Marvel's M.O.D.O.K., Season 1 Review

Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.

This is an interesting one! This is another one of the shows on Disney+ based on a Marvel property, but it's kind of... it's basically a cartoon. A stop-motion cartoon that's standalone and not tied to any other projects. That's a rarity these days! But I was kind of tickled at the idea that someone made a show out of M.O.D.O.K. -- a character whose existence seems to be pretty limited to the comics and video games due to how inherently ridiculous he is. M.O.D.O.K. is an Iron Man villain who's a mad scientist reduced into a gigantic floating head with wiggly hands and legs. And since I apparently just consume anything superhero-related, I decided to watch the ten episodes of this show for around a couple of months. And it's... it's fun? Admittedly, I expected a regular superhero show. Maybe a bit funnier with a bit more hijinks. But Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. is a sitcom parody, sort of in the vein of DC's Harley Quinn show but a lot less superhero/supervillain-y, and more about M.O.D.O.K.'s family drama. 

It's... it's honestly a bit of a hard show to really describe. The general stuff about the Marvel universe is still there. M.O.D.O.K. still leads the science-terrorist organization AIM, and he fights Iron Man a couple of times. A whole lot of familiar faces (and not-so-familiar ones) from the comics also show up, including several very unexpected references to facets of the X-Men comics that, in the past decade or so, have been purged from most Marvel media. Mister Sinister even got a speaking cameo! 

The show basically alternates between storylines showing M.O.D.O.K. dealing with how his company AIM has been taken over by 'GRUMBL', a mega-corp represented by a hipster dude called Austin Van Der Sleet. There's no real reason as to why M.O.D.O.K. doesn't just invent a new superweapon to blow up GRUMBL and take back his company beyond some vague hand-waving, but there we go. We have M.O.D.O.K.'s little rivalry with his former protégé-turned-rival Monica Rappacini, and a whole lot of hijinks with promotions, demotions and stuff in the workplace that gets dialed up to eleven because M.O.D.O.K. is a giant floating head with tiny wiggly hands and legs that can spontaneously summon robot buzzsaws and shoot mind-rays. 

The other side of the coin is dealing with M.O.D.O.K.'s family, comprised of his (regular human) wife Jodie, and his two kids Lou and Melissa. One of them is a regular boy, and the other is a M.O.D.O.K.-esque 'giant floating head' person. There's also their sycophantic butt-monkey pet robot-butler thing Super-Adaptoid. It's... it's that kind of show, and as with most sitcoms, we get the typical divorce storyline and a jackass, socially-inept father trying to reconnect with his children. I've never really cared too much about these sort of shows, but, again, the fact that M.O.D.O.K. is M.O.D.O.K. is the whole joke.

I guess the Harley Quinn bit is still the closest comparison, although Harley Quinn does eventually get a relatively decent plot involving a major antagonist. In M.O.D.O.K., most of the episodes are standalone, and while we do get two huge payoffs to the recurring antagonists in the final two episodes, it feels a lot more... relaxed, I guess? It feels a lot more like a sitcom that just happens to take place in the Marvel universe with all the ridiculousness. At one point they fall into a portal into Asgard. At another point, M.O.D.O.K. has to rally six C-list supervillains for a heist, and some of them blurt out their actual comic-book backstories. I do feel like the standalone 'wacky episode prompt' episodes are a lot more fun compared to the attempts at a more major storyline, but otherwise the show's definitely fun.

Oh, and the whole show is in stop-motion. Which works surprisingly well with... well, with M.O.D.O.K. himself, since he is already inherently ridiculous-looking. I think the best showcase of just how well-done the animation is the fight between M.O.D.O.K. and Monica in the second half of the show, where they literally just pull out a bunch of random sci-fi stuff and lob it at each other very seamlessly. It feels like something out of Rick and Morty, if we're being honest, which probably isn't too far off the mark considering how much this show loves its over-the-top brutal violence. 

The show itself is pretty funny once I realize what it is. Patton Oswald is already pretty excellent as M.O.D.O.K., and the jokes and concepts move pretty fast. And... well, it's a pretty short show and I enjoyed it. I came in expecting a regular supervillain/superhero show, and while I definitely wouldn't have minded a traditional show about M.O.D.O.K., I definitely walked out of this one enjoying it a lot.