It was recently reported that the Marvel Studios’ third size-changing adventure, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, might feature classic Marvel villain M.O.D.O.K. as one of its major threats. Now, we may know who will play the big-headed menace on the big screen. Early reports indicated that Marvel was interested in comedy legend Jim Carrey for the role, but a new rumor suggests that former Yellowjacket actor Corey Stoll may make his grand return to the MCU as the character instead. If true, it would mean that fans would most likely be getting a very different interpretation of M.O.D.O.K. than they’re accustomed to seeing.
Traditionally, M.O.D.O.K. is portrayed as an A.I.M. scientist named George Tarleton. Upon creating the Cosmic Cube, the head thinkers at A.I.M. use it to turn Tarleton into M.O.D.O.C., a Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing. However, a malevolent Tarleton quickly takes control of the organization and switches “Computing” to “Killing”. This version of the antagonist is the one seen in countless video games and animated series, including the recent M.O.D.O.K. show on Hulu where the character is voiced by Patton Oswalt.
The last we saw of Stoll was at the end of 2015’s Ant-Man, where his character Darren Cross was being sucked into the Quantum Realm limb-by-limb. If the West Side Story actor is playing the same character, it’s very possible that this ugly process is part of what turns him into the oddly sized monstrosity that is M.O.D.O.K. Long-term exposure to the Quantum Realm could also have played a role in his descent to madness. The multiversal shenanigans of Marvel’s Phase 4 might make it possible Stoll is playing a variant of Cross from another timeline. After all, we were shown a giant Yellowjacket helmet in the timeless void of this year’s Loki series. Ultimately, the options for how the character is re-introduced into the MCU are endless, and we’ll have to wait and see how Quantumania plays out before we know anything for sure.
Source: GWW
