About a year ago, I wrote that it is time for M.O.D.O.K.—that's Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing—to enter the MCU, and man, Jordan Blum is trying. Together with Patton Oswalt, Blum brought Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. to Hulu, a half-hour stop-motion comedy focusing on the big-brained baddie (Oswalt) as he juggles his quiet family life with grand ambitions to conquer the world (and maybe murder Iron Man along the way). Recently, I sat down with Blum to discuss all things M.O.D.O.K., from the character's grotesque debut in 1967—he is immediately betrayed by his subordinates and dies in an explosion, that's the brand–to what makes him such a compelling character in 2021. We also touched on plans for a possible season 2, and what those scrapped plans forThe Offenders crossover—which would have also included Howard the Duck and Hit-Monkey—would have looked like.
Check out what Blum had to say in the player above and below is a breakdown of exactly what we talked about. Marvel's M.O.D.O.K debuts on Hulu on Friday, May 21st.
- The shockingly on-point way M.O.D.O.K. is a similar character to Batman (and, more importantly, who would win in a fight).
- What is it about the character M.O.D.O.K. that has endured since his debut in 1967, and why did he find it appealing to really dig into that character’s thoughts and emotions.
- Why he thought it was important to bring genuine, poignant moments to such a joke-heavy show.
- What ideas were too far out there even for this show, where no idea seems too far out there. (Plus, the only three characters the show couldn’t use.)
- How much Marvel’s plan for a The Offenders crossover factored into writing M.O.D.O.K. and what the other shows—like Howard the Duck and Squirrel Girl—looked like.
- The piece of stop-motion animation that looks the simplest that took the longest time to get right.
- How much of season 2—unconfirmed, so far!—is planned out, and the plot points the writing team definitely wants to get into once it’s greenlit.
- Why, specifically, he wants season 2 to include Melissa’s queer relationship introduced in the comic mini-series, M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games.
Here is the official synopsis for Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.:
In "Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.", the megalomaniacal supervillain M.O.D.O.K. (Patton Oswalt) has long pursued his dream of one day conquering the world. But after years of setbacks and failures fighting the Earth’s mightiest heroes, M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground. Ousted as A.I.M.’s leader, while also dealing with his crumbling marriage and family life, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is set to confront his greatest challenge yet!