Marvel TV and Hulu have finally unveiled the full cast for their previously announced animated series, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., an adult-aimed animated comedy set for a 2020 debut, and showrunner Jordan Blum (Community, American Dad) has stacked the deck with some of the most hilarious people in Hollywood. The series follows the misadventures of one of Marvel’s weirdest supervillains, the maniacal Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing (M.O.D.O.K.), who has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground and now must contend with a crumbling marriage and family life on top of his own personal failures.
Yes, Marvel’s first animated adult comedy is focused on the all-familiar trope of midlife crisis. It might seem odd at first that Marvel’s taking one of their bad guys and turning him into a joke, but when you consider the character is best known for his weird appearance as an enormous floating head with little arms and legs, it becomes easier to understand why he’s not taken the least bit seriously.
M.O.D.O.K.’s bizarre appearance is expertly matched with comedian Patton Oswalt’s unmistakable voice (Oswalt is also a writer on the series), a lifelong comic geek whose nasal-whine feels perfectly aligned with the character’s constant state of frustration. Oswalt is paired with Lucifer star Aimee Garcia as the voice of Jodie, M.O.D.O.K.’s wife and mother to his children, who is going through a midlife awakening of her own when she realizes her dreams of transitioning from a mommy-blogger into a lifestyle-brand influencer are weighed down by her husband’s endless negativity. As if navigating a rocky marriage wasn’t enough M.O.D.O.K. and Janet try to remain good parents to their two children Lou and Melissa. Lou (voiced by Parks and Recreation’s Ben Schwartz), is a painfully average boy with a lack of friends, ambition and hygiene. Melissa (Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Melissa Fumero), the spitting image of her father, is the most popular (and feared) girl in her high school and a champion teen figure skater, but still can’t shake the need for her father’s approval.
If his homelife sounds complicated, that’s nothing compared to what M.O.D.O.K. has going on at work. He’s forced to work with Monica Rappaccini (The Goldberg‘s Wendi McLendon-Covey), a brilliant rival mad-scientist, when A.I.M. is bought by a twenty-something silicon valley tech giant named Austin Van Der Sleet (Beck Bennett). Monica and M.O.D.O.K. fight the urge to banish Austin to the Negative Zone as they’re confronted with Austin’s endless corporate jargon and frequent HR meetings. Thankfully, they have allies in Jon Daly’s Super Adaptoid, a snarky android, and Sam Richardson’s Gary – the underappreciated but fiercely loyal henchman who only yearns to be BFF with his boss.
“I’m blown away by our insanely talented and hilarious voice cast, who have all brought their specific kind of magic to this weird and wonderful corner of the Marvel Universe,” said series Executive Producer and Showrunner Jordan Blum.
Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is set to hit Hulu later this year. If all goes according to plan the animated series will be joined by companion shows Howard the Duck, Tigra & Dazzler, and Hit-Monkey, which are all then meant to link together in an epic crossover series called, The Offenders. However, while it looks like Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is definitely moving forward, back in December the entire creative team for Tigra & Dazzler was let go over “creative differences” putting that show’s status into question.
