Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania marked the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of M.O.D.O.K., who turned out to be the first Ant-Man movie's villain, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).
The character was defeated by Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), and sucked into the Quantum Realm, where he was discovered by Kang (Jonathan Majors) and repurposed into the Mechanical Organism Designed Only For Killing.
We had heard there might be plans to introduce M.O.D.O.K. in previous Marvel Studios projects, and director Peyton Reed confirmed as much during his movie's Blu-ray audio commentary.
“MODOK has been waiting in the wings. I know there have been discussions on other Marvel movies, ‘How do you bring him in?’ And I will tell you the story now, we talked about Kang’s need for, if not a henchman, at least to have information about the Pyms, and the Langs, and the Van Dynes."
Reed goes on to reveal that he actually came up with the idea of making Cross a version of the villain, which writer Jeff Loveness was fully on board with.
“It’s such a brilliant pitch on it and it makes so much sense. And sometimes when you diverge from the comics, it doesn’t work so well, but that’s such a great take on MODOK. I think that was day one when we met. I’m like, ‘Oh, that makes perfect sense.’ And then I just had a jumping-off point from there."
It's fair to say that this big-screen take on the character proved to be divisive, and M.O.D.O.K. does not escape a sound bashing in this latest Honest Trailer!
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible.
Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O'Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar.