Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. NYCC panel drops hilarious footage of a giant-headed supervillain just trying to get by

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., a giant floating head with tiny robot baby arms, is arguably one of Marvel’s most bizarre supervillains. “He’s a supervillain that not only hates Marvel heroes but he hates all the other supervillains because he thinks he should be the Alpha and he’s basically—I wouldn’t even say he’s D-level, he’s G or K or whatever-level,” Patton Oswalt explained on the New York Comic Con panel discussing Hulu’s adult stop-animation series Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.

But even though M.O.D.O.K. is sub-basement-level in the Marvel villain pantheon, the nefarious no-do-gooder has still got his own show. Oswalt was joined by co-creator Jordan Blum as well as M.O.D.O.K. voice actors Aimee Garcia (Jodie), Ben Schwartz (Lou), and Melissa Fumero (Melissa) to talk about the upcoming series and also to share some clips from the upcoming season.

The first clip shared started with M.O.D.O.K. having a meeting with his henchpeople to figure out how they can cut costs to save A.I.M., the supervillain’s evil corporation. Needless to say, M.O.D.O.K. is revealed to be a not-so-great business villain, and ends up having Monica Rappaccini (Wendi McLendon-Covey) slapping him upside his gigantic head with a lab experiment that looks like a dog and a squid smushed together. Curious to see for yourself? You can preview the clip by checking out the panel here:

After the first clip, Blum explains that M.O.D.O.K. has run his evil organization A.I.M. into the ground and ultimately must partner with a bigwig tech company to keep things afloat. Oswalt goes on to hint that things don’t go so well over the course of the series, and that we also get to see how the change impacts M.O.D.O.K.’s family, who live — as all supervillain families do — in suburban New Jersey.

It’s clear from the clip and the panelists' comments that this is a comedic take on the supervillain, but both Oswalt and co-creator Jordan Blum made clear that the show is an homage to Marvel as well. “This was born out of our love for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who created M.O.D.O.K., and we wanted to honor that while still finding a comedic slant on the character and his world,” Blum said when talking about the genesis for creating the show. “What are the mundane moments of trying to run an evil organization? Or how does a giant floating toilet relate to his rebellious children or his wife?”

The second clip showed a bit more about M.O.D.O.K.’s home life. In the footage, he’s having a business meeting at his home, where his kids—Lou (Ben Schwartz), who was created in a lab, and Melissa (Melissa Fumero), whose looks take after her father’s—are meddling with his henchpeople while his wife, Jodie (Aimee Garcia), is beginning to question whether her husband needs to be the primary supervillain in the household.

The creators also mentioned the other actors involved in the show, which includes Sam Richardson playing a guy named Gary; Jon Daly voicing Super Adaptoid, a robot who hates that he’s enslaved by M.O.D.O.K.; Beck Bennet playing Austin, the tech bro who invested in A.I.M.; and Wendi McLendon-Covey playing Monica Rappaccini. Oswalt also hinted that there will be a lot of other Marvel characters that will pop up, including characters from the X-Teams.

And while the show is definitely played for laughs, the panelists also hope that fans will be surprised to find that M.O.D.O.K.’s struggles are more relatable than they might expect. “These are really cold, hard times,” Oswalt deadpanned. “We wanted to give people a show where they could come away and say, ‘We are all giant floating toilets.’”

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is coming soon to Hulu.  

Click here for SYFY WIRE's full coverage of New York Comic Con Metaverse 2020.