I’ve been on a big Marvel binge as of late after thoroughly enjoying Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision. I was a bit shocked to see advertisements for Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K to be released on Hulu as opposed to the flagship Disney+. I was hooked upon learning the fantastic actor Patton Oswalt was attached as the lead, and was even further “charmed” by catching Four Year Strong’s cover of “Semi-Charmed Life” as the ad’s music. It was just the cherry on the top to see that it was worked on/animated by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the team behind Robot Chicken. So, how does this oddball series hold up?

M.O.D.O.K., which stands for Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing (serving as the series’ first joke), has always been a bit of a laughing stock as a supervillain. While he’s an enemy of The Avengers, he can never get the job done. That ineptitude is shown from the start of this Hulu series’ first scene, where M.O.D.O.K. triumphs in getting his butt kicked by Iron Man and escaping with his metal boot.

The overarching tone of the first season of this show hones in on how lame M.O.D.O.K. really is, and how his family/acquaintances view him as such. This sparks a midlife crisis of sorts, where M.O.D.O.K. effectively loses everything and bums it up in a rock-bottom apartment in the midst of a divorce. While the show really makes you feel bad for the bad guy, it loses a bit of its luster in constantly showing the slog M.O.D.O.K. brings himself into before making the necessary change near the end of the season.

Side characters in Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. truly steal the show. M.O.D.O.K.’s son Lou, voiced by Ben Schwartz, is one of the most likable characters in recent memory thanks to his unrelenting optimism and ability to get along with anyone he talks to. In addition, the lesser-known, “joke” villains that M.O.D.O.K encounters are chock full of enjoyable banter, particularly Armadillo and Poundcakes (Whoopi Goldberg) stealing what few scenes they manage to get.

What managed to throw me for a loop was the ending of the season. Without spoiling the surprise, it’s a departure that one may have expected as a natural ending point from an earlier episode, but challenged the viewer after enduring everything that M.O.D.O.K. went through to get to where he was in the closing scenes of episode ten. It serves as a natural stopping point, whilst also leaving the viewer craving more screen time to see things turn out differently.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. serves as an entertaining mix of MCU lore and gory Robot Chicken topical humor. The latter likely serves as why it would never stand a chance on the family-friendly Disney+, but I don’t think this story should have been toned down. I’m glad Stoopid Buddy Stoodios got their hands on the property, because they made it their own. Here’s hoping another helping of M.O.D.O.K. gets confirmed in the coming weeks, as the ending has me aching for more!

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Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Fantastic Line Delivery
• Formula Changes Every Episode
• Classic Robot Chicken-esque Animation Style

Cons

• Tedious Long-winded Jokes
• Too Slow in Middle of Season