Marvel fans who are also Game of Thrones enthusiasts recently got a thrill when it was announced Peter Dinklage had joined the cast of Avengers: Infinity War. Like with all Marvel movie castings, the details of whom Dinklage is playing were kept under wraps, but that has stopped the usual fan speculation.
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There is one theory that is gaining steam, which brings us to the question at hand: Is Peter Dinklage playing MODOK in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Size Doesn’t Matter
Not surprisingly, the notion that Dinklage is playing MODOK has been met with anger on the part of some fans who find the suggestion insensitive, given the actor’s stature.
However, Dinklage has long since reached the career level where he his size doesn’t limit the scope of his considerable talents. He could just as easily be playing an different adaptation of a familiar character (like Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Day of Future Past) – or just as easily be playing a kick ass MODOK.
Either way, it’s smart casting on Marvel’s part.
It’s Been Long Coming
As Screen Rant points out, Avengers: Infinity War co-writer Christopher Markus has wanted to use MODOK in an MCU film for some time (Ever since Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and has wanted Dinklage to play the character.
As Markus told SR back in 2011:
“I love MODOK and I think you could make a terrifying movie with MODOK but nobody seems to be on my side at the momentum… I will win you over to Peter Dinklage as MODOK. If he came around the corner and you saw him floating there you would be terrified. It would be amazing.”
Looking at that quote, it would be strange if Markus finally got the actor he wanted, only to have that actor cast as someone other than MODOK.
It’s Cyber-Tyrion
Clearly MODOK will be something different in the Marvel Cinematic Universe than he is in Marvel Comics lore; after all, Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola was never some face broadcast on a robot’s stomach…
With the MCU now offering all sorts of fantastical tech-based artifacts and lifeforms, it’s not hard to see Dinklage being recruited to play some kind of digital variation of his Tyrion persona.
It’s usually the way Hollywood works: cast what you know.
He’d Be a Great Phase 4 Villain
Like we said, the MCU has, by now, grown to include so many fantastical elements that Phase 4 will be a whole new type of fresh start.
Having Dinklage as MODOK would be a smart long-term move. The villain (aka Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing) is a malevolent A.I. who plots in chess moves. If Phase 4 continues the idea of an MCU technological arms race, MODOK would be a central figure in it.
