I don't wanna be the nerd emjoi meme right now, but Marvel's Thor does not talk in Old English. Old English would be incomprehensible to a modern English speaker, since it's a completely different language to what we know of as Modern English. Marvel's Thor, much like every other Norse God of Marvel Comics, speaks in a form of dialect of English, which has many out-of-date words no longer in use, but generally is comprehensible to a modern speaker. But yeah, it was a funny. The MCU should've taken some notes from the show on how you can make Thor say something comedic without him coming off as a half-wit.
Modok was awesome in EMH. Voice actor was on point. His ego was as big as his head and I loved it. The head jokes were hilarious. This MODOK was ok but just felt out of place.
I always thought that Armin Zola from Winter Soldier would’ve been a pretty cool live action take on MODOK if they committed to that idea. Would’ve been a pretty cool way to transplant MODOK into the MCU while keeping the character threatening and serious.
Armin Zola in Winter Soldier is already an adaptation of another comic villain with a similar appearance. He is basically a robot with a tv screen on his chest displaying the face of Zola, and so they nod at the design in the film.
Arnim Zola was on track to becoming Arnim Zola from the comics M.O.D.O.K. is a giant head Zola is a sentient screen controlling a large bio suit ….. making Zola Modok would be like making Zemo the Red Skull
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., despite its low budget, managed to have better pacing, writing, and even fight scenes than a lot of later MCU films. And you can quote me on that. It even has a Ghost Rider that's pretty serious and not treated as some joke.
@Saleem Frazer MCU figth scenes are all really bad, They only manage to be entertaining when they make them pure CGI Look at BWs and Hawkeye figths, they're all full of as many jumpcuts as your average Iron Fist figth scene
@Saleem Frazer 5 was mostly CGI 6 is one of the most outgreious uses of jump cuts 9 was cgi And i think you'll see the pattern that most of the good ones are from Russo directed movies, they're the only ones who knew how to coreograph fights
@Saleem Frazer agents of shield and daredevil are definitely better than most MCU fight scenes. Only Shang chi and captain America films are better. The rest are shit. Old marv TV was made for people who like marvel comics in general not just MCU fans and what they expect. Jessica Jones didn't have good fight scenes but it didn't need to. Agents of shield However offered everything. Best romance best heel turns most diverse sub genres huge status quo shifts every season. Fantastic humor and scientific explanations for everything with the same spirit of wonder that stan Lee originally brought to the comics. Then daredevil I the complete package on a totally different level. New marvel Disney plus just doesn't feel that same. Wanda vision was experimental and took risks I still think its the peak of Disney plus. Loki had good music. Ms marvel could have been good but they made her green lantern and the villain sucked. Moon knight should have been a cheaply made marvel Netflix show. Sure it would be less of a spectacle but no one will convince me the writing would not have been better than what we got. Don't even get me started on she hulk. Its not anti feminist thing. I loved agent Carter. That show deserves another season before she hulk deserves a second season.
@@AbsoluteAbsurd The gameplay for Avengers was my only complaint. The story and the designs are absolutely amazing. They made the characters so relatable and likeable. Hulk and Thor felt like actual threats and not jokes. Black Widow and both Hawkeyes didn't feel wasted. Iron man was cocky and funny. Captain America was the glue and inspiring leader the avengers relied on. Kamala was also a great addition to the team as well. Bonus Hank Pym wasn't an old man and still reliable to the story. Modok and other villains felt like actual villains and where threatening. Do wish the MCU stopped wasting there villains it's getting annoying.
@@lilgoomy 😂😂😂😂😂 Do something different? Are you trolling? The Avengers game shamelessly rips off the X-men comics and has turns A.I.M into the Sentinel program. How is that different?
After seeing what the MCU did with Hydra, I was hoping that in Phase 4 we'd see MODOK and AIM introduced in a similar way as a reoccurring background threat, providing suits and funding for other villains or maybe opening the next Avengers film with an action scene of AIM and MODOK versus the Avengers, defeating him and throwing him in the Raft. The MCU doesn't tend to do much in the way of reoccurring villains or even background everyday lower level threats, we never see a film set on earth open with the hero stopping a supervillain from committing a street level crime, which to me would add a lot of further worldbuilding (easy way to give Spider-Man his rogues gallery), I think MODOK could have acted as that for the more general Avengers characters. He'd maybe only showed up two or three times mostly as cameo roles, with him being played as an annoyance more so than a genuine threat. That could allow for him to initially be more serious, then he essentially becomes a reoccurring joke, paralleling the actual evolution the character went through in comics. With that he'd get his own distinct role within the MCU where he highlights that there are villains the Avengers deal with between films that aren't epic world ending threats. I've yet to see Quantumania so I'll wait and see whatever it is they do with him in that film, so whilst a part of me is disappointed that we're not getting him as the crazy science experiment running an organization of crazy scientists, I'm still curious as to what they do with him. To me MODOK is far from an epic menacing villain, but to me he'd probably crack the top 20 general Marvel villains purely for how memorable of a design he is, and the whole AIM aspect gives him his own corner of the universe.
He is a comedic character, i honestly din't really have as much issues as the rest when watching the movie cuz i already expected for it to take a more comedic take
MODOK in Iron Man: Armored Adventures was really cool and underrated. He had a cool redesign and felt like a genuine threat. Just ignore his appearance in season 2.
Something I think was an interesting understated change to M.O.D.O.K. that EMH did was slightly shift the acronym while still allowing the name to be stated. Instead of being his classic Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, EMH's version was the Mental Organism Designed Only for Conquest; They replaced the K with a C, and it's even implied that M.O.D.O.C. themself altered this terminology and and acronym when he took control of A.I.M.
@Taha Mechta honestly not a clue. I was working most of the time when the show was on so only saw a few episodes with my kids. So could be completely wrong on the abbreviation meaning.
Actually, I think that bolsters the argument that the show is canon. If they originally gave permission to Agents of SHIELD to use MODOK but then told them not to use him, that shows the movie-side was still working with the television-side to make sure there were no later continuity problems.
My man, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Lady Sif appeared on the show, they where clearly working together with the MCU on the beggining of AoS. They even did an entire season around Winter Soldier and the Hydra stuff The problem is that after the first seasons, the movies started to push AoS to the side and not include any conection at all, so now we don't know if the MCU consider it on the same universe as the movies anymore, just like Daredevil :/
@@Adriel013 at this point considering gravitonium was never brought up, or even mentioned when several earthquakes were taking place because of an insane general, and a whole robot-based species was invading yet never brought up, or a whole alternate dimension species connected to all powerful monoliths being never even hinted at, I think it’s safe to say they have diverged themselves from continuity
I feel like this is one of the major issues with the MCU today. They had a perfect basis, but chose to push them aside form’profitable’ stuff with Disney+ and all that jazz
@Firemaster27 I mean what about the fact that none of the characters of the MCU mention how a literal god appeared in front of the entire world in the form of a celestial in Eternals or really anything that happened in that movie as well as the 2 giant Egyptian gods fighting around pyramids and peoples souls getting sucked in Moon Knight, your telling the sorcerer Supreme couldn't sense something was up. Does that make Eternals and Moon Knight non-canon
@@brandongreen8004 strange never knew about west view, or else he would have tried to help. His *senses* are barely there without the time stone. Considering he’s the *sorcerer supreme* who is aware the Norse mythology is real, it’s safe to say he is cool with all the others being true as well. And the magic users of marvel are pretty intelligent when they have things like their library and the mirror dimension. So a giant celestial body popping up for a couple seconds doesn’t seem like it would be that strange. Also it was night time, he was probably doing the sorcerer sleep when the moon knight battle was happening. And as for the celestial stuck inside their planet, she hulk made reference to it via an article online
The fact that both MODOK adaptations in the MCU feel very lacking 1. First is very grounded, serious, but feels like its too scared to be weird with it, slipping into "Galactus is a giant cloud" territory. 2. The second doesn't take itself seriously at all, and leans heavily into the goofy giant head instead of doing something interesting like the Marvel's Avengers game tried. Ultimately the first one isn't even MODOK at all - yet it is more interesting of a take.
I also think it’s imoportant to note that the Superior from AoS was supposed to have more development (possibly into a full, comic-accurate MODOK) in season 5, which lines up with when he was ‘cancelled’ by the wider MCU. I always found the Superior storyline felt unfinished in AoS, and that probably explains why.
@@illusionaryheart3325 he really was accurate according to comics and the people saying he wasn't I promise have never read a modok comic or know enough about him to make such a claim. Real comic fans know he was as accurate as they could have gotten and it would have been a huge problem if he got out of the Quantum realm
Banger after banger video on this channel. Always love seeing attention put on Agents of SHIELD, it’s an incredible show and Season 4 in particular is some of the best stuff Marvel has ever put to screen. Very much hoping that in the future, we see more crossover from AoS and/or we at least keep Chloe Bennet as Daisy.
Iron Man Armored Adventures did a decent take of making MODOC (he was changed to be designed only for conquest) threatening. Though funny enough that show gets overlooked because of a lot of liberties it took with the source material.
@@luketerry3635well he’s dead so now he can’t be fun, all the mcu does is kill the good villains and keep the mid ones like ghost, taskmaster, abomination, vulture or agatha. There was no point keeping any of these characters but a loved character such as modok get 1 movie then dies
For those questioning AOS canoninity, Daniel Whitehall was supposed to have an appearance in Endgame, but they couldn't get the actor because of his busy scheduale. Even he was sad that he missed the call. Also Also, Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Jasper Sitwell, Felix Blake, Peggy Carter, ALL OF The Howling Commandoes, Dr List, Lady Sif, President Ellis, and Gideon Malick make an appearance. Marcus Daniels appeared in BOTH the show and in Captain Marvel, being confirmed to be the same character. I don't know why so many people say that Kevin Feige said the show was not canon, he never said that, or even hinted it. ON THE CONTRARY, After age of Ultron, in an interview, when asked where the Hellicarrier came from, He said "tune into the next episode of our ABC show to find out (AOS)" (Theta Protocol) Agents of Shield was so engrained into the MCU, it just goes over everyones heads how important it was in phase 2 & 3. ALSO ALSO, for those saying that the canon was lost in season 5, they showed them returning to the main timeline in the last episode. Agents of Shield is not only the longest, but the BEST Superhero show and it deserves WAY more love.
Marcus Daniels wasnt confirmed to be the same character. During a Reddit AMA, Victoria Alonso just said "You noticed?" when it was brought up. stop lying on the internet
The longer the MCU goes on, the worse its quality will become. They tried too hard to incorporate decades worth of story into the early movies to bring everything up to speed real quick, but instead they've robbed themselves of good stories yet to be told and broke up the comics timeline into pieces that they kind of fit back together for the early movies and now have a diverse jumble of crap that they're desperately trying to make into a meaningful interconnected universe that feels less and less like the source material every day.
@@MegaConkster it seems like there is no where else left to go after Thanos. You defeat a galaxy destroying baddie and now what? You can't go any higher than that. If the MCU ended with End Game that would've been perfect.
It’s always good seeing AOS get some love. Great job explaining the themes of the show, perfectly put into words. Also just noticed Season 4 of aos has a lot of the same themes that Phase 4 has. Expect multiverse stuff but they get there lol. But there goes AOS being 2 steps ahead of the broader MCU once again😎
Hell, it was one of the Captain America writers in 2011 (I think it was Christopher Markus?) who said they’d like to use MODOK in the first Cap sequel… he floated having Peter Dinklage playing him, presumably a more grounded take. On the Superior, I’ve long been convinced that they intended to make Agent Felix Blake, played by Titus Welliver, into the role in Season 4; the fact that Blake reappeared in Season 3 as the apparent leader of the Watchdogs, having lost the use of his legs and an evil counterpart to the one-handed Phil Coulson, only to vanish without a trace (either because Welliver wasn’t available or plans changed, I don’t know). That’s just my theory, but I really can’t unsee it personally.
I think the biggest issue with the way they have handled MODOK is they've seemingly forgotten the name comes from the acronym. He's literally supposed to be a living weapon
I ADORED this take on the acronym! I caught it immediately and have honestly been waiting these years for it to come up on someone else's radar! Thank you.
It would make plenty of sense for MCU to absorb the MODOK of shield. As far as we know, J. Krasinski's Mr. F. cameo is as a variant, so it could easily be written that the comic-proximal version we got in Antman was meant to be a variant even though he came from the mainstream MCU.
I hate how MODOK has been treated less and less seriously. He's mean't to be a body-horror inspired terrifying villain and his intelligence should be why he is feared. The floating head just makes him more terrifying
M.O.D.O.K. is such a loosely defined character that they could have gone almost anywhere with him and they STILL messed it up. Why do they hire the biggest morons for this stuff?
I dont think there's any way to do MODOK that would make everyone happy. His design in the Avengers game is probably as good as you can do realistically, but to do it more comic accurate is impossible to make not look weird imo
Of course its gonna look weird, but that doesnt mean they shouldnt try. The MCU version is just so boring looking. They should have played up the body horror aspect of it, like The Boys did with ashley.
I love your discussion of adaptation. I’ve always been a big supporter of looking at the medium as a critical part of whether an adaptation is good or not. Nice to see someone share this idea
I remember when The Superior first appeared and in the Marvel searches of that name only came up as M.O.D.O.K. And even after the head got jarred and he dropped the line gatekeepers refused to say he was MODOK. In the end except for limited cases and Inhumans the TV show only got to play with characters who had multiple folks in the comics take up a specific suit. M.O.D.O.K. and Deathlok being secondary to Robbie Reyes
I actually think there's a very good way that MODOK can be menacing, but I don't think it will ever come from Marvel. Focus on the body horror of a big floating head, and focus on the horrible experimentation he went through, show the dehumanization of MODOK into something beyond human comprehension
Never realized he was supposed to be modok I only remember Feigie saying they couldn’t use him Makes me appreciate aos more because of that loophole Also no antman having modok doesn’t retcon AoS because that was in the quantum realm and also there can be more than one modok
Agents of Shield played with time travel so much it’s hard to say what’s not been changed. But we also had another Dark-hold, 2 Mandarins (or 3? Depending on how you view Iron Man 3)
The Darkhold in WandaVision felt like the biggest betrayal to me, because the first Darkhold was in Cloak and Dagger as well so with that they basically knocked TWO hole shows out of canon!!! Now I'm not that protective of cloak and dagger but I don't know, it could have been so dang easy to just keep the same book and make everyone happy
Great video, always thought Modok was a bit of a strange character, but it looks like people are liking him in Quantumania from what I've seen. Hope to see it in the next few days.
I liked him quite a bit, in my opinion the haters are much louder on the internet! Which isn't fair, I think people don't give him a fair shot because it was a really fun movie
I never thought MODOK was stupid. Though I guess I've never really read any comics with him. My only exposure is through Marvel Ultimate Alliance, EMH (though I really need to rewatch that), M.O.D.O.K., and Marvel's Avengers (the game). And I guess Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, too. I've always rather liked him. Especially in the Hulu show and the game. The game probably has a more accurate take on the character in terms of personality, but the show takes an interesting and fun route in making the audience care about the character. Also, Patton Oswalt is just fantastic.
I actually think that what you are saying makes MODOK's arc on Quantumania better, [SPOILERS AHEAD] cuz MODOK being devoid of his humanity not only by his shape and mechanic body but by his attitude and personality is what the movie says about him. I wish they could find a way to bring him back to life so he can re-create/take control of AIM and do something idk
Especially since he was the CEO of Pym's company! At least there's the out of multiversal variants but I kinda think bringing the specific version of Darren would end up feeling dumb since everyone rightfully assumed he died in Ant-Man 1.
They also had an early proto MODOK in captain america winter soldier i think? The scientist who uploaded his consciousness into a computer, I'm pretty sure was supposed to be an early version of MODOK, just lacking a body.
i think if they did go this route, they could still do "BIG GIANT FLOATING HEAD" by doing a kind of hologram/magnifying life support tank ie Zordon from Power rangers or The wizard of oz. the realism being he's still a regular sized head, his features would just be deformed by the tube or a glitchy hologram (the hand wavey science being it takes a specific fictional transparent material for the tank to support his life and it makes his face all distorted or his holographic head could occasionally glitch out when he gets angry and show a classic looking modok face when it does)
That's a super cool idea of Modok. Not just a head bit a man slowly being modified until he 8s a head hooked up to a machine. Just get rid of the chair
Season 4 (which has The Superior) is peak MCU-TV. The otherseasons are good too but damn S4 is great. Breaks the season up into 3 arcs that still form a larger narrative even if it's not readily apparent at the time.
The thing about this MODOK is that it reminds me of a time when the MCU was trying to integrate an element of believable realism into their movies. Crazy to see how far the MCU has fallen
Never watched the show but find your analysis interesting. Two of the most misunderstood and underused elements of the original Marvel comics were The LMD "revolution" and the development of Modok. Stan Lee clearly did not understand what Kirby was getting at with his AIM storyline and his "origin" story contradicts Kirby's story. The LMD concept got picked up by Jim Sterenko and sets up an interesting AI out of control story that again was never picked up by anyone else. The "Ant-man Abomination" could use a retcon any possible way it could happen.
Glad to see Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. getting some much deserved love. I watched it from day one and it's one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I hope to see the characters in future MCU projects.
While I don’t disagree with this video essay’s main point, I will suggest that spectacle is a fair trade for concept. And the visual spectacle of a comic accurate modok is considerable! Of course the best version would include BOTH the core themes suggested by a character as well as the wild character design. Like why choose?
I love that BOTH versions of M. O. D. O. K. are technically completely inaccurate, but count to some... Though not all. Also... both are more than we deserve.
“Mashing new characters with existing ones” yup. The MODOK we got. BUT, I sorta like it in Quantumania. People love hate watching, but like you said. MODOK is a goofball. Even in his own show lol. Also why he’s the lighthearted villain to the opposing Kang.
@@PillarofGarbage I like your idea later in the video better of treating him like a unique character referencing a famous character vs a mashup of two existing characters honestly
What happens when all the LMDs are destroyed and only the head is left? I think a very good option would be for the head jar to have some autonomy, and small arms to build more LMDs.
They screwed up in a major way in the new Ant Man film and it was nothing more than a cash grab and contract fulfiller because yellow jacket isn'tcoming back but it didn't add anything of value to he film.
I always thought it the MCU would do it, they'd do the foundation of AIM returning, maybe aided by a piece of Zola AI tech meshed with Killian's tech to make a MODOK Unit that acted as a leader, maybe through drones or something. And maybe have the leader be Tarleton as Scientist Supreme. I find it very funny this MODOK Anton is talking to in his intro Hulu MODOK Patton
as a kid I thought that Zola AI WAS the MCU MODOK. Like when they were still firmly in their realism phase that was the closest I could imagine them doing that character.
I think I recall Antonov saying that line, but the significance was lost on me, because, no big head. On my wife too, I think, and I would normally be relishing passing that nugget on to her now, but her death before Xmas (two weeks before her 52nd birthday) has robbed me of such small pleasures.
With the multiverse now floating around the MCU I’m gonna go ahead and say stuff like AOS is based in a different universe altogether at this point. Between all the vast differences and neglect of existing plot holes I’d say thats the best way of putting it
this was a way cooler concept for Modok compared to the ant man version. However I think the avengers game modok is probably the best modern interpretation
Off topic but it's kinda funny the Iron Man 3 game predicted MODOK as a supposedly dead villain we've seen before. I doubt that was done on purpose. It's depressing that they tried multiple times to get MODOK into the mcu, and this is what we got
Watching this video about a year and a half after shrinking couple 2 came out and it makes it very clear that AoS Modok is Modok in substance but not in form, and Quantumania Modok is Modok in form but not in substance.
Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/garbage - Enter promo code GARBAGE for 83% off and three extra months for free!
Have you read The League Of Regrettable Supervillains? It's a really cool book about obscure, silly, and occasionally not PC villains.
@That Movie Nitpicker first
@That Movie Nitpicker first
@That Movie Nitpicker first
@@jeremyusreevu237 I have not!
I love how Thor was so shocked by MODOK’s appearance that he dropped the olde English and was just like “that is a big head”
lmao facts, great writing
I don't wanna be the nerd emjoi meme right now, but Marvel's Thor does not talk in Old English. Old English would be incomprehensible to a modern English speaker, since it's a completely different language to what we know of as Modern English. Marvel's Thor, much like every other Norse God of Marvel Comics, speaks in a form of dialect of English, which has many out-of-date words no longer in use, but generally is comprehensible to a modern speaker.
But yeah, it was a funny. The MCU should've taken some notes from the show on how you can make Thor say something comedic without him coming off as a half-wit.
I never understood why he'd talk like that anyway when he's not even English.
Shouldn't he speak with a slight Scandinavian accent or something?
@@antona.8659 Being a Viking God, Icelandic should be the modern-day language closest to his native language.
@@DhakadiceYes but English accents were seen as sophisticated.
“He hates the inhumans” so cool they got a Kevin Fiege cameo in AOS
What is AOS
@@MediumDSpeaks Agents Of Shield
Good, the inhumans have always sucked and sucked even more when marvel sidelined more popular characters in the comics bc of movie rights
@@TrueGamer22887 their only good character are black bolt and Medusa. Everyone else is boring af
@@kail4997 ms. Marvel, namor?
Modok was awesome in EMH. Voice actor was on point. His ego was as big as his head and I loved it. The head jokes were hilarious. This MODOK was ok but just felt out of place.
EMH Thor called him, "Like a Frost Giant's head in an infant's body."
That made me laugh!
The voice actors name was Wally Wingert same guy who voiced Hank Pym in Emh and Riddler in the Arkhamverse
@@randomguy1033 another person with a superhero name playing some1 in a superhero universe/universes.😁
Honestly, it’s not out of place. It’s just realistic
Realism is a stretch when it comes to Modok
I always thought that Armin Zola from Winter Soldier would’ve been a pretty cool live action take on MODOK if they committed to that idea. Would’ve been a pretty cool way to transplant MODOK into the MCU while keeping the character threatening and serious.
i think his face was so similar to the character that they thought it would be an insult to the actor hahahaha
@@xXNoelGillingXx imagine someone tells you you were born to play MODOK lol
yessss always hoped they would take that direction
Armin Zola in Winter Soldier is already an adaptation of another comic villain with a similar appearance. He is basically a robot with a tv screen on his chest displaying the face of Zola, and so they nod at the design in the film.
Arnim Zola was on track to becoming Arnim Zola from the comics M.O.D.O.K. is a giant head Zola is a sentient screen controlling a large bio suit ….. making Zola Modok would be like making Zemo the Red Skull
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., despite its low budget, managed to have better pacing, writing, and even fight scenes than a lot of later MCU films. And you can quote me on that. It even has a Ghost Rider that's pretty serious and not treated as some joke.
@Saleem Frazer MCU figth scenes are all really bad, They only manage to be entertaining when they make them pure CGI
Look at BWs and Hawkeye figths, they're all full of as many jumpcuts as your average Iron Fist figth scene
@Saleem Frazer
5 was mostly CGI
6 is one of the most outgreious uses of jump cuts
9 was cgi
And i think you'll see the pattern that most of the good ones are from Russo directed movies, they're the only ones who knew how to coreograph fights
AoS is easily top 2 in terms of marvel series
Well a TV show is always going to have better pacing than a 2 hour long movie.
@Saleem Frazer agents of shield and daredevil are definitely better than most MCU fight scenes. Only Shang chi and captain America films are better. The rest are shit.
Old marv TV was made for people who like marvel comics in general not just MCU fans and what they expect. Jessica Jones didn't have good fight scenes but it didn't need to. Agents of shield However offered everything. Best romance best heel turns most diverse sub genres huge status quo shifts every season. Fantastic humor and scientific explanations for everything with the same spirit of wonder that stan Lee originally brought to the comics. Then daredevil I the complete package on a totally different level. New marvel Disney plus just doesn't feel that same. Wanda vision was experimental and took risks I still think its the peak of Disney plus. Loki had good music. Ms marvel could have been good but they made her green lantern and the villain sucked. Moon knight should have been a cheaply made marvel Netflix show. Sure it would be less of a spectacle but no one will convince me the writing would not have been better than what we got. Don't even get me started on she hulk. Its not anti feminist thing. I loved agent Carter. That show deserves another season before she hulk deserves a second season.
I honestly feel that the video game did the best job of MODOK, he actually was a serious villain here
ME!!! I thoughtthe Avengers game had a badass take on M.O.D.O.K. but everyone else seems to hate the games designs :(
Lol thats not how modak is in thr comics tho
@@klydejohnson7520 who cares bro its better for writers to actually try and do something different with comic material
@@AbsoluteAbsurd The gameplay for Avengers was my only complaint. The story and the designs are absolutely amazing. They made the characters so relatable and likeable. Hulk and Thor felt like actual threats and not jokes. Black Widow and both Hawkeyes didn't feel wasted. Iron man was cocky and funny. Captain America was the glue and inspiring leader the avengers relied on. Kamala was also a great addition to the team as well. Bonus Hank Pym wasn't an old man and still reliable to the story. Modok and other villains felt like actual villains and where threatening.
Do wish the MCU stopped wasting there villains it's getting annoying.
@@lilgoomy 😂😂😂😂😂 Do something different? Are you trolling? The Avengers game shamelessly rips off the X-men comics and has turns A.I.M into the Sentinel program. How is that different?
After seeing what the MCU did with Hydra, I was hoping that in Phase 4 we'd see MODOK and AIM introduced in a similar way as a reoccurring background threat, providing suits and funding for other villains or maybe opening the next Avengers film with an action scene of AIM and MODOK versus the Avengers, defeating him and throwing him in the Raft.
The MCU doesn't tend to do much in the way of reoccurring villains or even background everyday lower level threats, we never see a film set on earth open with the hero stopping a supervillain from committing a street level crime, which to me would add a lot of further worldbuilding (easy way to give Spider-Man his rogues gallery), I think MODOK could have acted as that for the more general Avengers characters.
He'd maybe only showed up two or three times mostly as cameo roles, with him being played as an annoyance more so than a genuine threat. That could allow for him to initially be more serious, then he essentially becomes a reoccurring joke, paralleling the actual evolution the character went through in comics. With that he'd get his own distinct role within the MCU where he highlights that there are villains the Avengers deal with between films that aren't epic world ending threats.
I've yet to see Quantumania so I'll wait and see whatever it is they do with him in that film, so whilst a part of me is disappointed that we're not getting him as the crazy science experiment running an organization of crazy scientists, I'm still curious as to what they do with him. To me MODOK is far from an epic menacing villain, but to me he'd probably crack the top 20 general Marvel villains purely for how memorable of a design he is, and the whole AIM aspect gives him his own corner of the universe.
Id take all of this and AIM over what they did, what a waste
They also ruined AIM in Iron Man 3.
MCU ruins everything. Disney ruins everything.
He fucking DIES
He is a comedic character, i honestly din't really have as much issues as the rest when watching the movie cuz i already expected for it to take a more comedic take
MODOK in Iron Man: Armored Adventures was really cool and underrated. He had a cool redesign and felt like a genuine threat. Just ignore his appearance in season 2.
And the fact that often times his fights end in him just flying head first through a ceiling and escaping.
I like that series a lot. I think the mandarin was so cool. Sucked to see the mcu version was so lame
@@jphansen5299 Wenwu was pretty serviceable
Something I think was an interesting understated change to M.O.D.O.K. that EMH did was slightly shift the acronym while still allowing the name to be stated. Instead of being his classic Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, EMH's version was the Mental Organism Designed Only for Conquest; They replaced the K with a C, and it's even implied that M.O.D.O.C. themself altered this terminology and and acronym when he took control of A.I.M.
In 616, wasn't he originally Designed Only for Calculating, and then changed it to Killing as he grew more evil, or did I make that up?
And yet thst didn't stop the show from depicting several characters dying on screen
@Taha Mechta it's pg-13...
@Taha Mechta Earth's Mightiest Heroes if I'm remembering right.
@Taha Mechta honestly not a clue. I was working most of the time when the show was on so only saw a few episodes with my kids. So could be completely wrong on the abbreviation meaning.
AOS lover here, great way to explain the themes of the show. i never realized how strongly they were connected by that theme
Actually, I think that bolsters the argument that the show is canon. If they originally gave permission to Agents of SHIELD to use MODOK but then told them not to use him, that shows the movie-side was still working with the television-side to make sure there were no later continuity problems.
My man, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Lady Sif appeared on the show, they where clearly working together with the MCU on the beggining of AoS. They even did an entire season around Winter Soldier and the Hydra stuff
The problem is that after the first seasons, the movies started to push AoS to the side and not include any conection at all, so now we don't know if the MCU consider it on the same universe as the movies anymore, just like Daredevil :/
@@Adriel013 at this point considering gravitonium was never brought up, or even mentioned when several earthquakes were taking place because of an insane general, and a whole robot-based species was invading yet never brought up, or a whole alternate dimension species connected to all powerful monoliths being never even hinted at, I think it’s safe to say they have diverged themselves from continuity
I feel like this is one of the major issues with the MCU today. They had a perfect basis, but chose to push them aside form’profitable’ stuff with Disney+ and all that jazz
@Firemaster27 I mean what about the fact that none of the characters of the MCU mention how a literal god appeared in front of the entire world in the form of a celestial in Eternals or really anything that happened in that movie as well as the 2 giant Egyptian gods fighting around pyramids and peoples souls getting sucked in Moon Knight, your telling the sorcerer Supreme couldn't sense something was up. Does that make Eternals and Moon Knight non-canon
@@brandongreen8004 strange never knew about west view, or else he would have tried to help. His *senses* are barely there without the time stone.
Considering he’s the *sorcerer supreme* who is aware the Norse mythology is real, it’s safe to say he is cool with all the others being true as well. And the magic users of marvel are pretty intelligent when they have things like their library and the mirror dimension. So a giant celestial body popping up for a couple seconds doesn’t seem like it would be that strange.
Also it was night time, he was probably doing the sorcerer sleep when the moon knight battle was happening.
And as for the celestial stuck inside their planet, she hulk made reference to it via an article online
I honestly thought he was going to talk about when Killian became MODOK in the Iron Man 3 mobile game
I was hoping for that too
I thought that too. But we know the games aren't canon at all.
@@SeanWheeler100 yeah.
Or Keith David in New Warriors.
@@expendableindigo9639 Well, the scrapped New Warriors project isn't canon since we got a new Mr. Immortal in She-Hulk.
The fact that both MODOK adaptations in the MCU feel very lacking
1. First is very grounded, serious, but feels like its too scared to be weird with it, slipping into "Galactus is a giant cloud" territory.
2. The second doesn't take itself seriously at all, and leans heavily into the goofy giant head instead of doing something interesting like the Marvel's Avengers game tried.
Ultimately the first one isn't even MODOK at all - yet it is more interesting of a take.
I also think it’s imoportant to note that the Superior from AoS was supposed to have more development (possibly into a full, comic-accurate MODOK) in season 5, which lines up with when he was ‘cancelled’ by the wider MCU.
I always found the Superior storyline felt unfinished in AoS, and that probably explains why.
Call me cynical, but I have a feeling Ant-Man 3 is absolutely not going to use Modok or anything else as a springboard to greatness.
Wrong asf
You were right, Ant-Mans Modok was a incompetent clown 🤡
Looks you were right
@@blndstudiosyt4537no he was pretty accurate
@@illusionaryheart3325 he really was accurate according to comics and the people saying he wasn't I promise have never read a modok comic or know enough about him to make such a claim. Real comic fans know he was as accurate as they could have gotten and it would have been a huge problem if he got out of the Quantum realm
The first MODOK was redeployed as a Mental Organism Designed Only for Karaoke.
Banger after banger video on this channel. Always love seeing attention put on Agents of SHIELD, it’s an incredible show and Season 4 in particular is some of the best stuff Marvel has ever put to screen. Very much hoping that in the future, we see more crossover from AoS and/or we at least keep Chloe Bennet as Daisy.
Iron Man Armored Adventures did a decent take of making MODOC (he was changed to be designed only for conquest) threatening. Though funny enough that show gets overlooked because of a lot of liberties it took with the source material.
I still take that over the mcu
Like making Tony a teenager for example
Ah yes modok the guy who’s head became big because he was sent to the quantum realm totally not some dude who was experimented on by AIM
Bro who cares, modoks origin isn’t what makes him fun
MODOK was bitten by a radioactive head
Litteraly no one cares about his origin
@@luketerry3635well he’s dead so now he can’t be fun, all the mcu does is kill the good villains and keep the mid ones like ghost, taskmaster, abomination, vulture or agatha. There was no point keeping any of these characters but a loved character such as modok get 1 movie then dies
George Tarleton will always be my MoDOK
For those questioning AOS canoninity, Daniel Whitehall was supposed to have an appearance in Endgame, but they couldn't get the actor because of his busy scheduale. Even he was sad that he missed the call. Also Also, Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Jasper Sitwell, Felix Blake, Peggy Carter, ALL OF The Howling Commandoes, Dr List, Lady Sif, President Ellis, and Gideon Malick make an appearance. Marcus Daniels appeared in BOTH the show and in Captain Marvel, being confirmed to be the same character.
I don't know why so many people say that Kevin Feige said the show was not canon, he never said that, or even hinted it. ON THE CONTRARY, After age of Ultron, in an interview, when asked where the Hellicarrier came from, He said "tune into the next episode of our ABC show to find out (AOS)"
(Theta Protocol) Agents of Shield was so engrained into the MCU, it just goes over everyones heads how important it was in phase 2 & 3.
ALSO ALSO, for those saying that the canon was lost in season 5, they showed them returning to the main timeline in the last episode.
Agents of Shield is not only the longest, but the BEST Superhero show and it deserves WAY more love.
Marcus Daniels wasnt confirmed to be the same character. During a Reddit AMA, Victoria Alonso just said "You noticed?" when it was brought up. stop lying on the internet
@@Cris00900340 right, because all the other evidence of canonization says otherwise… including Kevin’s answer about theta protocol.
@@GatlingHawk im not talking about other evidence. im talking about marcus daniels
Never thought I'd say the Avengers game would do anything better than the MCU but here we are (Modok in the game was creepy af)
The longer the MCU goes on, the worse its quality will become. They tried too hard to incorporate decades worth of story into the early movies to bring everything up to speed real quick, but instead they've robbed themselves of good stories yet to be told and broke up the comics timeline into pieces that they kind of fit back together for the early movies and now have a diverse jumble of crap that they're desperately trying to make into a meaningful interconnected universe that feels less and less like the source material every day.
@@MegaConkster it seems like there is no where else left to go after Thanos. You defeat a galaxy destroying baddie and now what? You can't go any higher than that. If the MCU ended with End Game that would've been perfect.
@@NewOrderOfAlexandria That is such a bad take, antagonists don't need to be galaxy destroyers for a movie to be entertaining
@@OokPuddin Exactly. Look at Doctor Doom, for example.
It’s always good seeing AOS get some love. Great job explaining the themes of the show, perfectly put into words. Also just noticed Season 4 of aos has a lot of the same themes that Phase 4 has. Expect multiverse stuff but they get there lol. But there goes AOS being 2 steps ahead of the broader MCU once again😎
1:37 he got the acronym wrong it’s
Mechanized
Organism
Designed
Only for
Killing
Hell, it was one of the Captain America writers in 2011 (I think it was Christopher Markus?) who said they’d like to use MODOK in the first Cap sequel… he floated having Peter Dinklage playing him, presumably a more grounded take.
On the Superior, I’ve long been convinced that they intended to make Agent Felix Blake, played by Titus Welliver, into the role in Season 4; the fact that Blake reappeared in Season 3 as the apparent leader of the Watchdogs, having lost the use of his legs and an evil counterpart to the one-handed Phil Coulson, only to vanish without a trace (either because Welliver wasn’t available or plans changed, I don’t know). That’s just my theory, but I really can’t unsee it personally.
Oh, I do like that theory!
Dinklage would've been a dope MODOK
I think the biggest issue with the way they have handled MODOK is they've seemingly forgotten the name comes from the acronym. He's literally supposed to be a living weapon
13:37 And then he died. And they basically wasted the character, unless they basically redo him which idk how that will/would work out.
I ADORED this take on the acronym! I caught it immediately and have honestly been waiting these years for it to come up on someone else's radar! Thank you.
2:47, "That is a very big head." 😂😂😂
LMFAOOOO
I loved the Superior and AoS. Honestly his "origin story" was a better slowburn than Antman's modok
How did they eff up so badly that they made the MCU version more goofy than that of the comics?
It would make plenty of sense for MCU to absorb the MODOK of shield. As far as we know, J. Krasinski's Mr. F. cameo is as a variant, so it could easily be written that the comic-proximal version we got in Antman was meant to be a variant even though he came from the mainstream MCU.
I hate how MODOK has been treated less and less seriously. He's mean't to be a body-horror inspired terrifying villain and his intelligence should be why he is feared. The floating head just makes him more terrifying
Thank you for saying it
He's treated pretty seriously in Avengers Assemble, despite it being relatively recent. They made him pretty creepy looking too.
M.O.D.O.K. is such a loosely defined character that they could have gone almost anywhere with him and they STILL messed it up. Why do they hire the biggest morons for this stuff?
Could you make more videos about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D? I'm really interested to know what you think about it. I love the show.
They’re definitely coming sooner or later (hopefully sooner!)
@@PillarofGarbage That sounds awesome!
I dont think there's any way to do MODOK that would make everyone happy. His design in the Avengers game is probably as good as you can do realistically, but to do it more comic accurate is impossible to make not look weird imo
Of course its gonna look weird, but that doesnt mean they shouldnt try. The MCU version is just so boring looking. They should have played up the body horror aspect of it, like The Boys did with ashley.
I love your discussion of adaptation. I’ve always been a big supporter of looking at the medium as a critical part of whether an adaptation is good or not. Nice to see someone share this idea
I remember when The Superior first appeared and in the Marvel searches of that name only came up as M.O.D.O.K. And even after the head got jarred and he dropped the line gatekeepers refused to say he was MODOK. In the end except for limited cases and Inhumans the TV show only got to play with characters who had multiple folks in the comics take up a specific suit. M.O.D.O.K. and Deathlok being secondary to Robbie Reyes
Your channel definitely deserves more views and exposure
Thank you! Fingers crossed :)
‘He’s basically modok and here’s 20 reasons why but he doesn’t give enough head so he isn’t modok’😂
I actually think there's a very good way that MODOK can be menacing, but I don't think it will ever come from Marvel. Focus on the body horror of a big floating head, and focus on the horrible experimentation he went through, show the dehumanization of MODOK into something beyond human comprehension
There is also a Killian M.O.D.O.K. in a video continuity
So he’s nothing like MODOK but someone’s take. Got it
Never realized he was supposed to be modok I only remember Feigie saying they couldn’t use him
Makes me appreciate aos more because of that loophole
Also no antman having modok doesn’t retcon AoS because that was in the quantum realm and also there can be more than one modok
I always thought the big dumb head was really creepy, personally. It's so deep in the uncanny valley.
one of the best takes on adaptations I've ever seen! congrats!
QuasiMODOK, the hunchback of the quantum realm
I'm gonna be honest, my first introduction to MODOK was in that Phineas & Ferb special
Agents of Shield played with time travel so much it’s hard to say what’s not been changed. But we also had another Dark-hold, 2 Mandarins (or 3? Depending on how you view Iron Man 3)
The Darkhold in WandaVision felt like the biggest betrayal to me, because the first Darkhold was in Cloak and Dagger as well so with that they basically knocked TWO hole shows out of canon!!!
Now I'm not that protective of cloak and dagger but I don't know, it could have been so dang easy to just keep the same book and make everyone happy
God I love Enoch
He needs a whole video to himself
i dont know how I missed that is AOS, great video!
Of course like most MCU movies you already have people hoping for its failure but I'll give it a watch.
My favorite line about MODOK for Thor is “it appears to be some sort of giant baby”
Modok in Ironman armoured adventures was one of my favourite
I can’t help but to hear “kiss from a rose” looking at the actor that plays anton in aos throughout this video XD
The Wasp: Oh yeah?! Well the moon is not match for your head!
Genuinely I completely forgot about this guy and I watched that show to the very end
Great video, always thought Modok was a bit of a strange character, but it looks like people are liking him in Quantumania from what I've seen. Hope to see it in the next few days.
I liked him quite a bit, in my opinion the haters are much louder on the internet! Which isn't fair, I think people don't give him a fair shot because it was a really fun movie
I never thought MODOK was stupid. Though I guess I've never really read any comics with him. My only exposure is through Marvel Ultimate Alliance, EMH (though I really need to rewatch that), M.O.D.O.K., and Marvel's Avengers (the game). And I guess Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, too. I've always rather liked him. Especially in the Hulu show and the game. The game probably has a more accurate take on the character in terms of personality, but the show takes an interesting and fun route in making the audience care about the character. Also, Patton Oswalt is just fantastic.
I actually think that what you are saying makes MODOK's arc on Quantumania better, [SPOILERS AHEAD] cuz MODOK being devoid of his humanity not only by his shape and mechanic body but by his attitude and personality is what the movie says about him. I wish they could find a way to bring him back to life so he can re-create/take control of AIM and do something idk
Especially since he was the CEO of Pym's company! At least there's the out of multiversal variants but I kinda think bringing the specific version of Darren would end up feeling dumb since everyone rightfully assumed he died in Ant-Man 1.
@@ender_lord1202 I mean, he (probably a variant) could take advantage of that as he is legally dead so he is off the grid or sth like that
I thought Modok was that Computer being thing in Winter Solider, y’all know what I’m talkin bout?
I really love agents of shield!
3:07 never expected Dante from devil may cry to fight modok 💀🔥
I woke up and this video was playing and I immediately felt like I needed to subscribe immediately
MODOC should be reserved for darker almost body horror style film. That would be far more interesting
They also had an early proto MODOK in captain america winter soldier i think? The scientist who uploaded his consciousness into a computer, I'm pretty sure was supposed to be an early version of MODOK, just lacking a body.
Glad you like the modok show it’s underrated
After seeing what they did with M.O.D.O.K in Quantimania, I actually really like AOS M.O.D.O.K
I'm so happy whenever someone dives into AoS. Best MCU TV show IMHO
i think if they did go this route, they could still do "BIG GIANT FLOATING HEAD" by doing a kind of hologram/magnifying life support tank ie Zordon from Power rangers or The wizard of oz. the realism being he's still a regular sized head, his features would just be deformed by the tube or a glitchy hologram (the hand wavey science being it takes a specific fictional transparent material for the tank to support his life and it makes his face all distorted or his holographic head could occasionally glitch out when he gets angry and show a classic looking modok face when it does)
That's a super cool idea of Modok. Not just a head bit a man slowly being modified until he 8s a head hooked up to a machine. Just get rid of the chair
Huh, I never really gave Agents a chance past S2 (I think), sounds like it went interesting places. If I ever find time to watch it I shall.
It was really good actually.
Definitely give it another go. It lasted 7 seasons for a good reason.
Season 4 (which has The Superior) is peak MCU-TV. The otherseasons are good too but damn S4 is great. Breaks the season up into 3 arcs that still form a larger narrative even if it's not readily apparent at the time.
@@ffaristocrat Season 5 did it too. Even if there weren't official "pods" it's very evident. Both seasons 4 and 5 are peak.
It's definitely worth it season 3 is when they really find the footing. It's fantastic and Daisy is babe.
The thing about this MODOK is that it reminds me of a time when the MCU was trying to integrate an element of believable realism into their movies. Crazy to see how far the MCU has fallen
Marvel Television also made a MODOK show for Hulu that’s dubiously related to the MCU.
Never watched the show but find your analysis interesting. Two of the most misunderstood and underused elements of the original Marvel comics were The LMD "revolution" and the development of Modok. Stan Lee clearly did not understand what Kirby was getting at with his AIM storyline and his "origin" story contradicts Kirby's story. The LMD concept got picked up by Jim Sterenko and sets up an interesting AI out of control story that again was never picked up by anyone else. The "Ant-man Abomination" could use a retcon any possible way it could happen.
That MODOK actually remembers me of the Ultimate version of him
Glad to see Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. getting some much deserved love. I watched it from day one and it's one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I hope to see the characters in future MCU projects.
While I don’t disagree with this video essay’s main point, I will suggest that spectacle is a fair trade for concept. And the visual spectacle of a comic accurate modok is considerable! Of course the best version would include BOTH the core themes suggested by a character as well as the wild character design. Like why choose?
Just now catching this video, but the whole "composite character" discussion...chef's kiss. The "comic accurate" argument is so tiring. 😅
It's painfull that some of marvels best characetrs aren't crossing over. The actors are soo damn gooood.
I love that BOTH versions of
M. O. D. O. K. are technically completely inaccurate, but count to some... Though not all.
Also... both are more than we deserve.
Not going to lie I only knew modok from UMVC3 and the Hulu show. This was kinda interesting seeing Modok other than just a weird joke character.
Only real legends remember Modok in Phineas and Ferb
“Mashing new characters with existing ones” yup. The MODOK we got. BUT, I sorta like it in Quantumania. People love hate watching, but like you said. MODOK is a goofball. Even in his own show lol. Also why he’s the lighthearted villain to the opposing Kang.
6:28 I'd say not being named "M.O.D.O.K." is the biggest detail important to me :)
Well, we do get (MO)D.O.K. / the Superior - which isn’t nothing, but you do you
@@PillarofGarbage I like your idea later in the video better of treating him like a unique character referencing a famous character vs a mashup of two existing characters honestly
What happens when all the LMDs are destroyed and only the head is left?
I think a very good option would be for the head jar to have some autonomy, and small arms to build more LMDs.
They screwed up in a major way in the new Ant Man film and it was nothing more than a cash grab and contract fulfiller because yellow jacket isn'tcoming back but it didn't add anything of value to he film.
I always thought it the MCU would do it, they'd do the foundation of AIM returning, maybe aided by a piece of Zola AI tech meshed with Killian's tech to make a MODOK Unit that acted as a leader, maybe through drones or something. And maybe have the leader be Tarleton as Scientist Supreme.
I find it very funny this MODOK Anton is talking to in his intro Hulu MODOK Patton
as a kid I thought that Zola AI WAS the MCU MODOK. Like when they were still firmly in their realism phase that was the closest I could imagine them doing that character.
@@Man_of_Oil funny you say that cause MODOK was supposed to be in Winter Soldier
8:00
This made me happy 😊
I think I recall Antonov saying that line, but the significance was lost on me, because, no big head. On my wife too, I think, and I would normally be relishing passing that nugget on to her now, but her death before Xmas (two weeks before her 52nd birthday) has robbed me of such small pleasures.
With the multiverse now floating around the MCU I’m gonna go ahead and say stuff like AOS is based in a different universe altogether at this point. Between all the vast differences and neglect of existing plot holes I’d say thats the best way of putting it
Anton Ivanov Modok… AIM?!
My big problem with modok was that he was not really not that funny and doesn’t really feel that intimidating
Super Hero Squad MODOK was one of best adaptions!!!
I think Hive was the best AOS villain imo. It’s refreshing to see a MARVEL video that’s not just actively hating on the MCU or AOS
Hive's cool for sure but AIDA clears
RuneScape ad 4:20
this was a way cooler concept for Modok compared to the ant man version. However I think the avengers game modok is probably the best modern interpretation
Off topic but it's kinda funny the Iron Man 3 game predicted MODOK as a supposedly dead villain we've seen before. I doubt that was done on purpose. It's depressing that they tried multiple times to get MODOK into the mcu, and this is what we got
Watching this video about a year and a half after shrinking couple 2 came out and it makes it very clear that AoS Modok is Modok in substance but not in form, and Quantumania Modok is Modok in form but not in substance.
They need someone who wants to write Modok to write Modok.