During the New York Comic Con panel, a first look at MODOK footage reveals Patton Oswalt's stop-motion animated Hulu series is going to be Marvel's weirdest, and funniest, yet. The series, based on one of Marvel's strangest villains, was announced back in 2019, with the full voice cast joining in early 2020. Oswalt co-created the series along with Jordan Blum, best known for his work on Community as well as the adult animated series American Dad. In addition to serving as one of the two creative heads on the show, Oswalt is also providing the voice of MODOK.
Given the villain's strange origins, it's no surprise that the show is a comedy, taking aim at Marvel tropes and cliches at the same time as paying tribute to them. The central premise of the show is that MODOK (which stands for Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing) has lost control of his evil organization AIM, and is forced to sell it to GRUMBLE. At the same time, he has to balance running his new corporate entity with raising a family. His wife, Jodie, is played by Aimee Garcia (Lucifer), with his daughter Melissa, played by Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and his lab-grown son Lou is played by Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog, Parks and Recreation).
And now audiences have been given the first look at MODOK during today's NYCC panel dedicated to the show. The panel opens with a brief look at MODOK in the AIM headquarters, (00:20 into the video below) discussing the financial problems his company faces. The scene introduces Monica Rappaccini, played by Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911!) and shows off MODOK's weird sensibility and animated violence. There is a second look at the show (07:30 into the video below) which introduces MODOK's family, and the hilarious struggles he faces at home. You can watch the full panel below:
The footage proves that MODOK is certainly not going to be your average Marvel show. A more apt comparison would be fellow stop motion show Robot Chicken, which also takes aim at pop culture tropes. And given that Blum and Oswalt are in charge, you can expect things to get even weirder as the series goes on. Oswalt, who is also currently writing a comics run focused on the floating head villain, seems to be revelling in the creative freedom provided by the show, which allows him and Blum to fully indulge their passion for comics.
Of course, given the tone of the show, most of that passion will be channeled into mocking Marvel's more popular characters, something already on display in the footage released at the panel. Hopefully, MODOK will have enough material to keep things fun for an entire season, without having to make the weird aspects of the show too out-there. Based on this first look, though, Oswalt and Blum seem to have struck the right balance. The show is expected to release on Hulu early in 2021.
Source: NYCC