Patton Oswalt’s Marvel stop-motion animation series MODOK has been canceled after a single, 10-episode season by streamer Hulu as the Marvel TV scene continues to contract and rearrange.
The series, which debuted in May of last year, featured Oswalt as the voice of Marvel Comics villain M.O.D.O.K., which stands for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, Variety reported. Oswalt is also credited as the series creator, executive producer, and writer for all but one episode.
Oswalt brought in some heavy hitters as guest voices in the project, including Jon Hamm, Whoopi Goldberg, and Nathan Fillion. The series also had several high-profile comedians and actors as recurring cast members, including Melissa Fumero, Aimee Garcia, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ben Schwartz, Beck Bennett, Jon Daly, and Sam Richardson.
“This was born out of our love for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who created M.O.D.O.K., and we wanted to honor that while still finding a comedic slant on the character and his world,” Oswalt’s co-producer Jordan Blum said at New York’s Comic Con in 2020. “What are the mundane moments of trying to run an evil organization? Or how does a giant floating toilet relate to his rebellious children or his wife?”
The passion project failed to thrive, even with Marvel name recognition and Oswalt’s insider cred in the comic book industry (he has written for top brands such as DC Comics since the early 2000s). And even more, the comedian’s consistent left-wing virtue signaling failed to translate into robust viewership.
In the past few years, California-based Oswalt lent his fame to the Georgia runoff campaigns of now-Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. He helped Democrats hype up a federal election takeover bill. He mocked the tearful testimony of Kyle Rittenhouse after the teenager was acquitted of murder charges. He required a vaccine passport in order for fans to attend his standup performances.
And early this year, he ended up pleasing absolutely no one with a series of posts about fellow comedian Dave Chappelle, mawkishly apologizing for celebrating their friendship after Chappelle’s jokes about transgenderism ignited a cancel mob.
The show may have fallen victim to Marvel’s continued reorganization. The series was contracted by Jeph Loeb’s Marvel Television unit. But that concern has since been shuttered and all Marvel TV now falls under Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios.
One other animated Marvel show headed by Loeb, Hit-Monkey, also has one season under its belt on Hulu, but its fate has not yet been addressed.
Fiege has since launched Marvel hits including WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki, and Moon Knight.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.