O.K. had his origin as an employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) who underwent mutagenic medical experimentation designed to increase his intelligence. The experiments were successful, but they also caused his head to overdevelop, and so he needs a flying chair to move around. M.O.D.O.K. has appeared in a number of video games and animated TV shows, and he’s finally getting his own series, but it has a very different tone that could affect a potential future in the MCU.

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The first look at M.O.D.O.K. was revealed at New York Comic Con 2020, confirming that it will give the villain a comedic tone and the series will be aimed at adults. The animation is reminiscent of that of Robot Chicken, with Oswalt also providing the voice for the title character. M.O.D.O.K. will stay true to the character in the sense of him still being a villain, but will see him dealing with more mundane obstacles while running an evil organization and also doing his best to be a good father and husband. M.O.D.O.K., then, is basically a stop-motion sitcom, and while it’s not bad to give a villain a touch of comedy, it will give the audience a different perspective of what the character is truly like in the comics, and if the MCU ever wants to add him to its world, it’s going to have some trouble shaking that image off.

M.O.D.O.K. could be an interesting addition to the MCU at some point, as his abilities make him a villain powerful enough to go face to face with the MCU’s heroes. Among his powers and skills are superhuman intelligence (of course), enhanced intuition, psionic powers, and the headband he wears enables him to focus his mental power into mind-beams. M.O.D.O.K.’s recurring enemy in the comics was Captain America, and while Steve Rogers is now officially retired from the MCU after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has taken a lot of creative liberties, so Captain America’s absence is no impediment for M.O.D.O.K.’s arrival. However, Hulu’s show, while promising to be quite entertaining, will give a different image of the character to the audience, after which taking him seriously as a villain in the MCU would be very difficult.

Of course, and as Marvel tends to have some extra tricks up its sleeve, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that M.O.D.O.K. has a twist of-sorts where the character will show his truly villainous side, bringing some tension amidst the comedy. The future of M.O.D.O.K. will depend on how the audience reacts to it, as he could carry on with his show outside the MCU or the latter could take him in and give him a chance as the villain he has been in the comic books.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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