MODOK Is Better Because It’s Not From Marvel Studios

Last week, MODOK arrived and introduced fans to their second-to-last production from the outfit formerly known as Marvel Television. At this point in time, all that remains from the old production house is Hit-Monkey, a series still in active development. Regardless of what the future holds for these two shows, MODOK has earned rave reviews from both critics and fans, largely because it caters to a whole new audience untouched by Marvel Studios. In fact, one could argue the show is better because it wasn’t limited by Marvel Studios and the interconnectivity of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There’s no question about it, but MODOK isn’t part of the MCU. Unlike the Star Wars franchise continually being built by Lucasfilm, the MCU canon doesn’t spread across comics, film, television (from Marvel Television,) and animation, at least not as of yet.

Because it doesn’t have to adhere to a stricter structure, MODOK is able to cut jokes Marvel fans would never see in an MCU film or Disney+ show, and it’s able to push the boundaries in ways a mass-market feature simply isn’t able to. By now, these superhero blockbusters are constructed specifically for the widest reach possible, a mold MODOK is able to break simply because of the organizational structure behind the scenes.

Earlier this month, we released a piece about how Marvel should be able to exist outside the MCU, and you can probably say this piece is meant to be a spiritual successor to that. The ideas are the same, but it’s a viewpoint that’s proven to yield positive results. Look at MODOK, Legion, or any number of the adult-oriented DefendersVerse shows from Netflix. They’re drastically different from the things we’ve seen from Marvel Studios, each reaching different audiences and markets for a variety of reasons.

Maybe Marvel Studios has plans to carry MODOK on for another season, or a plan to actively develop more projects strictly for adults outside of Deadpool 3, which would render this viewpoint obsolete. Either way, it’s pretty safe to say with what we’ve seen from the studio from the past 12 years, MODOK is better because it isn’t a Marvel Studios production.

All 10 episodes of MODOK hit Hulu on May 21st. If you haven’t signed up for Hulu yet you can try it out here.

What other Marvel characters would you like to see get an 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!

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Cover photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images