M.O.D.O.K. arrived on Hulu as an animated Marvel series and presented the classic villain in a way that no one had ever seen him before. The villain always looked ridiculous in the comics and the streaming adaptation took that to the extreme. On top of M.O.D.O.K. and his struggles at A.I.M., viewers saw his family life as well.
However, going back to the comics, and there is a lot to love about M.O.D.O.K. While he remains ridiculous looking, he was still one of the top villains in Captain America and Hulk comics, and he is a lot more powerful than people give him credit for.
M.O.D.O.K. Started As An A.I.M. Minion
Before M.O.D.O.K. was the leader of A.I.M., George Tarleton was just another lackey for the company. A.I.M. hired him as a low-level tech, and he just assumed he would come in and work on scientific experiments for the organization. However, this isn’t what they used him for and instead abducted him and started experimenting on him. What they didn’t expect was that M.O.D.O.K. would soon overtake the entire organization and take it over for himself.
AIM Created M.O.D.O.K. To Control A Cosmic Cube
The scientific experiment that A.I.M. conducted on George Tarleton involved a Cosmic Cube they developed. In Tales of Suspense #93 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, A.I.M. was looking for a way to study the Cube fully, and they used it to experiment on Tarleton, giving him massive intelligence and brain control powers. What also resulted was his head growing to a monstrous size and M.O.D.O.K. developing mental powers to control others and even shoot beams from his head.
That Is A Chair M.O.D.O.K. Is In
When A.I.M. experimented on George and he turned into M.O.D.O.K., he developed a giant head to go along with his new super brain. His head grew into a supercomputer and he could process limitless information and use mind control powers thanks to the new brain level. However, his head was all that grew.
While some mistake M.O.D.O.K. as an almost android figure, he has a real torso, arms, and legs, but they are not strong enough to support his head, therefore he has to have the chair to support the extra weight. The chair also has lots of secret weapons and gizmos, making M.O.D.O.K. even more powerful.
M.O.D.O.K. Is Part Of A Super Scientist Villain Group
At one time, M.O.D.O.K. stepped outside his role as A.I.M.’s leader and joined a group of genius supervillains called the Intelligencia. This group included M.O.D.O.K., the Leader, Mad Thinker, Egg Head, and more. Even Doctor Doom was once a member, although he betrayed the team.
While they focused on Hulk, and even turned General Ross in Red Hulk, Betty Ross into Red She-Hulk, and Rick Jones into A-Bomb. More recently, they reformed with M.O.D.O.K. leading a team that included The Wizard, Mad Thinker, Awesome Android, Red Ghost, Chameleon, and more.
A.I.M Eventually Killed M.O.D.O.K.
M.O.D.O.K. is one of Marvel’s smartest villains, but he never made the best decisions in his life. He was so obsessed with bringing down superheroes he hated that he often ignored everything about A.I.M.’s primary goal of scientific world domination. In Captain America #313 by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary, A.I.M. hired the Serpent Society, and they tracked down and murdered M.O.D.O.K. before Captain America could get there to save him.
M.O.D.O.K. Infiltrated The West Coast Avengers
In 2011, a new M.O.D.O.K. arrived in the pages of Hulk Vol. 2 #29 by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. This is M.O.D.O.K. Superior, a clone of the original George Tarleton. This version of M.O.D.O.K. gave up his villainous ways. He eventually moved to the West Coast and recreated himself in a new muscular male body, calling himself B.R.O.D.O.K.
Led by Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, the new West Coast Avengers knew that B.R.O.D.O.K. was M.O.D.O.K. and allowed him to infiltrate their group to learn what his plans were. He just wanted to pick up women and, when rejected, turned them into giant monsters.
He Created Red Hulk
For many years, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross wanted nothing more than to bring down Hulk by any means necessary. However, his constant failures and missteps caused Ross eventually to break. The once honored American military hero ended up as a fugitive when he turned into Red Hulk.
M.O.D.O.K. was responsible. A member of a super secret scientific villain organization known as the Intelligencia. In Hulk Vol. 2 #23, Red Hulk’s origin played out. Ross agreed to let M.O.D.O.K. free Abomination to fight Hulk and then consented to allow the super genius to turn him into Red Hulk to join the fight himself.
Doctor Doom Fears M.O.D.O.K.
M.O.D.O.K. looks ridiculous and his plans never work out the way he wants, but he is still a very dangerous Marvel supervillain. The original M.O.D.O.K. has a supercomputer for a mind, recalls every moment he ever experienced, and his hunches are almost always right.
He can also shoot telekinetic force blasts and possesses mind control. M.O.D.O.K. is almost a clairvoyant. When the Intelligencia formed, Doctor Doom was a member but Leader revealed he feared M.O.D.O.K., which might explain why Victor betrayed the group.
M.O.D.O.K. Fell In Love With Thor’s Sister
M.O.D.O.K. is a man with a giant head who sits in a flying chair and looks like an overgrown toy. He rules A.I.M. with an iron fist, and while his minions follow him, no one really respected him. The M.O.D.O.K. Hulu series showed a different side of the villain with a wife and kids.
However, in the comics, M.O.D.O.K. has suffered several romantic rejections. so many women on the West Coast rejected him, that he turned them into giant monsters. Maria Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D. also shot down his advances. Possibly, the strangest came when he developed an infatuation with Angela, Thor’s sister, in the Secret Wars storyline.
M.O.D.O.K. Survived The End Of The World
While A.I.M. has tried to kill M.O.D.O.K. more than once, he survived to the end of the world. When the countries went to war with each other and destroyed the world in a terrible nuclear holocaust, there were few survivors. However, M.O.D.O.K. was there to capture and imprison heroes needed to survive the future. He didn’t want those who were virtuous. He wanted those like Hulk and Abomination. However, Hulk soon escaped and ended up turning into Maestro and conquering the post-apocalyptic world.
