Patton Oswalt brought MODOK's titular character as much to life behind the scenes as he did on-screen — with a new photo revealing he wore a live-action MODOK suit for filming. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing began life as George Tarleton. Making his first full appearance in Tales of Suspense #94, Tarleton was an employee of A.I.M (Advanced Idea Mechanics). In order to further improve the Cosmic Cube, MODOK's initial origin saw the organization subject him to mutagenic experiments to increase his intelligence. Though intended for computing, Tarleton used his new form to rebel. Murdering his creators and renaming himself, he ultimately seized control of A.I.M. As MODOK, he often resurfaced to challenge various Marvel heroes across the decades.
Ever-popular, fans have clamored for the character to be adapted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, despite the introduction of A.I.M. in Iron Man 3, such wishes went ultimately unfulfilled. Instead, fans had to content themselves with the comics and recent video games. That was, until the release of Hulu's MODOK series on May 21, 2021. Created by Jordan Blum and Oswalt, the animated show offered a quirkier spin on the character. Having been expelled from A.I.M., the supervillain was forced to juggle family life in New Jersey and a mid-life crisis regarding his world-conquering ambitions. Since development of the MODOK show was given free reign by Marvel, it came packed with easter eggs and familiar characters.
Chief among them was Oswalt himself, who lent his voice to the bizarre supervillain. As if that wasn't enough, however, Blum revealed on Twitter that the actor went to great physical lengths to bring the character to life. Adorned in an extremely unique motion-capture suit, Oswalt became MODOK as close to literally as humanly possible. Though crafted using animation, the comedic actor was evidently determined to give everything possible to his performance on the now comics-canon MODOK TV show. Check out the image below:
Oswalt wasn't entirely alone in that endeavor. In a follow-up tweet, Blum conveyed that Ben Schwartz played MODOK's 12-year-old son, Lou, from on his knees — ala Sean Gunn as Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Similarly, Melissa Fumero delivered her motion-capture performance while pregnant, with the suit specially designed to accomodate her bump. Regardless, most motion-capture suits would no doubt pale in comparison to the sheer awkwardness of Oswalt's. As such, his commitment to the character of MODOK deserves even more praise than the considerable amount it has already received.
The MODOK series has already been extremely well-received by critics and fans alike. A lot of that could probably be attributed to Oswalt's long-established love for the supervillain. When he first joined Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he excitedly wondered whether his character(s) would emerge as MODOK. Though that turned out to not be the case, Oswalt's passion has remained. Though he's since channeled that energy into the MODOK animated show, it's frequently reaffirmed that Oswalt wants to play live-action MODOK in the MCU. The above image could probably serve as further proof that he actually should. Whether or not the supervillain has been planned for the MCU's future shall remain to be seen. Regardless, Oswalt has increasingly made himself so synonymous with MODOK - now behind the scenes as well as on-screen - it has become nigh on impossible to imagine anybody else in the role.
MODOK season 1 was released in its entirety via Hulu (and will air weekly via Disney+).
Source: Jordan Blum/Twitter