Can MODOK Have It All?

Can a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing really have it all?

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., “Days of Future M.O.D.O.K.s!“]

Whelp, if you’ve reached the end of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. season 1, you know Hulu’s stop-motion supervillain extravaganza isn’t afraid to take a few risks, because M.O.D.O.K.’s entire family is…extremely dead. The finale, titled “Days of Future M.O.D.O.K.s!”, sees the return of Y.O.D.O.K.—that’s a younger M.O.D.O.K., also voiced by Patton Oswalt—who has traversed the multiverse and seen every example of his future, all of which end in embarrassing, often toilet-based failure except for one: The one in which M.O.D.O.K.’s wife Jodie (Aimee Garcia), daughter Melissa (Melissa Fumero), and son Lou (Ben Schwartz) get blown to pieces. And M.O.D.O.K. lets it happen, building his world domination on the bones of his own family, an extremely dark turn for a show that also featuresMaster Pandemonium hosting his own daytime talk show.

It’s also an ending that M.O.D.O.K. co-creator and showrunner Jordan Blum told us he bumped up against initially, but knew it was the way to go once he saw that the M.O.D.O.K. of episode ten “had moved so far away from…being a villain.”Here’s exactly what Blum told us:

“Really, this whole show, his problems are about this dream he has. It’s the one North Star he has in this series. He wants to have it all. The show, really, is about a guy looking at his past—he’s literally fighting his past—and realizing what he wants in his future. Then he’s shown his future and it’s a nightmare except for one situation. It’s this idea that MODOK, his ego is his own worst enemy. So he believes he can have it all and he’ll figure it out. He makes that sacrifice that I don’t think a lot of people would make, but makes him unique. He is a supervillain.It felt like the scary thing but the right thing for the character. It’s why this is a show about MODOK and not a show about Iron Man or someone else.

Blum wanted the season 1 finale to challenge the audience as much as it challenged him. After all, should M.O.D.O.K. return to Hulu for a season 2, we’ll be following a main character who just let his loved ones get vaporized. In his defense, the “Killing” is right there in the name—it’s the only thing he’s designed to do!—but forgiveness won’t come easy for the largest cranium in Marvel history. Said Blum:

“[The ending] led to an interesting point where, how do you reconcile that, after you do that? In a way, he does and does not make that decision, because YODOK, who is now this version who lives outside of time and isn’t really MODOK anymore, says ‘I’ll do this for you.’ But he still lets it happen. I wanted to challenge the audience, too. How much will you like this guy after this? But this is true to him. That’s what you’re always juggling. How far can you push that character before you lose people? We’ll see if we can forgive him. That’s the fun of season 2. Can he make this right?”

Check out what Blum had to say in the video above. All ten episodes of Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.are now streaming on Hulu.

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