It’s no easy task to single out the biggest sin committed by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; whether it’s the hastily reshot Hollywood ending that butchered the film immaculately, the lackluster introduction of Kang’s threat even with Jonathan Majors anchoring the role, or the uncanny power of telling someone to not be a dick, there was quite a lot to write home about, and hardly any of it was good.
But, unsurprisingly, it was the MCU’s introduction of M.O.D.O.K. that ended up turning the most heads for better or worse; reimagined as a mechanized Darren Cross, the antagonist of the first Ant-Man film, the character brought his marked brand of chaos to a franchise that, despite having the best chance of fielding such a personality, certainly didn’t do so perfectly.
In an interview with Variety, Corey Stoll, who reprised his role of Darren Cross/M.O.D.O.K. for Quantumania, speculated on why the character was received as viciously as he was, arguing that the changes they made from the comics — which did not (and, let’s be honest, could not) include an aesthetic touch-up — were both beneficial and effectively unavoidable when considering the jump to live-action.
“Everybody’s trying to make this jump from a two-dimensional, static image on page to live action, and some things have to change. Jeff Loveness, who wrote the script, and Peyton and Paul made a very strong choice to retcon — is that the word? — this new reason for M.O.D.O.K. to be. I think it really works. It certainly works in the context of Darren’s arc.”
He also touched on the serial nature of comic book characters, noting how there’s hardly ever one definitive way to portray such characters, with the MCU’s creative liberty itself being a testament to the decades-long practice.
“You know, the thing I always loved as a comic book fan was that there would be these radically different versions of the same characters. I was a big Batman fan growing up. Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ was this completely different character from ‘Year One’ or whatever. You don’t have to like everyone equally. There is no definitive any of these characters.”
Of course, if fans somehow expected M.O.D.O.K. to be brought to live-action in a way where he didn’t look completely ridiculous, it’s safe to say such disappointment is entirely on them. Goofy-looking or not, it wouldn’t have been able to save the film from itself.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters.