Avengers 5 leak could reveal Marvel’s most brilliant villain casting yet
Rumors reveal that the villain M.O.D.O.K. will appear in multiple new Marvel projects.
Villains come and go in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but one Avengers adversary is about to make a grand debut on Disney+.
If rumors are to be believed, M.O.D.O.K. is coming to the MCU, and he’ll be played by one of the greatest comedy actors currently working — a creative decision that owes a tremendous debt to this year’s legitimately great M.O.D.O.K. series on Hulu, which is set outside the MCU canon.
Here’s a hint: Alrighty then!
What Happened? — Comedy giant Jim Carrey will play Avengers villain M.O.D.O.K. for “multiple” shows on Disney+, with his first appearance potentially being in She-Hulk, according to a sizable leak on Reddit forum r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers. M.O.D.O.K. may also appear in the 2023 film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is currently filming.
Moderators for the forum claim the information came from a trusted individual, not a Marvel employee but a long-time source with legitimate connections. The leak, posted by the moderators, contains several slivers of information relevant to Marvel shows and movies, including She-Hulk, Black Panther 2, Moon Knight, and by association Blade.
In 2020, Jim Carrey returned to big-budget productions in his role as the evil “Dr. Robotnik” in the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog. A sequel is in production.
Somebody Stop Him! — Carrey is one of the most respected comic actors in Hollywood (out of those who didn’t come up through Saturday Night Live, that is) and ruled the box office in the ‘90s. At the height of his career, he entered the superhero realm as the villainous Riddler in the 1995 film Batman Forever. Carrey has since expanded his range through dramas like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and horror thrillers like The Number 23.
Carrey is a compelling choice to play M.O.D.O.K., a genius scientist who exists physically as a giant mechanical head with undersized limbs. His casting suggests that the MCU will seek a resonance for the character in line with his tragicomic dimensions in Hulu’s M.O.D.O.K., though the idea that Carrey will play the character as opposed to M.O.D.O.K. voice actor Patton Oswalt (who also wrote the show’s first season) suggests that Carrey’s version is being set up to exist in the theatrical MCU continuity.
While M.O.D.O.K. has always been an absurd villain — I mean, just look at him — making him funny is a relatively new innovation. Even the recent Avengers video game cast M.O.D.O.K. in mostly serious shades, but M.O.D.O.K. (which will return for a second season) succeeded by approaching his storylines with adult-themed humor, superhero theatrics, and authentic human emotion.
M.O.D.O.K., streaming on Hulu, stars Patton Oswalt as the title Avengers villain who seeks to save both his company AIM and his marriage while pursuing his ultimate dream of world domination.
The Inverse Analysis — Carrey’s rumored casting as M.O.D.O.K. is just one of many interesting teases from the MCU’s near-future to emerge from that leak.
The same Reddit post claims that the Shang-Chi credits scene, in which Bruce Banner has been restored to his human form, is evidence that Banner has partaken in a blood transfusion with his cousin, attorney Jennifer Walters (played by Tatiana Maslany), setting up She-Hulk. There are also glimpses into Black Panther 2 (the climax of Eternals is said to play a part in Namor’s wrath) and Moon Knight (namely, the rumor that Mahershala Ali will appear in the series, debuting as Blade prior to starring in his own film).
But Carrey’s rumored role as M.O.D.O.K. may have the largest impact on the MCU. Similar to characters like Nick Fury and Claire Temple, M.O.D.O.K. could act as a major connecting thread throughout the new series — and set up bigger stories down the road. Avengers 5, anyone?
