Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness has opened up about his favourite thing in the third Ant-Man movie — MODOK, who was inspired by a Simpsons character.
MODOK is one of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's most bizarre creations – a villainous gigantic head mounted onto a robotic chair. MODOK itself stands for 'Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing'.
MODOK will appear in Ant-Man 3, and Loveness has said the character is one of his favourite things about the movie in an interview with SFX magazine.
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"MODOK is maybe my single favorite thing that I got in the movie. Obviously, we are very faithful to the comics with the design and the look, but then there is a little bit of extra we put into him," Loveness said.
"Maybe I'll get fired off The Kang Dynasty when people see it, but some of my favourite moments come from MODOK and the dynamics there."
Loveness continued: "I'll just say he was inspired by Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda and Frank Grimes in an old Simpsons episode – this really put-upon, selfish, entitled but then also deeply sad, insecure man who knows that he got a shit deal in life and is trying to make the best of it."
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Frank Grimes is a classic Simpsons character who appeared in the 1997 episode 'Homer's Enemy'. Frank works at the power plant and becomes Homer's self-proclaimed nemesis. Frank is irritable, easily annoyed, and becomes provoked by Homer's behaviour and existence — which ultimately leads to his death.
Similarly, Loveness said that MODOK possesses an equally manic ego.
"His ego will crumble the second he's challenged but then also like Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, he's pretty good at killing people," Loveness said.
"He's a real loose cannon character and I had a great amount of fun with him. That was almost day one in the room – we cracked MODOK as a character and the movie just became so fun."
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MODOK appears in the trailer for Ant-Man 3 and, as seen in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it clip, is played by Corey Stoll — who previously starred as Ant-Man villain Darren Cross/Yellowjacket.
It's unclear exactly how Darren becomes MODOK, but he was sucked into the Quantum Realm at the end of Ant-Man.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to be released on February 17, 2023.
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