Character sheet for M.O.D.O.K. (2021).
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M.O.D.O.K.'s Family
M.O.D.O.K.
George Tarleton / M.O.D.O.K.
- Voiced By: Patton Oswalt (English), Emmanuel Curtil (European French)
A floating robotic engineered head who is the former leader of A.I.M. and is obsessed with having control and conquering the world. He dislikes superheroes and his rival supervillains, believing he should be superior to them, before facing a mid-life crisis with his suburban New Jersey family.
- Abusive Parent: A supervillain mad scientist is not going to be the best parent. He openly looks down on Lou for his interest in magic.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: While still silly looking, this version of M.O.D.O.K. is far less outright shriveled and monstrous compared to other portrayals.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics his mutated head is a result of being randomly chosen for an A.I.M. experiment. Here he seemed to have been born with it as he has had the big head since childhood.
- Bad Boss: He maims and kills his minions for failing him, delivering him bad news, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also doesn't let them take vacations.
- Big Eater: He like to eat, a lot, sometimes eating party sized meals all by himself. His ideal fantasy set up by Arcade involves having his family constantly praise and obey him and eating near constantly.
- Broken Pedestal: At one point Monica actually viewed M.O.D.O.K. as her biggest hero and was thrilled at the chance to work for him and A.I.M. Then he took credit for killing an A-List Avenger and, while he managed to convince her not to quit, his egotistical nature and poor management of A.I.M. eroded away all of the respect she once had for him.
- Bumbling Dad: Despite being a science genius, he is a lousy father who doesn't understand or listen to his kids and makes a lot of stupid decisions.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Villain on villain example. During Monica's first day with A.I.M. she managed to kill an A-List Avenger only for M.O.D.O.K. to take credit for it, saying "It's just better for everyone at A.I.M. if they think M.O.D.O.K. did this." When Monica betrays M.O.D.O.K. by framing him for undermining GRUMBL, she throws his words back in his face, leaving a confused M.O.D.O.K. asking if that was a callback to something he said before.
- Enemy Mine: He enters into an uneasy alliance with his workplace nemesis Monica in order to go over Austin's head so that M.O.D.O.K. can get a blackhole gun to destroy Stark Tower and Monica can get rid of her mandatory vacation days. Afterwards, M.O.D.O.K., in a rare moment of sincerity, tells Monica he could never have pulled the plan off without her. Then it turns out the Monica he was working with was a Reploid and the real Monica had betrayed him for Austin in order to usurp him as Scientist Supreme.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Implied. The first scene of the show is M.O.D.O.K. as a child being comforted by his mother after being picked on, and it's her words that he'll "change the world" that drives his ambitions.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: M.O.D.O.K. may be an egotistical, wantonly murderous, insensitive megalomaniac, but he does love his wife and kids.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played for laughs. At first he's all set to murder a young Austin while time-traveling, only to have reservations at the last minute over murdering a child. He wonders if Austin is an evil child, which would make it morally okay to kill him only to see Austin's room filled with crayon drawings saying he loves his mom, or pictures of him volunteering at the soup kitchen and an award for donating bone marrow. Then he mumbles some corporate buzzwords in his sleep and M.O.D.O.K. decides to kill him anyway.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: He's eventually given a choice by Anomaly. M.O.D.O.K. can either let his family die in order to secure a future where he'll rule the world, or save them in exchange for a future as a failure who never achieves his dreams. He picks the former and the Time Skip to the future shows him grieving their loss and trying to take a third option by finding a way to bring them back so he can both rule the world and have his family.
- It's All About Me: M.O.D.O.K.'s biggest problem is that he's always making everything about himself. That's why his wife, Jodie, is divorcing him.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Is Jewish and is a mad scientist.
- Large Ham: M.O.D.O.K. tends to alternate between talking regularly and SHOUTING SUPERVILLAIN SPEECHES.
- Murder by Inaction: He purposefully allows Anomaly to kill his family so that he can finally conquer the world.
- Never My Fault: M.O.D.O.K. will never accept blame for making a mistake. After blasting Gary's arm off just because he was angry and Gary was nearby, he later lies that Gary purposefully got his arm shot off by M.O.D.O.K. for no reason. It's eventually played very darkly when M.O.D.O.K. allows Anomaly to murder his family so he can finally rule the world, but then holds Anomaly responsible for it even though M.O.D.O.K. could've stopped him but didn't.
- Pyrrhic Victory: M.O.D.O.K.'s attempts at world conquest rarely make him happy. When he finally does conquer the world in the first season finale, it's only because he allowed his family to be killed to make it happen. Though he's hailed as emperor of the "utopia" he's always wanted, his victory is hollow and meaningless as he's left mourning the loss of the family he loved and desperately trying to find a way to bring them into the future he created, even though Anomaly tells him it's impossible for him to have it all.
- Stealing the Credit: Claimed to have killed an Avenger when it was Monica who did the deed.
- Toilet Humor: All his eating backfires when it comes time to relieve himself.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: M.O.D.O.K., a giant-headed man in a floating robot chair, is married to the conventionally attractive Jodie.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: In addition to being a power-hungry supervillain he is incredibly self-centered and refuses to listen to his family.
- Villain Protagonist: A supervillain trying to take over the world.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: He really doesn't understand his son Lou's obsession with magic and just wants him to have normal passions like sports or cars or toast. M.O.D.O.K. eventually admits to Lou that it's because he doesn't want his son to be mocked for being different, like he was as a child. Instead he says he'd prefer if Lou was more like Tony Stark, his arch nemesis, because at least people like him.
Jodie Tarleton
Jodie Tarleton
- Voiced By: Aimee Garcia
M.O.D.O.K.'s wife who questions his role as the superior supervillain. She decides to pursue a new career change after running a mom-blog, earning money to support their family before becoming a supervillain herself, gaining attention from a superhero, which was said to go "beyond expectations for typical sitcom wives".
- Action Mom: She tears Young M.O.D.O.K. in half for threatening her family.
- Hartman Hips: Is stated by Anomaly to be a big hipped woman, and M.O.D.O.K. remarks on how he likes it. Justified as she's had two kids and weight gain in that area is to be expected.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Wonder Man calls Jodie out on the fact that just like MODOK she tends to use and manipulate people for her own selfish goals. This is after having dated Simon and manipulating him into a fight with MODOK for publicity, even outright stating someone who even marries a supervillain was never a decent person to begin with.
- Spicy Latina: One episode has Lou mention she has Mexican heritage, and she certainly has her moments. Her publicist wants her to play it up to help promote her book.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Jodie is a normal-looking human woman, while M.O.D.O.K. is, well, M.O.D.O.K.
Lou Tarleton
Louis "Lou" Tarleton
- Voiced By: Ben Schwartz
M.O.D.O.K.'s socially awkward 12-year-old son who is different from the rest of his family, and does not have a care in the world.
- Fun with Acronyms: Louis says his name stands for "Lanky Organism Undeniably Irresistible and Syphilitic". He does not know what that last word means and does not want anyone to tell him.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Lou shows signs of this from time to time, such as his unbridled enthusiasm for cashmere bathrobes.
- Odd Friendship: Lou, the constantly upbeat and energetic son of M.O.D.O.K., is drawn to Carmilla, the apathetic, goth daughter of M.O.D.O.K.'s workplace nemesis, Monica. By the first season finale it's ambiguous whether they're just friends or dating.
- The Pollyanna: No matter the situation, Lou is constantly upbeat and enthusiastic about everything, even his mother giving him a peanut allergy after she lied about it in her book, seeing it as getting more depth.
- Robot Me: A scheme from MODOK's younger self and Arcade forces his family to each fight to the death with two robot doubles. Everyone manages to kill all their double except Lou, who quickly develops a rapport with his remaining one. The family finds that they're uncannily accepting of two Lous, and their food budget is fine since they're willing to split one meal.
- Stepford Smiler: It's revealed later his endless enthusiasm is a way he covers his internal distress over his parents' divorce, his distaste over his mother's growing immorality and contribution to his broken family life, and his sister's eventual movement to college, leaving him lonely and depressed.
- White Sheep: Lou stands out as really the only member of the Tarleton family who isn't evil or amoral in some way. His father's a super villain bent on world domination, his sister uses her advanced intellect to crush the wills of everyone in school, and even his mother slowly becomes more amoral as the fame of her lifestyle brand goes to her head—on top of not really caring that her ex-husband is a super villain who'd kill people for petty reasons. Lou's just an upbeat, cheerful kid who never really hurts anyone.
Melissa Tarleton
Melissa Tarleton
- Voiced By: Melissa Fumero
M.O.D.O.K.'s popular 17-year-old daughter who shares her father's appearance.
- Alpha Bitch: Despite looking like her father, Melissa's brand of villainy is more geared towards using her massive intellect to analyze the insecurities of her peers, manipulate other teens with disproportionately cruel bullying, and ensuring her social dominance over the school.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Melissa can effortlessly deduce the insecurities of the people around her and uses that knowledge to subtly destroy their self-esteem and crave her approval. She teaches the trick to her dad, but his lack of patience means he's unwilling to play the "long game".
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: A pretty standard version, except with a massive head and floating chair.
- Cephalothorax: She takes after her father in appearance.
- Fun with Acronyms: Melissa claims she was named "Mental Entity Living to Induce Seriously Sinister Anarchy". M.O.D.O.K. refutes this and says she was named after Melissa Etheridge.
- Ignored Expert: Melissa is far smarter than her dad when it comes to social matters and playing people, but he frequently ends up ignoring her advice due to his own impatience and egotism.
- Pink Means Feminine: Her suit is a pink version of her father's.
- Sherlock Scan: Able to use one to crush people to her will and teaches it to her dad.
- The Sociopath: While she claims to be one and shows a lack of regard for other people, she loves her family.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: M.O.D.O.K (using his newfound ability to recognize weaknesses) realizes that she has this trait, and that she hates that part of herself.
Super-Adaptoid
Super-Adaptoid
- Voiced By: Jon Daly
A robot who has high ambitions as an artist and hates being enslaved as M.O.D.O.K.'s servant.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets no respect from the Tarletons who treat him poorly, though given the fact that he constantly betrays them even for the smallest slight (as mention below) their might be a reason for that.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Since M.O.D.O.K.'s family treats him with apathy at the best of times, Super-Adaptoid is desperate for affection or recognition from literally anybody. At one point he unties two dangerous aliens just because they promised to pay him a compliment, which then proves an immense struggle for them to actually do with any sincerity.
- The Dragon: He ends up becoming one for Anomaly.
- Easily Forgiven: After betraying the Tarletons to Anomaly, Super-Adaptoid tries to ingratiate himself back in with the family only for Melissa to reveal Super-Adaptoid betrays them all the time, and they just reset him afterwards so he has no memory of the events and continues to act as their appliance.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Absolutely nobody in the Tarleton household shows him even the slightest bit of affection or respect. Their default mode seems to be treating him as a cheap appliance and neglecting him the rest of the time. The family loves their roomba more than him.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: It's eventually revealed Super-Adaptoid frequently betrays the family, only for them to just reset him afterwards with no memories of the events.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After being regularly disrespected and abused by M.O.D.O.K. and his family, Super-Adaptoid has no problem joining forces with Anomaly to get revenge. When their plan fails and Super-Adaptoid tries to apologize for betraying them, Melissa nonchalantly reveals Super-Adaptoid always betrays them and every time they just reset him afterwards. Which she then immediately does. When he comes back online, M.O.D.O.K. asks him if he has any intention of betraying him and Super-Adaptoid says of course he doesn't... until M.O.D.O.K. doesn't let him order chicken-fingers.
- Mood-Swinger: He turn on a dime from upbeat to suicidally depressed to desperate for affection to murderously enraged.
- Mundane Utility: He's a shapeshifting robot with limitless uses, but the family just uses him for the most mundane purposes, like a smoothie maker or a toaster. At one point M.O.D.O.K. includes him in an evil plan only to use him as a ladder to reach something in his house. Only, as Super-Adaptoid points out, M.O.D.O.K. can fly.
- No-Respect Guy: Not only does he get no respect, he gets no affection, no acknowledgement, no nothing.
A.I.M.
In General
- Evil Minions: A.I.M. employs tons of them, all wearing the classic A.I.M. beekeeper outfit. Part of the plot of the first episode is that when GRUMBL takes over, a bunch of them are fired, which M.O.D.O.K. won't let stand — only he fires his minions. He eventually gets Austin Van Der Sleet to rehire them after his initial plan fails.
Monica Rappacini
Monica Rappacini
- Voiced By: Wendi McLendon-Covey
M.O.D.O.K.'s workplace arch-nemesis whom he is forced to work with.
- Abusive Parents: She constantly neglects her daughter as well as nearly kills her in a paranoia fueled outburst.
- Always Someone Better: Played with; MODOK is Brilliant, but Lazy, easily distracted from focusing on long term projects over petty slights and impulsiveness. Monica on the other hand is much more effective in the long run, actually inventing many things MODOK steals credit for. She handily defeats him in their "Mad Scientist Fight" and the only reason he's still alive is she revived him to beat him up some more.
- Badass Bookworm: A brilliant Mad Scientist who can also kick ridiculous amounts of ass, as M.O.D.O.K. found out.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: She is a much better scientist and schemer than M.O.D.O.K.
- Kicked Upstairs: When she gets the position of Scientist Supreme, she is forced to do the bidding of GRUMBL instead of her own projects.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: She manages to kill an Avenger on her first day at work.
- Sanity Slippage: She was always pretty insane but in episode 9 she gets even more paranoid.
- Screw Yourself: She made an Opposite-Sex Clone that she had impregnate her to make her daughter.
- The Starscream: She wants to usurp M.O.D.O.K. as the leader of AIM.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Ends up regretting it as when she made leader, she no longer had the creative freedom she used to have.
- Start of Darkness: When MODOK and Jodie are stuck in the past, they seek help from her child self to repair their time machine. In the middle of that, MODOK mindlessly destroying her regenerating fruit tree and making her lose the science fair made her snap. The entire sequence was undone by the end of the episode, so this ends up being a quick gag, but something had to have happened in the normal flow of events that made her turn from sweet to AIM fanatic.
- Take This Job and Shove It: A very subtle example. when M.O.D.O.K. secretly revealed his plan for A-I-M 2 to her, she eagerly sell her shares to Iron-Man knowing that he would terminate AIM contract with GRUMBL and fire both her and M.O.D.O.K.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Used to want to use her intellect to help humanity, engineering a tree that immediately regrows fruit as a science fair project. At some point in her life she ended up fully believing that AIM is the way.
Gary Garoldson
Gary Garoldson
- Voiced By: Sam Richardson
M.O.D.O.K.'s one armed loyal henchman who is constantly optimistic.
- An Arm and a Leg: M.O.D.O.K. blows off his arm in the first episode. Later he chews off his other arm to escape being cuffed.
- Butt-Monkey: In the first episode, M.O.D.O.K. accidentally blows his arm off and then, later on, uses it as an explosive device to kill Monica's experiment.
- Pyromaniac: Show traits as such in episode 6.
- Straight Gay: It's revealed that he has a husband in episode 9, but otherwise there's no indication.
- Undying Loyalty: He does anything for M.O.D.O.K.
Doris
Doris
A secretary that M.O.D.O.K. has to go through to get approval for his plans.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Prevents M.O.D.O.K. from getting a black hole gun to destroy Iron Man.
GRUMBL
Austin Van Der Sleet
Austin Van Der Sleet
- Voiced By: Beck Bennett
M.O.D.O.K.'s new boss in his twenties who is from GRUMBL, a large tech company that invests in and takes control of A.I.M., He is also revealed to be in allegiance to Hexus, the Living Corporation.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's a GRUMBL executive who takes over the super villain organization A.I.M. as well as a willing servant to Hexus, the Living Corporation, which means selling out all humanity to be destroyed.
- The Dragon: Austin serves as this to the enigmatic Board of GRUMBL, which turns out to be Hexus, the living corporation, which plans on destroying humanity and stealing all earth's resources.
- The Heavy: While the Board is part of the season's Big Bad Ensemble, Austin is the one enacting their will while they remain behind the scenes.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: He is killed by Gary before he could warn M.O.D.O.K. about Hexus.
- Les Collaborateurs: Austin has absolutely no reservations about selling out humanity to Hexus, the Living Corporation. At least until they tell him, they'll kill his puppy once their evil plan is finished.
- Love Redeems: It turns out his love for his puppy Sherlock is enough to get Austin to betray Hexus once they make it clear his dog will be killed during their destruction of the planet. Unfortunately he ends up killed before he can warn M.O.D.O.K. about Hexus and their plans.
- Mouth of Sauron: He acts as the mouthpiece to the mysterious Board of GRUMBL who no one else sees.
- Pet the Dog: Austin is a smug, corporate douchebag who has no problem selling out humanity to Hexus, but he also rescues a puppy named Sherlock and genuinely loves him. So much so that when Hexus refuses to let Sherlock be spared when they destroy the planet, that Austin sells them out.
- Sickeningly Sweet: Austin almost always speaks in an excessively hammy and cheerful tone, no matter what the message he's delivering."I've got great news! I'm getting better at delivering bad news!"
- Tech Bro: Austin is the young and well-dressed CEO of GRUMBL, the company that acquires M.O.D.O.K.'s AIM. He's also working directly with Hexus, a sentient corporation planning to wipe out Earth and acquire its resources.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: While time-traveling, M.O.D.O.K. plans on killing Austin as a child before having a crisis of conscience. He tries to look for proof that Austin is secretly an evil child only to find evidence that he's just a little boy who loves his mother, volunteers at a soup kitchen and donates bone marrow. He grows up to be a Corrupt Corporate Executive and a traitor to humanity.
The Board (Spoilers!)
Hexus, the Living Corporation
The enigmatic Board of GRUMBL turns out to be Hexus, the Living Corporation. An alien Hive Mind that wipes out planets and steals their resources. They acquired A.I.M. with the hope of using their advanced technology to repeat the process on Earth.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Austin isn't lying when he says, "The Board sees all." They have cameras all over A.I.M. monitoring his and everyone else's every move.
- Canon Character All Along: Revealed to be Hexus the Living Corporation.
- The Dividual: Austin is confused when the "members" of the Board that communicate with him ask him which one of them looks better, since he was under the impression they're all the same entity. They claim that they're a Hive Mind but they still have different quirks that make each stand out, but they're so negligible it's impossible to tell them apart.
- Evil, Inc.: The Board that runs GRUMBL, which bought out AIM and is barely prohibiting their evil super science, is an extension of Hexus the Living Corporation. They are plotting to destroy humanity and loot all of Earth's resources.
- Hive Mind: They manifest as three shadows in the shape of two men and a woman, all speak in the same voice, and refer to themselves as a Hive Mind.
- Kick the Dog: Flat out states that Austin’s dog will die with the rest of humanity, then later change their mind... only so Austin can kill the dog and serve it as a meal for them.
- Terrible Trio: Appears in the form of two men and one woman.
Heroes
Iron Man
Tony Stark / Iron Man
- Voiced By: Jon Hamm
A superhero and the owner of Stark Industries.
- Hero Antagonist: Naturally, with a supervillain serving as the show's protagonist, the superheroes serve as antagonists in the show. While M.O.D.O.K. considers Iron Man his nemesis and clashes with him the most.
Wonder Man
Simon Williams / Wonder Man
- Voiced By: Nathan Fillion
A superhero and the owner of Williams Innovations.
- Actor Allusion: Nathan Fillion plays a superstrong celebrity superhero with a barely concealed disdain for the homeless that's a romantic rival to an Evil Genius Mad Scientist. Just like when he was Captain Hammer.
- Casting Gag: Fillion was originally supposed to play Wonder Man in a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that was eventually cut. He gets to voice the character here in an intentional in-joke
. - Hero Antagonist: Comes to blows with M.O.D.O.K. after dating his ex-wife.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He denies disdaining homeless people, but his first scene is harassing a homeless "villain" for sleeping in a tent too close to a shop. He also condescendingly assumes M.O.D.O.K. is a homeless person.
Others
Anomaly
George Tarleton / Anomaly
- Voiced By: Patton Oswalt
A time-displaced M.O.D.O.K. that is disappointed that the current version hasn't conquered the world yet.
- Actually a Doombot: Anomaly is revealed to have survived his apparent death by actually being a robot. Lampshaded because the circumstances made it extremely obvious to everyone that was present, even without mentioning the trope namer.
- Break Them by Talking: Does both a verbal and visual one in the finale to convince M.O.D.O.K. to let Anomaly kill M.O.D.O.K.'s family.
- Die Laughing: He does this under his breath, knowing that he's taking his prime counterpart's last chance at time travel to the grave and sealing the Bad Future.
- I Hate Past Me: Inverted in that he hates his future self for failing to conquer the world and having settled down with a family.
- Paradox Person: As signified by his Meaningful Rename, he became unstuck from a divergent timeline that ultimately ended up erased and can now play merry havoc with it to suit his needs.
- Time Master: The cosmic time crystal embedded in his head allows him to manipulate the flow of time and freely travel from present to past to possible futures.
Carmilla Rapaccini
Carmilla Rapaccini
- Voiced By: Zara Mizrahi
Monica's biological teenage daughter.
- Adaptation Deviation: In the comics, she is a superheroine who only discovered Monica was her mother after her adoptive parents, the Blacks, were murdered. Here, she has been raised in Monica's care and appears to not have powers of any kind.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is green in the comics. Here, it's black.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, she was named Carmilla Black by her adoptive parents, with her birth name being Thasanee.
- Emo Teen: Hard to blame her, given what her mom is like.
- Mythology Gag: Carmilla always wears a Scorpion t-shirt, a reference to her codename in the comics.
- Twincest: Born of a clone variety as she reminds Monica literally cloned a male version of herself that had a hand in her birth.
Ciegrimites
Ciegrimites
Hedonistic snail-like aliens that enjoy partying.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Well, more like "Adaptational Cuteness", they lack the teeth that their comics counterparts had so they don't make any creepy grins.
- Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. While they're not necessarily evil here, they have a lack of sympathy that makes them not care about all the lifeforms they kill due to their non-stop partying. As a result, they end up wiping out whole planets, including the Brood's homeworld.
- Attention Whore: They all share the trait of wanting to be the center of attention, something easily exploited by MODOK to destroy them.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: They only care about getting people to party, even if it causes their deaths.
- Killer Rabbit: Despite being adorable they managed to wipe out the Brood by forcing them to party too hard and they do the same to several Grumbl members.
- Life of the Party: To the point where they be the ONLY life of the party.
- Living Aphrodisiac: It's implied that their skin secretes a substance that induces a high and makes their urging to party irresistible.
- No-Sell: They're completely invulnerable to MODOK's mind blasts when retracted into their shells.
- Removable Shell: Their shells can be removed at will.
Bar with No Name Villains
Bar with No Name Villains
- Voiced By: Dustin Ybarra (Armadillo), Whoopi Goldberg (Poundcakes), Eddie Pepitone (Melter), Bill Hader (Angar the Screamer), Chris Parnell (Tenpin)
- The Heist: M.O.D.O.K. recruits them for one to steal Captain America's shield, lying that it's just stealing money. It doesn't go as planned due to the group constantly getting distracted by various stops along the way.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Melter has this going on throughout "If Saturday Be… for the Boys!". He dies at the end of the episode.
Koblold Goblins
Koblold Goblins
Creatures from Asgard that kidnap Lou.
- Eats Babies: They are known to eat children, and the Asgardians use them as "birth control" — i.e., eating unwanted Asgardian babies.
- Freaky Is Cool: They love Lou's magic act even though they don't understand it at all.
