Game Scoop! 626: The Games We Hope to See at E3
Podcast: The Games We Hope to See at E3
Podcast: The Games We Hope to See at E3
M.O.D.O.K. Series Co-Creators On Why They Chose M.O.D.O.K. and Which Marvel Cameos Weren’t Allowed
IGN hosted a watch-along for the first two episodes of the Hulu Original Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. with co-creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, and they revealed why they chose M.O.D.O.K. as the star of their series, which Marvel cameos they were and weren't allowed to use, and much more.
During our interview from the M.O.D.O.K. watch-along, Blum explained that the beauty of the Marvel Universe is that every character has the potential to be a star, even the most obscure.
"If you went back a few years ago, and you were like 'Rocket and Groot are going to be two of the most famous superheroes of all time,' I’d say, 'That’s insane! Those guys have been in like five comics!' I think It’s that these characters have so much humanity built into them, especially the ones that are larger than life or crazy like a M.O.D.O.K. or a Groot,” Blum said.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/20/watch-marvels-modok-early-w-patton-oswalt-and-jordan-blum-ign-watch-party"]
"That’s the recipe of the Marvel Universe,” Blum continued. “It's big, crazy sci-fi with larger-than-life characters but they’re so grounded and so relatable, and that’s what we found with M.O.D.O.K. when we were talking about this character. This is a guy who is brilliant, but he’s self-conscious or aware that he is not Dr. Doom, and it drives him insane."
This all sounds great, but how do you build a show around him? Blum said the idea of following M.O.D.O.K. when he is not featured in a comic book panel was what won them over.
"Does he go home to a family? Also, great, he has A.I.M., he has this evil organization. Well, what is it like to run that? What does it take to keep that thing going? You have employees, you have HR, and you have all these things that make up running an organization," Blum said.
"We were like, let’s make a show that’s kind of the behind-the-scenes of that. We never get this guy’s story. We only see him as a foil to these heroes. So, to us, it began by asking these questions, and then exploring the bureaucracy of A.I.M. led to all this comedy,” Blum explained. “The idea of, yes you can be this arch-evil villain during the day, but how do you go home and try to maintain a relationship with a family? It was hilarious to us. So, it kind of was like, keeping M.O.D.O.K. as the M.O.D.O.K. we know and love, but expanding his world.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/marvels-modok-season-1-review"]
Another strength of a M.O.D.O.K.-focused tale, according to Oswalt, is that while all these Marvel supervillains had to sacrifice their friends and family to take over the world, M.O.D.O.K. believes he is superior to all of them and can get everything without sacrificing anything, which obviously isn't true.
Additionally, they believe the key to a good villain story is pitting one villain against an even more villainous enemy. In the case of M.O.D.O.K., this is the corporation. How will M.O.D.O.K. manage when he can't just mind blast everything?
Getting Approval for Marvel Cameos Did Not Go As M.O.D.O.K.'s Co-Creators Planned
Slight spoilers for Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. ahead!
M.O.D.O.K. is a Marvel character, meaning there is a chance for other Marvel characters to make cameos in the show. When approaching the decision makers at Marvel, Blum and Oswalt decided to take the approach of asking for the best-of-the-best heroes and villains, even though they figured they wouldn't be able to use them. By using this strategy, they figured they could get characters they really wanted as they weren't as much of an ask.
To their surprise, Marvel gave them everything they asked for, except for three surprising lesser-known characters.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-modok&captions=true"]
"We got all the A-listers we wanted," Blum said. "There’s a very funny episode that Patton wrote, that’s set at the Bar With No Name, and it’s got a lot of the D-List and deep cuts from the Marvel handbook. We wanted Stilt-Man as the bartender so he could kind of stilt up to get the top shelf liquor and then come back down, but they were like ‘Stilt-Man is off limits!.’ It was like him, Turner D. Century, and Paste-Pot Pete. Those were the three that you can’t touch!”
As for future cameos, including any other supervillains, Oswalt teased that, "this season is really about M.O.D.O.K. confronting his ‘I would never BLANK’ and then having to adjust those limits. Let’s leave it at that.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/21/marvel-origins-everything-you-need-to-know-about-modok"]
For more on M.O.D.O.K., check out our review of the show's first season, which is now available on Hulu.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
M.O.D.O.K. Series Co-Creators On Why They Chose M.O.D.O.K. and Which Marvel Cameos Weren’t Allowed
IGN hosted a watch-along for the first two episodes of the Hulu Original Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. with co-creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, and they revealed why they chose M.O.D.O.K. as the star of their series, which Marvel cameos they were and weren't allowed to use, and much more.
During our interview from the M.O.D.O.K. watch-along, Blum explained that the beauty of the Marvel Universe is that every character has the potential to be a star, even the most obscure.
"If you went back a few years ago, and you were like 'Rocket and Groot are going to be two of the most famous superheroes of all time,' I’d say, 'That’s insane! Those guys have been in like five comics!' I think It’s that these characters have so much humanity built into them, especially the ones that are larger than life or crazy like a M.O.D.O.K. or a Groot,” Blum said.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/20/watch-marvels-modok-early-w-patton-oswalt-and-jordan-blum-ign-watch-party"]
"That’s the recipe of the Marvel Universe,” Blum continued. “It's big, crazy sci-fi with larger-than-life characters but they’re so grounded and so relatable, and that’s what we found with M.O.D.O.K. when we were talking about this character. This is a guy who is brilliant, but he’s self-conscious or aware that he is not Dr. Doom, and it drives him insane."
This all sounds great, but how do you build a show around him? Blum said the idea of following M.O.D.O.K. when he is not featured in a comic book panel was what won them over.
"Does he go home to a family? Also, great, he has A.I.M., he has this evil organization. Well, what is it like to run that? What does it take to keep that thing going? You have employees, you have HR, and you have all these things that make up running an organization," Blum said.
"We were like, let’s make a show that’s kind of the behind-the-scenes of that. We never get this guy’s story. We only see him as a foil to these heroes. So, to us, it began by asking these questions, and then exploring the bureaucracy of A.I.M. led to all this comedy,” Blum explained. “The idea of, yes you can be this arch-evil villain during the day, but how do you go home and try to maintain a relationship with a family? It was hilarious to us. So, it kind of was like, keeping M.O.D.O.K. as the M.O.D.O.K. we know and love, but expanding his world.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/marvels-modok-season-1-review"]
Another strength of a M.O.D.O.K.-focused tale, according to Oswalt, is that while all these Marvel supervillains had to sacrifice their friends and family to take over the world, M.O.D.O.K. believes he is superior to all of them and can get everything without sacrificing anything, which obviously isn't true.
Additionally, they believe the key to a good villain story is pitting one villain against an even more villainous enemy. In the case of M.O.D.O.K., this is the corporation. How will M.O.D.O.K. manage when he can't just mind blast everything?
Getting Approval for Marvel Cameos Did Not Go As M.O.D.O.K.'s Co-Creators Planned
Slight spoilers for Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. ahead!
M.O.D.O.K. is a Marvel character, meaning there is a chance for other Marvel characters to make cameos in the show. When approaching the decision makers at Marvel, Blum and Oswalt decided to take the approach of asking for the best-of-the-best heroes and villains, even though they figured they wouldn't be able to use them. By using this strategy, they figured they could get characters they really wanted as they weren't as much of an ask.
To their surprise, Marvel gave them everything they asked for, except for three surprising lesser-known characters.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-modok&captions=true"]
"We got all the A-listers we wanted," Blum said. "There’s a very funny episode that Patton wrote, that’s set at the Bar With No Name, and it’s got a lot of the D-List and deep cuts from the Marvel handbook. We wanted Stilt-Man as the bartender so he could kind of stilt up to get the top shelf liquor and then come back down, but they were like ‘Stilt-Man is off limits!.’ It was like him, Turner D. Century, and Paste-Pot Pete. Those were the three that you can’t touch!”
As for future cameos, including any other supervillains, Oswalt teased that, "this season is really about M.O.D.O.K. confronting his ‘I would never BLANK’ and then having to adjust those limits. Let’s leave it at that.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/21/marvel-origins-everything-you-need-to-know-about-modok"]
For more on M.O.D.O.K., check out our review of the show's first season, which is now available on Hulu.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
M.O.D.O.K. Series Co-Creators Reveal Why They Made a Show About M.O.D.O.K.
IGN hosted a watch-along for the first two episodes of the Hulu Original Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. with co-creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, and they revealed why they chose M.O.D.O.K. as the star of their series, which Marvel cameos they were and weren't allowed to use, and much more.
During our interview from the M.O.D.O.K. watch-along, Blum explained that the beauty of the Marvel Universe is that every character has the potential to be a star, even the most obscure.
"If you went back a few years ago, and you were like 'Rocket and Groot are going to be two of the most famous superheroes of all time,' I’d say, 'That’s insane! Those guys have been in like five comics!' I think It’s that these characters have so much humanity built into them, especially the ones that are larger than life or crazy like a M.O.D.O.K. or a Groot,” Blum said.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/20/watch-marvels-modok-early-w-patton-oswalt-and-jordan-blum-ign-watch-party"]
"That’s the recipe of the Marvel Universe,” Blum continued. “It's big, crazy sci-fi with larger-than-life characters but they’re so grounded and so relatable, and that’s what we found with M.O.D.O.K. when we were talking about this character. This is a guy who is brilliant, but he’s self-conscious or aware that he is not Dr. Doom, and it drives him insane."
This all sounds great, but how do you build a show around him? Blum said the idea of following M.O.D.O.K. when he is not featured in a comic book panel was what won them over.
"Does he go home to a family? Also, great, he has A.I.M., he has this evil organization. Well, what is it like to run that? What does it take to keep that thing going? You have employees, you have HR, and you have all these things that make up running an organization," Blum said.
"We were like, let’s make a show that’s kind of the behind-the-scenes of that. We never get this guy’s story. We only see him as a foil to these heroes. So, to us, it began by asking these questions, and then exploring the bureaucracy of A.I.M. led to all this comedy,” Blum explained. “The idea of, yes you can be this arch-evil villain during the day, but how do you go home and try to maintain a relationship with a family? It was hilarious to us. So, it kind of was like, keeping M.O.D.O.K. as the M.O.D.O.K. we know and love, but expanding his world.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/marvels-modok-season-1-review"]
Another strength of a M.O.D.O.K.-focused tale, according to Oswalt, is that while all these Marvel supervillains had to sacrifice their friends and family to take over the world, M.O.D.O.K. believes he is superior to all of them and can get everything without sacrificing anything, which obviously isn't true.
Additionally, they believe the key to a good villain story is pitting one villain against an even more villainous enemy. In the case of M.O.D.O.K., this is the corporation. How will M.O.D.O.K. manage when he can't just mind blast everything?
Getting Approval for Marvel Cameos Did Not Go As M.O.D.O.K.'s Co-Creators Planned
Slight spoilers for Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. ahead!
M.O.D.O.K. is a Marvel character, meaning there is a chance for other Marvel characters to make cameos in the show. When approaching the decision makers at Marvel, Blum and Oswalt decided to take the approach of asking for the best-of-the-best heroes and villains, even though they figured they wouldn't be able to use them. By using this strategy, they figured they could get characters they really wanted as they weren't as much of an ask.
To their surprise, Marvel gave them everything they asked for, except for three surprising lesser-known characters.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-modok&captions=true"]
"We got all the A-listers we wanted," Blum said. "There’s a very funny episode that Patton wrote, that’s set at the Bar With No Name, and it’s got a lot of the D-List and deep cuts from the Marvel handbook. We wanted Stilt-Man as the bartender so he could kind of stilt up to get the top shelf liquor and then come back down, but they were like ‘Stilt-Man is off limits!.’ It was like him, Turner D. Century, and Paste-Pot Pete. Those were the three that you can’t touch!”
As for future cameos, including any other supervillains, Oswalt teased that, "this season is really about M.O.D.O.K. confronting his ‘I would never BLANK’ and then having to adjust those limits. Let’s leave it at that.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/21/marvel-origins-everything-you-need-to-know-about-modok"]
For more on M.O.D.O.K., check out our review of the show's first season, which is now available on Hulu.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
M.O.D.O.K. Series Co-Creators Reveal Why They Made a Show About M.O.D.O.K.
IGN hosted a watch-along for the first two episodes of the Hulu Original Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. with co-creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt, and they revealed why they chose M.O.D.O.K. as the star of their series, which Marvel cameos they were and weren't allowed to use, and much more.
During our interview from the M.O.D.O.K. watch-along, Blum explained that the beauty of the Marvel Universe is that every character has the potential to be a star, even the most obscure.
"If you went back a few years ago, and you were like 'Rocket and Groot are going to be two of the most famous superheroes of all time,' I’d say, 'That’s insane! Those guys have been in like five comics!' I think It’s that these characters have so much humanity built into them, especially the ones that are larger than life or crazy like a M.O.D.O.K. or a Groot,” Blum said.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/20/watch-marvels-modok-early-w-patton-oswalt-and-jordan-blum-ign-watch-party"]
"That’s the recipe of the Marvel Universe,” Blum continued. “It's big, crazy sci-fi with larger-than-life characters but they’re so grounded and so relatable, and that’s what we found with M.O.D.O.K. when we were talking about this character. This is a guy who is brilliant, but he’s self-conscious or aware that he is not Dr. Doom, and it drives him insane."
This all sounds great, but how do you build a show around him? Blum said the idea of following M.O.D.O.K. when he is not featured in a comic book panel was what won them over.
"Does he go home to a family? Also, great, he has A.I.M., he has this evil organization. Well, what is it like to run that? What does it take to keep that thing going? You have employees, you have HR, and you have all these things that make up running an organization," Blum said.
"We were like, let’s make a show that’s kind of the behind-the-scenes of that. We never get this guy’s story. We only see him as a foil to these heroes. So, to us, it began by asking these questions, and then exploring the bureaucracy of A.I.M. led to all this comedy,” Blum explained. “The idea of, yes you can be this arch-evil villain during the day, but how do you go home and try to maintain a relationship with a family? It was hilarious to us. So, it kind of was like, keeping M.O.D.O.K. as the M.O.D.O.K. we know and love, but expanding his world.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/marvels-modok-season-1-review"]
Another strength of a M.O.D.O.K.-focused tale, according to Oswalt, is that while all these Marvel supervillains had to sacrifice their friends and family to take over the world, M.O.D.O.K. believes he is superior to all of them and can get everything without sacrificing anything, which obviously isn't true.
Additionally, they believe the key to a good villain story is pitting one villain against an even more villainous enemy. In the case of M.O.D.O.K., this is the corporation. How will M.O.D.O.K. manage when he can't just mind blast everything?
Getting Approval for Marvel Cameos Did Not Go As M.O.D.O.K.'s Co-Creators Planned
Slight spoilers for Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. ahead!
M.O.D.O.K. is a Marvel character, meaning there is a chance for other Marvel characters to make cameos in the show. When approaching the decision makers at Marvel, Blum and Oswalt decided to take the approach of asking for the best-of-the-best heroes and villains, even though they figured they wouldn't be able to use them. By using this strategy, they figured they could get characters they really wanted as they weren't as much of an ask.
To their surprise, Marvel gave them everything they asked for, except for three surprising lesser-known characters.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-modok&captions=true"]
"We got all the A-listers we wanted," Blum said. "There’s a very funny episode that Patton wrote, that’s set at the Bar With No Name, and it’s got a lot of the D-List and deep cuts from the Marvel handbook. We wanted Stilt-Man as the bartender so he could kind of stilt up to get the top shelf liquor and then come back down, but they were like ‘Stilt-Man is off limits!.’ It was like him, Turner D. Century, and Paste-Pot Pete. Those were the three that you can’t touch!”
As for future cameos, including any other supervillains, Oswalt teased that, "this season is really about M.O.D.O.K. confronting his ‘I would never BLANK’ and then having to adjust those limits. Let’s leave it at that.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/21/marvel-origins-everything-you-need-to-know-about-modok"]
For more on M.O.D.O.K., check out our review of the show's first season, which is now available on Hulu.
[poilib element="accentDivider"]
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.