While Marvel Studios is going through a crazy summer with the release of Black Widow, Loki and What If this August, I’ve decided to sat down and enjoy another show from Marvel avaible on Disney+ : M.O.D.O.K., a show from which I wasn’t expecting something (and a show that didn’t really hyped me when it was announced) but a show that honestly surprised me and that made me enjoy every episode !
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one !
Credit on Chancellor Palpatine for this title. Surprise is definitely the word to describe the show but why is it a surprise ?
As I said a few lines earlier, I wasn’t really hyped when Marvel announced the show about Modok. Not because it wasn’t part of the MCU as I’m a huge fan of any Marvel project (MCU or independant) but because it was about Modok. For those who may not who Modok is, he’s a vilain mainly related to Iron Man but despite a vilain recurrent vilain he’s not a main threat like Ultron, Thanos or Galaktus. Modok in the comics is a looser, always fighting Iron Man and always failing to it, in brief, not your first choice when you want to pick a main character for a show however Marvel did it and this is where the fun begins (credit on Anakin Skywalker for this one) !
If Modok is kind of a loser, it doesn’t mean he’s not evil. In most of the comics, Modok is an angry vilain, the one who wants to see Iron Man dead and wants to beat the Avengers whatever the cost he’ll need to pay. Modok is… let’s say an evil version of Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2. CEO of A.I.M., genius inventor, brilliant scientist, the guy really wants to beat Tony Stark (however he’s always failing to do it). You got it, M.O.D.O.K. is a loser, but he’s evil and this where the new show by Marvel is different. Modok is still the CEO of A.I.M but Modok is also a a father, a husband and looks like is not that evil. The show takes us with Modok as he needs to sell A.I.M to a company called “Grumbl” in order to save A.I.M as the company is running out of money. At the same time, Modok also needs to deal with family problems both with his kids and his wife while an evil young version of Modok coming from the past is trying to take him down. The 10 episodes will take us through a fun and crazy journey for Modok as he’ll try to get his wife and kids back, his company back and will also need to defeat the evil Modok coming from the past.
This is why this show is such a surprise ! It’s everything but the Modok we know from the comics and it’s nice to see Marvel trying different things with some of its characters. We weren’t expecting a show about Modok and if we did, we weren’t expecting this kind of show, we weren’t expecting this kind of Modok but it was great. That’s why Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. was such a surprise !
It’s fun, refreshing and visually interesting !
Besides all the surprises around the character of Modok himself, the show gave us a fun watching experience ! It looks like Marvel gave all the freedom to the creators of the show and the result is great ! It’s fun, full of energy, sometimes trash, full of references to the Marvel comics and references to the pop culture, in brief, I loved it ! The show also been a surprised because of the visual style as it used an animation style mostly used in kids show (the same technique used in Shaun the Sheep for example) and I think this visual style fits perfectly with the identity of the show.
Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is the show we weren’t expecting and it was great ! A first good try for Marvel in the world of animated shows before the beginning of What If… ? this month. With Marvel announcing that they want to produce more animated shows in the future and looking at how good M.O.D.O.K was, the future looks bright for Marvel animated shows !
If you missed M.O.D.O.K. on Disney+, watch it to make your own mind about it, it worth the try !
