The Marvel Cinematic Universe already starts this month in the 5th phase. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania not only kicks off the new phase, but also lays the foundation for the greatest threat to haunt the MCU for years to come: time-traveling villain Kang (Jonathan Majors) makes his big-screen debut.
Kang or at least one of its numerous multiversal variants is however not the only villain, which is featured in the third Ant-Man film. Another opponent was revealed in the trailer. And its appearance is so bizarrethat author Jeff Loveness is even worried about his job for the Avengers spectacle The Kang Dynasty.
MODOK in Ant-Man 3: Is the weirdest MCU villain too much of a good thing?
He’s a huge head with limbs way too small. And his mode of transportation of choice is a floating chair. MODOK has been one of Marvel’s weirdest but also most gruesome villains since it first appeared in comics in 1967. This month we will MODOK in live-action form for the first time get to know.
Disney
MODOK in the Ant-Man 3 trailer
In an interview with SFX Magazine (via Comicbook), Jeff Loveness reveals that no compromises were made in adapting MODOK’s extravagant and grotesque comic form for the MCU:
Of course we are very faithful to the comicsin terms of design and look, but we’ve added that extra something.
Here’s an example of how whimsical MODOK looks in the comics and most recently in the comedy series Marvel’s MODOK:
Disney/Marvel Comics
MODOK in all its glory
The hovering super head is already demonized by its absurd presence and its enormous and fragile ego Draft Ant-Man 3’s tone in a more slanted direction. Maybe too slanted? At least that is the (not entirely serious) fear of the author:
I might get fired from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, when people see him. But some of my favorite moments are the ones with MODOK and the dynamics that come out of it! […] He’s a ticking time bomb and I had a lot of fun with him.
Not too much is known about MODOK and his specific role within the storyline of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But what we already know: It will be in the MCU not the megalomaniac AIM employee George Tarleton who becomes MODOK (short for Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) through an experiment.
Warning, spoilers:
In this version, MODOK will be the genetically degenerate form of an already known Marvel villain: Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) is back. This shrank to subatomic size at the end of Ant-Man, seemingly killing him. We’ll find out how he got to the quantum plane and why his body was so badly deformed once Quantumania hits theaters.
When is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in cinemas?
The third Ant-Man film, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, opens on February 15, 2023 in German cinemas. It’s the first of three MCU blockbusters to be seen this year. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and The Marvels will launch later this year. You can find an overview of all upcoming Marvel start dates here.
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