Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania introduced M.O.D.O.K. to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the response from fans was decidedly mixed.
Peyton Reed's threequel reimagined the "Mechanized Organism Designed Only For Killing" as a being created by Kang from what was left of Ant-Man villain Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, who was zapped into the Quantum Realm at the end of the first film.
He survived as a giant head with baby limbs (for some reason) and became the Conqueror's lackey.
Though M.O.D.O.K. did resemble his comic book counterpart, some felt the character design may have been a little too faithful, and the VFX used to bring him to life has come in for a lot of criticism.
Actor Corey Stoll was asked about the divisive reaction to his take on M.O.D.O.K. during an interview with Variety, and had the following response.
"Well, I’m not online at all. I think these characters are very close to a lot of people’s hearts. Everybody’s trying to make this jump from a two-dimensional, static image on page to live action, and some things have to change. Jeff Loveness, who wrote the script, and Peyton and Paul made a very strong choice to retcon — is that the word? — this new reason for MODOK to be. I think it really works. It certainly works in the context of Darren’s arc."
Stoll, a comic book fan himself, also pointed out that vastly different versions of every character have always existed on the page.
"You know, the thing I always loved as a comic book fan was that there would be these radically different versions of the same characters. I was a big Batman fan growing up. Frank Miller’s 'The Dark Knight Returns' was this completely different character from 'Year One' or whatever. You don’t have to like everyone equally. There is no definitive any of these characters."
M.O.D.O.K. appeared to perish at the end of Quantumania after redeeming himself by turning on Kang, but there are already rumors that he will make his return at some point.
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