The hype was real when it was announced a full-fledged action role-playing game based on the Avengers was going to come to the PS4 and Xbox One. However, plenty of people were surprised when it was announced the relatively obscure MODOK would be the game's primary villain.
In an interview with Shack News, Crystal Dynamics Studio Head Scot Amos said it all began by choosing Kamala Khan to be the game's main protagonist: "We said we wanted someone as a character who could synchronize with us as players. Somebody who's a fan of superheroes, particularly a fan of the Avengers... As soon as we did that, [we asked], 'What would be the opposite of somebody who loves superheroes? It would be somebody who wants to use science against superheroes.'"
This quickly led to the idea of having AIM in the story. And since MODOK has traditionally been the head of AIM, it was a natural fit to bring him into the story as the big bad. Amos went on to say, "That was a cool idea that AIM at the beginning of our story was actually George Tarleton, as the head of AIM, in partnership with Tony Stark working on this Terrigen reactor saying, 'Clean energy for the world! Make the world a better place!' So it starts with a noble goal, but that same event at the beginning, that A-Day event, that infects Kamala with Terrigen Mists that make her into an Inhuman also corrupts George Tarleton."
In a way, the recent video game almost makes MODOK a sympathetic villain. He genuinely wants the world to be safer; he just goes about doing that the wrong way. While he may not be a physically-imposing threat to the heroes, he uses his intellect to divide them another way: by making them question whether they're truly the best way to protect Earth.
