Enter M.O.D.O.K.

As was proven in the Austin Powers series decades ago, world domination ain’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and sacrifices along the way. For his part, Doctor Evil had to sacrifice the very relationship with his son in order to be (somewhat) successful. Well, it looks like we’ll be getting another story in that very vein with Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. The series is hitting Hulu, and will feature stop-motion animation

The comedy series will be based around a very simple idea: What does the Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing do when…he’s not actually killing? Sure, he’s all about killing and world domination, but he has to have a life outside of that, right? I mean, sense. The show is co-created by and starring comedian Patton Oswalt. As such, it’s not surprising that they’re going for such a goofy route.

“We obviously love the character as this big villain who is always trying to take over the world and run his evil organization [AIM]. His design by Jack Kirby is so absurd and monstrous that we thought, where does this guy go at night?” said executive producer and co-creator Jordan Blum. “Does he go home to a house and have all these mundane things he has to do? Does he have a family we never knew about? The more we discussed, the more it just kind of made us laugh and then we tried to figure out well, what would that family be? Who would marry M.O.D.O.K and how hard would it be to be his son or to be a daughter in M.O.D.O.K.’s image?”

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Well, we get to see M.O.D.O.K.’s family, which consists of his wife Jodie, son Lou, and daughter Melissa, played by Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, and Melissa Fumero, respectively.

Your first look at #MODOKHulu has arrived! Hear more about our show at our @NY_Comic_Con panel tonight at 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET at https://t.co/gahcWh7KbL. @Marvel @hulu

Check back here after the panel for a surprise announcement! pic.twitter.com/Hq43zaSlJu

— M.O.D.O.K. (@MarvelsMODOK) October 9, 2020

Needless to say, when you have a father hell-bent on world domination, it causes problems. The pilot sees M.O.D.O.K. as a neglectful husband, who can’t seem to connect with his wife, whose mommy blog is seeing massive success. They are forced to reevaluate their relationship. Too bad for M.O.D.O.K. that things aren’t even great on the world-domination front, as his company, AIM is on the verge of bankruptcy.

“If you’re making a show about super villains, you have figure out something more evil [for them to face], so corporations,” Blum joked. “It seemed like an interesting foe for M.O.D.O.K. to come up again because it’s one thing to try to kill Iron Man, but it’s another when you have all this corporate red tape. He can’t blast his problems away, which is how he solves every problem. It’ll be his greatest test: Can he out-smart a corporation and take back control after he unknowingly gives it away?”

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All of this calls for a very specific antagonist. So, the big bad in question? He’s a post-merger-integration-consultant at AIM named Austin Van Der Sleet.

“Even though Austin always kind of smiles and spews corporate jargon at him, [Austin is] constantly gaslighting and manipulating him as M.O.D.O.K. falls further within the organization. He’s a much more worth adversary than even Captain America for M.O.D.O.K. because it’s a battle of wits between the two.”

As far as its style goes, it will be a mix of action and office and family humor.

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“We’ll see the big battles and the big fights, it’s a huge sci-fi Marvel Universe show, but we thought it would be really funny to see [M.O.D.O.K.] dealing with water cooler gossip at A.I.M. shot in this very handheld style and make it feel like you’re working at AIM alongside him and the same with the family, too. It’s kind of a little inspired by things like Modern Family and The Office where it just makes you feel like you’re part of the group in the show.”

I have to say, this approach isn’t eliciting a lot of excitement from those of us here at LRM Online. A couple of our staff have already express discontent over this approach for the character. For my part, I feel like the mockumentary style is far outdated. We’ve seen it again and again over the years, so I hope it doesn’t lean too heavily into that approach. I’m also not sure how I feel about them utilizing M.O.D.O.K. in this way, but I’m open to having my mind changed.

What do you think of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: EW