Let’s talk about the ridiculousness of MODOK in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

One of the aspects of Marvel’s Ant-Man from The Wasp: Quantummania that fans have enjoyed discussing is MODOK’s big MCU debut. His inclusion was one of the weirdest and most ridiculous parts of the film. The way the character was handled was hilarious though, and every time he appeared on screen the audience burst into laughter! He was the comic relief in the movie.

MODOK has always been a fan favorite character, but I don’t think anyone expected how they put him into the story. It is revealed in the film that Corey StollThe villain Darren Cross from the first Ant-Man film is the MCU version of MODOK Darren was defeated by Scott Lang, sabotaging his suit which caused him to shrink in a chaotic fashion. We learn that in this film he ended up in the Quantum Realm, and the shrinking madness he went through caused him to be deformed with baby arms and legs and a huge face. He is working as an assassin for Kang the Conqueror and is sent to hunt down Scott and his daughter, Cassie.

MODOK was created by Marvel comic legends Stan Lee AND Jack Kirby. His original name was George Tarleton, and he was an employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). In the comic, MODOK was created after an experiment went horribly wrong while trying to increase his intelligence. His brain has grown to the point where it stuns his body, giving him his strange silly look.

MODOK was actually a terrifyingly terrifying character in several comic book stories. But over the years he’s become more of a joke character, an absurd villain who sees himself as a powerful and sinister villain. This was the tone of character that the creative team came in with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania, and the public seemed to like it! I liked it! What they did worked.

While he considers himself a brutal and unstoppable killing machine, the funny reactions of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangelina Lilli) and Hank Pym (Michele Douglas), showed that they saw him as a pathetic person and now he is even more pathetic as MODOK. The whole thing was just silly, and I accepted it. It certainly gave strength to the film Rick and Morti vibrations.

But I also wouldn’t have minded seeing a truly menacing version of the villain. The comic route seems like the obvious choice because that’s how the character has been handled in recent years. I think it would have been interesting to see the creative team take the character and play him as a real monster, a nightmarish version of MODOK that would scare the shit out of the characters instead of making them laugh and feel sorry for how pathetic he is.

I do not know! These are just my thoughts on MODOK, what do you think of the character? Did you like how it was handled? Is there another direction you would have liked to see the creative team go?