WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #4 by Jordan Blum, Patton Oswalt, Scott Hepburn, Carlos Lopez and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
The Marvel Universe is home to some of the strangest characters in all of comics, and one of them has just gotten a brutal reality check. Not only has M.O.D.O.K. been on the run from his very own organization, but he has also been forced to team up with heroes he has long considered beneath. Vague memories of a family he has never known have been plaguing M.O.D.O.K., leaving him in fugue states at the worst of times and unable to discern between reality and fiction. Thankfully, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing finally finds some answers in M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #4, but the truth is worse than he could have ever anticipated.
Since being run out of A.I.M., M.O.D.O.K. has done everything he can to get his mind and body back under control. The trail of breadcrumbs has led him to an idyllic, quiet suburb where everyone seems to already know him. After finding the home from his memories, M.O.D.O.K. is confronted with none other than Alvin Tarleton, his father. Their conversation breaks open everything that M.O.D.O.K. thought he knew about his own origin, and the transformation he underwent to become the maniacal menace he is now. Alvin assures M.O.D.O.K. that he can repair his son's broken mind, and with just a few words, M.O.D.O.K. is ripped from reality and experiences his entire life all over again.
First introduced in "If This Be... M.O.D.O.K.!" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the pages of Tales of Suspense #94, the titular villain was a serious thorn in the side of Captain America -- something that hasn't changed much over the years. Born George Tarleton, the man who would be M.O.D.O.K. was initially a talented though low-level technician for A.I.M. who volunteered to undergo the process which granted him the superhuman intelligence in a bid to further the organization's own research on the Cosmic Cube. Now it seems that things have changed, as the real memories that M.O.D.O.K. relives unveil his origin as something much more horrific. George Tarleton, as it turns out, was not nearly as talented as previously thought. Rather, he was quite inept, and was forced into the procedure by his own father out of nothing more than cruel and selfish desires. While M.O.D.O.K. has never been what anyone would call an empathetic villain, this reveal is shocking enough to send him into a rage, lashing out at Alvin and swearing to take revenge for the pain his own father put him through.
It can be difficult to make any tried and true supervillain a sympathetic figure, but Head Games has just succeeded in expanding on M.O.D.O.K.'s past and present in ways that cast the villain in a brand new light. While it is highly unlikely that any of this will drive M.O.D.O.K. towards more noble goals, the fallout of this latest discovery is certain to reinvigorate his quest for dominance over any and all who would oppose him. Assuming M.O.D.O.K. survives this unfortunate family reunion, there is going to a whole lot of hurt coming A.I.M.'s way very soon.
0 Comments