SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANT MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA, IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ANY TRAILER FOR THE FILM, OR THE FILM ITSELF, SAVE THIS POST AND READ IT AFTER YOU HAVE WATCHED AT LEAST A TRAILER!

Everyone is talking about Jonathan Major’s Kang The Conquerer in Ant Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, but there’s another villain that not many people are acknowledging – M.O.D.O.K.!

To be fair, in the trailers, he’s very much a blind-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, but the character is a mainstay of Marvel Comics, so I’m going to give you a bit of a rundown on him!

Who is M.O.D.O.K.?

M.O.D.O.K. started out as an ordinary man named George Tarleton – an American technician for A.I.M (Advanced Idea Mechanics), an arms dealing company that specialised in futuristic weaponry. He was working on a project when he was chosen to become M.O.D.O.C. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing), to be used to analyse A.I.M’s creations.

To do this, he was mutagenically altered into a superintelligent being. This meant that his brain, and therefore his head, grew to a massive size – so big that his body couldn’t support his head anymore. He was then placed in a hoverchair known as the Doomsday Chair, giving him his iconic look.

What A.I.M. didn’t account for was that with increased intelligence, M.O.D.O.C. had increased ambition, leading him to overthrow the company, taking over and becoming M.O.D.O.K.

What Does M.O.D.O.K. Stand For?

Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

What Are M.O.D.O.K.’s Powers?

M.O.D.O.K.’s extreme intelligence gives him enhanced intuition, pattern solving, data storage, and the ability to predict strategic outcomes in battle so accurately it’s bordering on clairvoyance. He remembers everything perfectly, and his hunches are almost always correct. Outside of his intelligence, he also possesses psionic powers in the form of telekinetic blasts and telepathy, can control minds, and create force fields.

Who Usually Fights M.O.D.O.K.?

Everyone, essentially. M.O.D.O.K. has fought most of the Avengers, including Captain America, Hulk and Namor, The Defenders, Falcon and Gwenpool. M.O.D.O.K. doesn’t just stick to one hero to fight, he’s happy to attack anyone if they go against his plans.

Where Can I Read More About M.O.D.O.K.?

Tales Of Suspense issue 94 (1967) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby will give you M.O.D.O.K.’s first ever appearance in Marvel Comics. An easy way to find some of his greatest moments is to read M.O.D.O.K.: Head trips (2019).

If you want more modern interpretations, I recommend Gwenpool (2016) by Christopher Hastings.

If you want something entirely dedicated to M.O.D.O.K., then there is M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games (2021) by Patton Oswald and Jordan Blum.