Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. cast teases the new series at WonderCon@Home

WonderCon took place virtually again this past weekend, moving from the Anaheim Convention Center to YouTube with virtual panels for WonderCon@Home. Several new television shows took to the “stage” to answer fan questions and reveal exclusive clips. But one of the most popular panels was with the team behind a new adult animated series coming to Hulu later this spring: Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.

Love Marvel but never heard of M.O.D.O.K? The acronym stands for “Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing,” aka a megalomaniacal supervillain. Like all bad guys with entrepreneurial spirits, M.O.D.O.K. runs his own evil organization called A.I.M., but the company is… less than successful.

Combining frustrations at work with his “crumbling marriage and family life,” we meet M.O.D.O.K. while he’s feeling very defeated with his life circumstances, but has to confront his “greatest challenge yet.” Co-creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt (who also voices supervillain M.O.D.O.K. himself) were joined by cast members Melissa Fumero, Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, and Jon Daly to answer video questions submitted by fans and tease the upcoming series.

When asked what made the story and characters appealing to the panelists, Oswalt expanded on M.O.D.O.K.’s uniqueness in the Marvel universe. “I think Marvel has this amazing world of B, C and D-level characters that are just as human as they’re big out-front, A-level characters, and they’re rarely explored,” he said. “We were starting from a base of a frustrated supervillain, who is just as angry at the other supervillains as he is the heroes. That also, to me, was very, very unique… he’s so sick of everybody.”

What attracted the Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. cast to this story?

Oswalt explained that in M.O.D.O.K.’s mind, he thinks he should be powerful enough to also maintain a family while being a supervillain.  “It just shows you the damage and hubris that this guy is operating under,” he shared. “I love that so much.” Melissa Fumero added that it was the character’s lack of popularity (so far) that also attracted her to the story. “To take a character that we don’t know — unless you’re like a super comic book nerd — you know very little about, and to get to explore him in this whole new way was so awesome,” she said.

Aimee Garcia commented on how she’s always loved that Marvel characters are relatable and flawed. “Marvel for me has always had a great sense of humor,” she said. “It’s a very witty, biting,… superheroes that are not perfect. They’re not gods. They’re not untouchable… and that’s always appealed to me personally with Marvel.”  She went on to explain why the uniqueness of the script and the story were so captivating for her.

“It really just seemed like a live action show to me. I felt like these characters really wanted something, and it was so funny and so smart, but also so messed up,” she said. “These things should not go together. There shouldn’t be slugs and time morphs and galactic warfare, and like, guts spewing everywhere, and then a love story in the same show.”

Ben Schwartz revealed that he was approached about the project in its early stages, and when he found out the series was going to feature the character M.O.D.O.K., he immediately wanted to get on board. “That character to me is so goofy looking. The idea that he is a supervillain is bananas. He’s floating; he’s an enormous head. So I was like, ‘let’s do this’.”

Are there special guest stars coming to Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.?

The WonderCon@Home panel revealed four new celebrity guest stars who will be voicing roles on the series — and a few of the reveals were even surprises for the cast members on the panel. Iron Man is coming to Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. and will be played by Jon Hamm. Joining him is Whoopi Goldberg as Poundcakes, Nathan Fillion as Wonder Man, and Bill Hader as the Screamer and as The Leader. Watch the trailer for Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. below to see how this floating-head evil mastermind plans to take over the world.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. premieres on May 21 on Hulu. Watch the full panel from WonderCon@Home to learn more about the series and to see an exclusive clip from the show!