After all, who is MODOK in the comics?

Showing that every superhero story needs to count on the presence of a great villain, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, the first film from House of Ideas of 2023, hit theaters last Thursday, the 16th, opening Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and featuring not just one antagonist, but TWO!

Chief among them is the time-travelling Kang the Conqueror, who has as his henchman MODOK, Scott Lang’s second enemy (Paul Rudd), and the one responsible for complicating Cassie Lang’s stay (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) in the Quantum Realm.

In the film, MODOK is developed as the hidden identity of Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), a character who appeared in ‘Ant-Man’ (2015) as Dr. Hank Pym who wanted to steal the Pym Particle technology and who eventually transforms into the villainous Yellowjacket.

At the end of the first size-changing hero feature, Darren Cross is sent to the Quantum Realm after an intense battle against Scott in Cassie’s room. Thus, the third feature film shows what happened to the character during his stay in the Microverse, since upon arriving there, Kang helps him survive the intense journey by transforming him into the antagonist who owns the biggest head in the MCU.

But, who is MODOK in the comics?

In the comics, MODOK appears for the first time as an enemy of Captain America in ‘Tales of Suspense’ #94, an issue published in 1967 that was created by Stan Lee in partnership with artists Jack Kirby It is Gene Colan.

In history, Sharon Carter was imprisoned by the criminal organization Advanced Mechanical Ideas (IMA), so the Avenger goes on a mission to rescue her. However, in the process he discovers that the IMA is being run by the skilled MODOK.

Over the years, the character has had different stories to define his origin, since in some he was a janitor who was used as a guinea pig for the IMA and, in others, he was a scientist who had the ambition to become powerful. through science, and as a result, subjected himself to experiments to achieve the feat.

Regardless of the version, it is known that MODOK, an acronym that means Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing and that in Brazil was adapted to Operational Mechanism Destined for Killing and Carnage, different from what is presented in the MCU, is the alternate personality of George Tarletona man who underwent several scientific tests and developed superhuman intelligence, super memory, in addition to several psionic powers responsible for transforming him into the super-villain.

However, the powerful abilities cause a deformation in the size of Tarleton’s head, and this becomes too big for his body, causing him to have to build an adapted exoskeleton that allows him to have more mobility and new weapons, making him considered, in addition to being an intellectual weapon, a physical threat.

In addition to the clash with Captain America, MODOK has as one of his main accomplishments the creation of a strong villain. That’s because, through his desire to explore the powers that arise through gamma rays, the scientist who has the biggest brain in the Marvel universe became one of those involved in extracting part of Bruce Banner’s strength that resulted in the transformation of General Thunderbolt Ross in the Red Hulk.

The process was best explained in the ‘Fall of the Hulks’ saga, where it is revealed that MODOK in collaboration with Leader, Wizard, Egghead, Red Thinker, Doctor Doom and Chameleon developed an organization called Intelligence to obtain more powers and wealth through exploitation of the founders’ intelligence.

One of the methods used was the control of gamma powers, where they also created Red She-Hulk and A-Bomb, the alter egos of Betty Ross and Rick Jones.