You must have seen MODOK in the latest Ant-Man flick. But who was he really and how he is different from the comics? Let’s learn a little bit more about MODOK in Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania.
M.O.D.O.K. in Ant-MAn 3
MODOK was an interesting villain, who had a different origin story in Marvel Cinematic Universe from the Comics. He is shown as an antagonist in both the origin storylines, But MCU’s version is shown to be less evil.
Corey Stroll returned as Darren Cross who became MODOK in the MCU. Portraying his character like this in the MCU turned out to be a bad idea. It ultimately wasted another good Marvel villain.
But how did his story turn out in Comics?
This is a guest post written by Swarit Shukla. He writes at Superpop and has been an avid fan of Marvel and DC superheroes. He will tell you here how the MODOK origin was changed for the Quantumania film.
MODOK Comics Origin Story
M.O.D.O.K’s full form is Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in September 1967. His first appearance was in Tales of Suspense #93.
Modok real name is George Tarleton, He was a low-ranked technician at the organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). AIM was a scientific research organization whose plan was to build an ultimate weapon that could help them Conquer the world.
On a specific occasion, the AIM selected George Tarleton to be a test subject of their newest experiment. In this experiment, they tried to Inject a special serum inside his body which can boost his intelligence to a superhuman level.
But this experiment goes horribly wrong resulting in mutations in George’s body suddenly his head became very-very big and his legs and hands became tiny,
Even after his physical deformities, he became intelligent and by using this intelligence his ranking in AIM grew higher eventually making him the leader of AIM.
His first name was MODOC Which meant Mental Organism Designed only for Computing, but after becoming evil he changed his name. He has consistently been one of the villains of Captain America, and he became a recurring villain in the comics.
His intellectual capabilities and mental powers make him a powerful and difficult villain, Also he was very recognizable because of his unique appearance.
MODOK Origin in MCU
Modok’s real name in Marvel cinematic universe was Darren Cross, whose first appearance was in the movie Ant-man (2015).
In that movie, we see that Dareen is a very smart guy who wants to make a technology that can help him change his size from small to large and he successfully does that in the end but his goal was to remove Hank Pym from the Pym technologies.
At the end of the movie, Scott lang the protagonist of the movie messes up with the circuits in his suit making him way smaller. This sends him to the quantum realm where Kang gets him.
He found out that some parts of his body are shrunken like his legs and hands. Kang eventually saves him from dying by providing him with a new suit just like Anakin Skywalker was saved. Then he lived in the quantum realm and worked for Kang.
Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania was released worldwide on 17 February 2023.
MODOK Powers
MODOK has been the enemy of Ironman, Captain America, and the Avengers. To fight these kinds of superheroes he needs to have some good powers.
MODOK’s fundamental powers are superhuman intelligence and mental abilities, including telekinesis, telepathy, and mind control. His physical powers are enhanced by a suit giving him good agility, strength, and durability.
MODOK has a massive head which mainly consists of his brain and he uses his powers to out-think his opponents making him more fearful, His powers cant be taken lightly.
He can also control the mind of other people which makes him even more dangerous both for normal people and for those who possess superhuman abilities.
Overall, MODOK is a very unique villain having a wide range of powers and abilities, He is one of the most iconic Supervillains in Marvel comics.
Takeaways
So now you know how different MODOK of Ant-Man film was different from the Marvel comics.