While Kang the Conquerer was the main villain in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) also went up against one of Kang’s henchmen known as M.O.D.O.K. He’s a giant floating head with tiny arms and legs whose near-impenetrable armor and terrifying lasers make him the ultimate killing machine.
Who Is M.O.D.O.K. in Marvel Comics?
M.O.D.O.K. literally stands for Mechanized Organism Designed Only For Killing. He made his first comic book appearance in “Tales of Suspense #94.” In the 1967 comic, M.O.D.O.K. is a man named George Tarleton, who was an employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) – a sinister organization made up of brilliant scientists – before he was turned into the group’s guinea pig and experimented on in order to become their personal weapon.
The experiments caused Tarleton’s head to grow abnormally large. In an act of revenge for using him, M.O.D.O.K. kills his creators in A.I.M. and takes over the organization. From then on, he becomes a villain who eventually goes up against the Avengers.
Who Is M.O.D.O.K. in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”?
M.O.D.O.K.’s origin story in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is different than the one from the comics. In the film, M.O.D.O.K. is revealed to be Hank Pym’s former protége from the first Ant-Man film, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who makes his own version of the Ant-Man suit called Yellowjacket.
In “Ant-Man,” Darren wanted to sell his suit to Hydra. After Scott, Hope, and Hank try to stop him, he takes Scott’s daughter, Cassie, hostage. (She references this in “Ant-Man 3” by saying a guy dressed like a bee tried to kill her when she was a kid.) Darren and Scott fight, and Scott wins by shrinking Darren’s suit uncontrollably. At the time, we were meant to assume he died, but we now know he shrunk down to the Quantum Realm and Kang turned him into M.O.D.O.K. Although he did fight against Scott, Hope, and Cassie, by the end of the film, M.O.D.O.K. turns over a new leaf and helps the group take down Kang.
