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"This Man... This Makeover!" is the seventh episode of the first season of M.O.D.O.K. It premiered on Hulu on May 21, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Jodie's celebrity is on the rise and she begins to date the superhero Wonder Man.
Plot[]
MODOK is now alone in his apartment and is in terrible shape. Unaware that Super-Adaptoid is still missing, he begs for food and resolves to eat baking soda; forcing him to get real food. He passes by Wonder Man beating up Tatterdemalion before entering a restaurant to order a large lasagna for himself. He discovers Jodie is there who is happy to see him and feigns that the lasagna is for a kids soccer team he is coaching, which pleases her somewhat. Wonder Man enters and introduces himself as a "pending Avenger, underwear model and lover of [M.O.D.O.K.'s] wife". Jodie is visibly sorry about MODOK abruptly hearing this and he angrily leaves when Wonder Man believes he has rabies (he still had baking soda in his mouth).
MODOK returns home and watches Jodie and Wonder Man on TV while depressed. Gary attempts to comfort him, but when MODOK gets an invitation to Jodie's book signing at his house, he attempts to kill himself via drowning. Gary convinces him otherwise and MODOK believes that he is trying to tell him that Jodie is still in love with him and decides to change himself. He goes to see Melissa at the ice skating rink and asks her for help, but she refuses due to the last time she tried to help him. MODOK finally buckles and tells Melissa that he needs a makeover to win back her mother and she accepts the challenge.
At Simply Gorge Salon, Melissa introduces MODOK to Jonathan Van Ness who puts him through a big makeover to make him look presentable. After numerous looks and makeup changes, MODOK finally settles on a look that he likes and which Melissa approves. At Jodie's book signing, MODOK finally arrives; wearing a blue tuxedo, his hair combed back, his face coated in filler and an artificial butt stapled to his rear end. Melissa and Lou are put off by his near appearance, but Jodie, dressed suspiciously like Carmen Sandiego, seems pleased by his sudden appearance with the paparazzi taking great notice of him.
One month prior, Jodie is speaking to her marketing expert Brandi who appears somewhat culturally insensitive to her background. She explains that she needs to put herself out there if her book Jodify Your Life is to be a success. Jodie refuses to sell out however and discovers that her book is not selling as well. While in a bookstore, Jodie encounters Wonder Man, unaware of who he is, and strikes up a conversation with him. While reluctant to go out with him, he offers to meet with her and she accepts after signing her book for him. As he leaves to go fight Ultron, Jodie immediately gets a call from Brandi that her interaction with Wonder Man has gone viral and people are already declaring them a couple, much to her confusion.
Jodie and Wonder Man begin dating where the former discovers that due to being with him, people are reading her book now and making their lives better. Jodie begins to slowly embrace the super stardom with Wonder Man and undergoes a major personality change by becoming uber confident as her book sales begin to rise rapidly. Brandi explains that her book sales slightly dropped because there is not any drama in her life and asks her if there is any possible drama. It is revealed that Jodie knew that MODOK would arrive at the restaurant and wanted to see how he was doing. Knowing that his life is in shambles she texts Brandi to give him an invite. All the while, Wonder Man seems highly oblivious to her plans. In the present, Jodie and Brandi celebrate that their plan worked.
Jodie happily approaches MODOK and subtly eggs him on into fighting Wonder Man. As he approaches him, the two walk over the red carpet to appear as being friends, but privately begin to beckon each other into a fight. While Brandi is impatient, Jodie knows that something will happen. Meanwhile, Melissa and Lou complain that Jodie is changing and has been using them to help sell their book. They decide to get in trouble by getting drunk and discover MODOK's skinny boy laser-rita gun, which they happily use on themselves to get drunk quickly. Melissa later hops into the swimming pool while Lou pushes a piano in it.
MODOK tells Wonder Man that Jodie only wants him for sex and does not actually love him. This angers him to the point that he begins to beat him up at the party in front of everyone. Jodie goes to check on MODOK, but tells everyone that she was aware that he was trying to provoke him and leaves with Wonder Man while MODOK is left wallowing. Melissa and Lou continue to use the laser-rita gun on themselves and bond over the fact that Wonder Man is a worse father than MODOK and that Jodie has become a jerk because she is actually not handling the divorce all too well. Lou takes comfort in the fact that he still has Melissa, but she admits that she will go to college one day, which visibly bothers him.
Jodie has dinner with Wonder Man where she begins to plot their next exploit. He begins to question his relationship with her when she casually acknowledges that their relationship is purely for the fame. Heartbroken over the fact that he is simply a tool in her machinations, he breaks up with her before adding that she is just like MODOK and possibly worse. The Younger MODOK is watching the events unfold on a hidden camera and Brandi is revealed to be the Super-Adaptoid in disguise. He announces the next phase of their plan has just begun by introducing Arcade who laughs maniacally, though Super-Adaptoid has no idea why.
MODOK returns to his apartment sad and defeated until he notices that he has a copy of Jodify Your Life and begins to read it. He starts to pick himself up and starts to clean his apartment for the first time. After finishing, he spots the divorce agreement paper and heads back to the house where he finally admits to Jodie that he still in love with her, but that he is ready to move on and be out of her life. However, Jodie takes the divorce paper and tosses it away before pulling him inside the house where they proceed to make out and presumably have sex.
Cast[]
- Patton Oswalt as George Tarleton/M.O.D.O.K., The Anomaly
- Aimee Garcia as Jodie Tarleton
- Melissa Fumero as Melissa Tarleton
- Ben Schwartz as Lou Tarleton
- Jon Daly as Super-Adaptoid
- Nathan Fillion as Simon Williams/Wonder Man
- Sam Richardson as Gary
- Meredith Salenger as Brandi
- Jonathan Van Ness as Himself
- Alan Tudyk as Arcade
- Jonathan Kite as Arnold Paffenroth/Tatterdemalion
Trivia[]
- The title is a reference to Fantastic Four #51 "This Man... This Monster".
- Simon Williams/Wonder Man is voiced by Nathan Fillion. This is a reference to the fact that Fillion was set to play the character in live action in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 before his scene got cut.
- Wonder Man is shown starring in a film called Brute Force 2: Kangarude Awakening alongside a kangaroo named Hip Hop. This is a reference to the all animal comic book team Brute Force which featured said kangaroo alongside a lion, an eagle, a bear and a dolphin.