“M.O.D.O.K,” the gleefully bizarre Marvel animated series that debuted on Hulu last May, won’t be returning for a sophomore season, TheWrap has learned.
While this might seem like a surprise to some that the show is coming to a close after only 10 episodes, it was more or less a foregone conclusion. “M.O.D.O.K” was ordered as part of a suite of animated shows, by former Marvel Television executive Jeph Loeb. These shows, which also included “Hit Monkey,” “Howard the Duck” and “Tigra and Dazzler,” were meant to eventually come together for a miniseries called “The Offenders.” (This echoed the strategy Loeb employed with the Netflix series like “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones.” Those combined for a miniseries called “The Defenders.”)
When Loeb was ousted and Marvel Television shuttered (now all series run through Marvel Studios proper), two of the series were outright canceled (“Howard” and “Tigra and Dazzler”) and one more was released to the quietest amount of buzz perceptible to the human ear (“Hit Monkey,” also not expected to return), “M.O.D.O.K’s” days were effectively numbered.
M.O.D.O.K, which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, is a Marvel super-villain voiced on the show by Patton Oswalt (who also co-created the series with Jordan Blum). Fired from his own evil organization A.I.M. (which has a very different lineage in the mainstream MCU, having been run by Guy Pearce in “Iron Man 3”), M.O.D.O.K. is forced to focus on repairing the relationship he has with his family. It was a bizarre premise, but the lovingly handcrafted stop-motion animation (by Stoopid Buddies) and the all-star cast (that included Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ben Schwartz, Beck Bennett, Jon Daly, Sam Hamm, Bill Hader and Sam Richardson) charmed.
Marvel Studios is busy producing animated series, notably “What If …?” (which will be returning for a second season) and upcoming series like “I Am Groot,” “X-Men ‘97” (a continuation of the beloved 90s animated series) and “What If … ?” spin-off “Marvel Zombies,” but nothing as esoteric and singular as “M.O.D.O.K” (yet).
All episodes of “M.O.D.O.K” are available to stream on Hulu right now.
