News of a potential new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s collection of supervillains has people clamoring about Modok, a Marvel villain who first appeared in the Captain America comics in the 1960s.
A recent leak shared to Reddit’s MarvelStudioSpoilers hinted that Modok may soon join the cast of Marvel’s extensive cinematic universe, where he will be portrayed by comedic actor Jim Carrey. The news immediately sparked a surge of interest in the character, who is mostly unknown to anyone other than longstanding fans of the Marvel comics.
Modok, whose name is an acronym for Mental/Mobile/Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing, was George Tarleton, a technician for Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M), before he became a villain. A successful, but flawed, experiment led to the development of his superpowers, and ultimately set him on the path to villainy. The resulting change to his appearance has prompted questions about a very specific thing: why is Modok’s head so big?
Pictures of the brilliant supervillain portray him with an utterly massive head, which is encased in a square-shaped helmet. His body, which is remarkably small compared to his bulbous dome, is contained in a hover chair, which⏤due to his oversized head⏤he requires for mobility.
Modok didn’t always sport such a colossal noggin. Back when he was just George Tarleton, he signed up for an experiment with aims to substantially increase his intelligence. A.I.M scientists altered Tarleton with mutagenics in hopes of using his heightened smarts to improve the organization, but the results weren’t exactly what they planned for. Tarleton emerged from the experiments with a skull large enough to encase his newly enlarged brain, along with a sinister new name.
His initial aim was laid out in the original name the scientists chose for him: MODOC, or Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing. Modok instead turned to villainy and transformed his name to illustrate this change. The act was followed by the murder of all the scientists involved in his transformation, which ultimately paved the way for Modok to overthrow A.I.M’s leaders and place himself as the (truly gigantic) head of the organization.
The transformation did more than just enlarge Tarleton’s head: it also granted him several superpowers. On top of a massively heightened intelligence, Modok also boasts a perfect memory and an ability to predict the future that borders on precognition. An A.I.M-patented headband allows Modok to channel his brain power into destructive energy beams and also enhanced his psionic abilities to the point that he can control entire groups of people and generate force fields.
The chair isn’t just there to keep his body from collapsing under the weight of his gargantuan head, either. It’s equipped with weapons of its own, allowing Modok to fire off missiles or lasers even when his brain isn’t up to the task.
