Patton Oswalt stars in the new Hulu animated series.
By Chelsea SteinerMay 22nd, 2021, 4:36 pm
As Marvel continues to plumb the depths of their extensive catalogue of heroes and villains, the company’s more obscure characters are getting their moment in the sun. And few are as delightfully bizarre and goofy as M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), a giant-headed genius whose cranium is so packed with evil plans that he can only travel via hoverchair. M.O.D.O.K was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in
Tales of Suspense #93–94 (September–October 1967). In the ensuing decades he kept popping up, battling the Avengers, the X-Men, and many others.
Without context, you’d be forgiven for dismissing
M.O.D.O.K as nothing more than a
Robot Chicken clone overlaid with Marvel theming. After all, it shares many core features with the long-running sketch series, including a penchant for lampooning movies, scatological humour, a few members of the voice cast, and even the same animation provider: Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.
Yet whilst their exteriors are near indistinguishable from one another, when you scratch beneath the surface you’ll realise that
Robot Chicken and
M.O.D.O.K are entirely different beasts. For a start, the latter is consistently funnier and much more heartfelt, recalling (at its best) the heyday of
MODOK Showrunner Jordan Blum on Season 2 Plans, Mutants, and More
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Throughout his career, Jordan Blum has been a part of a handful of American comedy staples. The writer spent some time staffed on the writing team for
Community, and he wrote for (and produced) nearly 100 episodes of
American Dad! Now, the writer has his own show in the form of
Marvel s MODOK, a stop-motion animated series coming to Hulu next week.
Featuring Patton Oswalt as the titular baddie,
MODOK follows the mundane life of one of Marvel s most bizarre villains. By day, MODOK tries to keep his evil criminal organization afloat, only to go home and attempt to salvage his deteriorating marriage. With the premiere of the show right around the corner, we caught up with Blum to touch on the show, its future at Hulu, and the dozens of surprise cameos made throughout the show.