Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s Corey Stoll Talks M.O.D.O.K.’s Role in MCU Multiverse Saga

Corey Stoll made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket in the first Ant-Man back in 2015, and fans suspected the actor would be returning to the MCU in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Turns out, fans guessed correctly, but this time there was a new spin on the character. It’s revealed in the film that Darren is now M.O.D.O.K, a silly comics villain you may remember from other Marvel projects. This week, Stoll had the chance to chat with ComicBook.com‘s Jenna Anderson about his MCU return, and he talked about his character’s role in the Multiverse Saga.

“Oh, it’s really cool. I mean, I think when I saw that first post-credit scene with all of those Kangs, I got very excited. Because there hasn’t been anything quite like that in the MCU, and it shows that they could go in any direction. I’m not really familiar with Kang in the comic books myself. I was really into comic books a lot as a kid. I never really read that stuff. So I’m really excited,” Stoll explained.

He continued, “I think, Jeff [Loveness]… I remember reading the script for Quantumania and being like, ‘This is a Rick and Morty with heart.’ I think obviously there is a similar sort of arena scene I remember in Rick and Morty with all the Ricks. But I just think in Jeff’s hands, he could go anywhere. I think he really made some very bold, really smart choices.” 

During the interview, Stoll also talked about his unexpected MCU return.

“Absolutely not, no,” Stoll replied when asked if he ever saw his character going in this direction. “There was a period of about a week between when I heard that Peyton [Reed] wanted to talk to me and when I talked to him. All I knew from my manager was ‘they want you to be in a new movie, and he is transformed in some way.’ My mind speculated wildly over that next week about what that meant. If there was some sort of weird multiverse thing where I was just the actor, Corey Stoll was just going to be playing a different role. I didn’t know what that was going to be about, or if it was just going to be a flashback or what. Then Peyton wanted to speak to me before they really wrote it. They had this idea. Before they wrote it, 

While speaking with SFX Magazine (via CBR) writer Jeff Loveness confirmed that writing for M.O.D.O.K. was his “single favorite thing” about working on the sequel. 

“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,” the writer admitted. “Maybe I’ll get fired off [Avengers: The Kang Dynasty] when people see it, but some of my favorite moments come from M.O.D.O.K. and the dynamics there!”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters.