With Thanos now officially defeated and the Infinity Saga at an end, we are about to embark on a new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where heroes new and old will face off with new villains. To that end, while there are plenty of villains fans are hoping for, there are two in particular that Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely really want to see on screen someday. In an exclusive interview with CinemaBlend, Christopher Markus revealed who’s at the top of his bad guy wish list:
I always go back to the guy I always want to see on screen, which is MODOK. Also, part of me… it’s hard to say if he was officially destroyed, I wouldn’t mind seeing a third incarnation of Zola. Now in a robotic body. We got him from human to face on screen, I’d like him to get mobile now. I can’t say that’s going to happen, but it’d be fun.
Man, do Markus and McFeely have a type when it comes to supervillains or what? The screenwriting duo must really have a thing for bad guys that are just giant heads inside of artificial bodies. I imagine they are also huge fans of other giant-domed bad guys like the Watcher, the Kree Supreme Intelligence (the way it’s depicted in the comics, not the way Annette Bening looked in Captain Marvel), the Leader and Hector Hammond on the DC side of things.
As Christopher Markus said, the first villain that he really wants to see brought to life on screen in a Marvel movie is MODOK, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. MODOK was originally a technician named George Tartleton who worked for Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) a scientific terrorist organization. George Tartleton became part of an A.I.M. experiment that gave him superhuman intelligence and psionic powers.
Unfortunately, the experiment also mutated his head, which became so big he needed a weaponized exoskeleton and hoverchair to support it. Despite some obvious reservations about how the giant-headed villain would be portrayed on screen in live-action, fans have wanted to see MODOK for years and Markus and McFeely are rooting for the character as well. Maybe MODOK could finally bring Bryan Cranston to the MCU.
One good thing about the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creation is that he’s faced off with so many Marvel heroes over the years that he could slot into many different movies. One of the most obvious heroes he would have faced off with is Captain America, which is where the other villain Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus want to see comes from.
Unlike MODOK, Arnim Zola has already appeared on screen in the MCU in Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier where he was portrayed by Toby Jones. In World War II, Zola faced off with Cap as a human scientist that was part of Hydra alongside Red Skull. In Winter Soldier, Zola returned as a digitized version of himself, still working to advance Hydra’s aims.
Christopher Markus wants to see Zola be a thorn in the good guys’ side one more time. In this third outing, Zola would reach his final form as a digitized face in a robotic body.
The writer admits that this character’s fate was not entirely clear in The Winter Soldier. His digitized self appeared to be dead, but it would be easy to write him back into things to have the mad scientist cause chaos once again, this time with his very own body. It might not happen, but as he says, it’d be fun.
I’m not sure Marvel would go for two characters with heads in robotic bodies and since we’ve already seen Zola twice, my vote is for MODOK. That is, unless the MCU decides to do a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover and we can get Krang in the mix. We’ve got a whole new phase of villains to look forward to, so the possibilities are endless.
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