Marvel’s MODOK Isn’t in the MCU

If you were still hoping Marvel’s MODOK was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you may not want to keep holding your breath. As many expected when the series was first announced, the animated Hulu series geared towards adults has nothing to do with the continuity of the ever-growing interconnected universe from Marvel Studios. While Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise shares the same continuity through film, television, comics, and novels — that’s not the case when it comes to the House of Ideas. That is, of course, at least not as of yet.

While MODOK isn’t in the MCU, series showrunner Jordan Blum tells us the continuity of the show exists in its own universe within the larger Marvel Multiverse. In fact, Blum says he was even able to choose which number the universe resides in.

“Yeah, we’re our own universe. I think like, you know, Harley Quinn is a good example of like, that’s not the movies, but it’s really cool actually,” the writer says. “Marvel has like a database of all the universes in the multiverse, and there’s a guy who runs it and they let me pick the numbering of our universe. My son’s birthday, 12/26, is our universe, so we were in the Marvel Multiverse, which is awesome.”

So there you have it — MODOK exists on Earth-1226, far from the MCU’s Earth-199999. Other universes of note include Earth-616 — the main continuity used by the Marvel comics lore — and Earth-1610, the world previously inhabited by comic publisher’s “Ultimate” universe.

While it isn’t in the MCU, Blum adds the Kevin Feige-led outfit “dug” the show and told them to keep making it, even though other shows — like Tigra & Dazzler and Howard the Duck — were cancelled.

“They really dug it and were really happy with the creative, and I think they saw that we were very respectful of, you know, everything that’d come before it,” Blum says. “They really just let us do our own thing, you know and I don’t think we ever really got any notes or anything from them. They were just kinda like, ‘This is working, keep going.’”

Now that Marvel Studios has gotten into the world of television, fans continue debating which continuity the shows previously produced by Marvel Television — says ABC’s Agents of SHIELD or Netflix’s Daredevil — reside in. As of now, it’s thought they technically reside in the MCU (Earth-199999) as Marvel Studios has yet to make an official distinction otherwise.

All 10 episodes of MODOK hit Hulu on May 21st.

What other characters do you hope to see pop up in the animated series? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

Cover photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for HFA