The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be regarded as the more “fun” approach to superhero filmmaking, but that doesn’t mean we’ll ever see the super-villain MODOK on the big screen. Sure, we’ve seen some pretty crazy things in the MCU, like Red Skull, Thanos, a talking raccoon, Groot, and huge Chitauri space whale things, but something about a giant head floating around on a mechanical chair just doesn’t seem like it would translate well to live action.
That’s a problem that Captain America 3 writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are dealing with now, as they look into Marvel’s vast catalog of bad guys to pit against the Star-Spangled Avenger. MODOK was never confirmed to appear, but he’s someone fans have been speculating about for a while. He’s even someone that Markus would love to see someday, but he’s worried about fitting him into the “grounded political arena” that the Captain America films inhabit.
In a new interview with Comic Book Movie, Markus and McFeely were asked to share their thoughts on potential future villains. They obviously weren’t allowed to give away much, but did talk about the MODOK dilemma as well as adapting a lesser-known villain like Flag Smasher:
Markus: “That’s a little tricky because some of [the villains] are theoretically very good. Some of them have great concepts but are really tough to pull off visually. Like Flag-Smasher who wants to destroy nations, and that’s a terrorist and seems like a guy you could work with, but he literally has a cape and flies on flying skies, and then you’re like, ‘Ok, do we take away everything?’ and then he’s just a guy and we’re not fully portraying the character. They’re tricky to bring across. I always wanted to do MODOK., but it seems like we’re leaving our grounded political arena way behind when you’ve got a giant floating head on a rocket chair.
McFeely: “Exactly!”
Markus: “I’ll do it one day, I’m telling you people!”
So, while their comments aren’t concrete confirmation, I would wager a guess that we won’t be seeing MODOK anytime soon. However, they did make characters like Batroc the Leaper and Arnim Zola work in the MCU, and they have equally goofy attributes as Flag Smasher and MODOK (minus the giant floating head bit, that is). So, while we likely won’t see exact translations of the villains on screen, maybe there’s a bit of wiggle room for a nod to the fans or some kind of tongue-in-cheek way to bring them to life.
What do you think of their comments? Would you like to see characters like Flag Smasher and MODOK in the next Captain America film, or did you have other villains in mind? Let us know in the comments below.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America 3 is slated for release on May 6th, 2016.