While Marvel is making use of the character in Hulu’s upcoming animated series, it has been revealed that we almost got a live-action version of M.O.D.O.K. as part of the cancelled New Warriors television series.
New Warriors was developed by Marvel Television under a straight-to-series order from Freeform but only made it as far as a pilot before being shopped unsuccessfully to other Disney-owned networks and ultimately abandoned.
Along with cast members Derek Theler (Craig Hollis/Mister Immortal), Milana Vayntrub (Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl), Jeremy Tardy (Dwayne Taylor/Night Thrasher), Calum Worthy (Robbie Baldwin/Speedball), Matthew Moy (Zach Smith/Microbe) and Kate Comer (Deborah Fields/Debrii), the show would also have featured Keith David (The Thing, They Live) as a character called Ernest Vigman, who – as showrunner Kevin Biegel has revealed – would have transformed into the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing:
I just got sad talking to a friend because I remembered we had a seasons-long plan on our New Warriors show to turn Keith David's character into M.O.D.O.K.
— kevinbiegel (@kbiegel) June 17, 2020
Just shut your eyes and imagine Keith David saying, "MODOK." And then laughing. Oh my God it still gives me goosebumps.
— kevinbiegel (@kbiegel) June 17, 2020
This isn’t the only time that Marvel has flirted with using M.O.D.O.K., as it was revealed recently that Paul Rudd had written a script for Ant-Man 3 which would have featured the supervillain and A.I.M. as its antagonists.
The animated M.O.D.O.K. series meanwhile will see Patton Oswalt voicing the titular character, and is being produced by Marvel TV Studios after the television division of Marvel was brought under the central control of Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige.
Would you have liked to see Keith David as M.O.D.O.K. in Marvel’s New Warriors? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…