BIOGRAPHY - Page 3
Because of Captain America’s interference, the Serpent Society had to return later and recover M.O.D.O.K.’s body from the morgue. They brought it to A.I.M. as proof of death and cashed in their reward. [Captain America (1st series) #315] A.I.M.’s current Scientist Supreme intended to keep M.O.D.O.K.’s body technically alive on life support, his vegetative brain serving as a powerful computer even in its current state. The Supreme’s brother Yorgon Tykkio was far more ambitious, however. He stole M.O.D.O.K.’s body and reactivated it as a remote combat drone. Yorgon attempted to prove his superiority to his brother by sending M.O.D.O.K. to destroy Iron Man. He underestimated Iron Man’s strength, though, and ended up blowing M.O.D.O.K.’s body to smithereens in a last-ditch attempt to kill the Armored Avenger. [Iron Man (1st series) #205]
Though he was gone, the ripple effects of M.O.D.O.K.’s schemes would continue for years. M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. once commissioned Project: Lenz to create the ultimate human. Their test subject devolved into an atavistic super-predator and escaped A.I.M.’s efforts to kill it. [ClanDestine (1st series) #1] Years later, Lenz accosted the ClanDestine in his efforts to reproduce his lonely species of one. [ClanDestine (1st series) #4] Following their encounters with Ms. Marvel, M.O.D.O.K. also found Kerwin Korman, the Destructor, and bonded the former A.I.M. agent to the construct known as the Doomsday Man. He lost interest in this bio-mechanical symbiosis, but the Doomsday Man returned years later to threaten Carol Danvers again. [Avengers (3rd series) #17]
Time passed and A.I.M. reorganized under the control of their other greatest creation, the Super-Adaptoid, using the public persona of Alessandro Brannex. They achieved legitimate status by assuming authority over the island nation of Boca Caliente. The island underwent massive internal restructuring, turning it into an enormous laboratory built around harnessing the energies of the Cosmic Cube once more. The reality-altering energies of Beyond needed to be held in a 
Cube to be properly contained, however, and so they began to bleed uncontrollably onto the island. Fearing they would be unable to reassume control of the Cube energies on their own, A.I.M. initiated Project: Resurrection to bring back M.O.D.O.K.
The exact nature of M.O.D.O.K.’s resurrection remains unclear. A human specimen was loaded into his new Doomsday Chair before being brought online, though it’s unknown if this was an inert clone of George Tarleton or another “volunteer.” This was not merely a new M.O.D.O.K. construct either, for he self-identified as the original M.O.D.O.K. and retained his memories and personality. It seems A.I.M. brought together the elements of M.O.D.O.K. as best they could to give the Kemplar radiation of the Cube energies a “headstart” towards resurrecting the original being. A.I.M. seemed more successful than in the past in their efforts to control M.O.D.O.K. Although self-aware and semi-autonomous, M.O.D.O.K. acknowledged he was operating under A.I.M.’s programming and sought to fulfill his own ambitions within the parameters his creators were allowing him to operate under.
The immediate function of Project: Resurrection was to contain the trans-dimensional breach which allowed A.I.M. to access the Cube energies. The very same energies A.I.M. tapped to recreate M.O.D.O.K. were erupting out of their control. M.O.D.O.K.’s successor / predecessor M.O.D.A.M. (Mental Organism Designed for Aggressive Maneuvers) had already been consumed by the breach while he was coming back online. M.O.D.O.K. entertained himself at first attacking his old enemy Captain America, who was also on Boca Caliente investigating the Kemplar radiation spikes, but soon turned his attention towards controlling the breach itself. Even his super-intelligence could not properly calculate the means of shutting down the energy column, though. Unable to fulfill his programming immediately, M.O.D.O.K. had the opportunity to reinterpret his instructions. Reasoning that one must understand something before controlling it, M.O.D.O.K. chose to travel the dimensional breach back into the realm Beyond where the Cube energies originated. The breach was ultimately closed from this side by Captain America, the Avengers and the sacrifice of a lone Adaptoid. [Taking A.I.M. crossover]
Eventually, M.O.D.O.K. returned from his journey Beyond, thanks to an unlikely group of benefactors. The bizarre scientists known as the Headmen detected M.O.D.O.K.’s consciousness moving through the realms Beyond and provided him the means to return to Earth. M.O.D.O.K. agreed he was in the Headmen’s debt and offered his services to them in the future, as well as the services of A.I.M. once he reasserted control over his former minions. [Defenders (2nd series) #10] Either he overcame his programming or considered it redundant after the specific A.I.M. scientists who recreated him were lost on Boca Caliente. M.O.D.O.K. went to work re-establishing himself as the head of his own branch of A.I.M. once more. [Iron Man (3rd series) #1]
M.O.D.O.K. funded Mark Cushing’s dream of Zenith City, using a genegineering process to 
transform himself and other physically infirm volunteers into a civilization of physically perfect specimens linked by a hive mind. The opportunity cost of the genegineering process was that it required constant reinforcement or the subjects would perish. After Zenith City was established on an island off the coast of Venezuela, A.I.M. revealed themselves as Cushing’s secret backers. They also added a hypnotic element to the ongoing treatment rays projected from the town spire. M.O.D.O.K. now had a small city of telepathic minds under his control.
M.O.D.O.K. first utilized the people of Zenith City for the Mentallo Project as mental batteries, augmenting the power of the small-time criminal and ESPer Marvin Flumm for the benefit of A.I.M. After Captain America and Iron Man defeated Mentallo, they tracked the other telepaths’ origins back to Zenith City. In order to maintain control of his slaves, M.O.D.O.K. projected his own mind through their psionic power, manifesting a body of living mental energy to battle the Avengers. Cap and Iron Man defeated M.O.D.O.K.’s mental projection, but an army of A.I.M. agents were set to invade the island and retake their stolen property. Iron Man modified the treatment rays so that the people of Zenith City would survive the genegineering’s reversal, reverting them to their pre-altered states and making them useless to M.O.D.O.K. [Iron Man & Captain America Annual ‘98]
M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. went in a few curious new directions after this, trying to innovate off of existing research material instead of inventing entirely new science themselves. In what was termed a “techno-cult,” M.O.D.O.K. attempted to combine the scientific and the supernatural with the resurrected body of the demi-goddess Snowbird. He captured Guardian and Vindicator of Alpha Flight to drain their minds of Snowbird’s history to better use her for his benefit, but Wolverine and Canada’s heroes freed their captive teammates. [Wolverine (2nd series) #142-143] On another occasion, A.I.M. harvested the artificial intelligence of Abel Stack’s original creation, X.E.R.O., from an orbiting satellite. M.O.D.O.K. attempted to extract the living mind of X.E.R.O. from the satellite’s code and place it into an independent body. He was successful, but X.E.R.O. immediately betrayed A.I.M. and left M.O.D.O.K. injured and empty-handed. [X-51: The 
Machine Man #10-12] On another project, M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. lent their expertise to Baron Strucker of Hydra, testing a Voice Modulation Program tied to a cache of mind-controlling nano-probes. A test attack was launched on Atlantis, but M.O.D.O.K. was intimidated into submission by Roger Aubrey, the Mighty Destroyer of the V-Battalion. [Citizen V and the V-Battalion #1-2]
Taking yet another tactic, M.O.D.O.K. re-imagined A.I.M. as a semi-legitimate technical company called the Advanced Corporation. M.O.D.O.K. hired the anti-corporate saboteur the Ghost to eliminate their competition for A.I.M. They combined their skills to infiltrate rival tech companies, install a bomb in their systems and then trigger that bomb with e-mails carrying M.O.D.O.K.’s unique mental signature. Tony Stark had been working undercover at Askew Electronics for his own reasons when it was targeted by M.O.D.O.K. and the Ghost, and he began an investigation that led him back to Advanced Corp. Iron Man turned the Ghost and M.O.D.O.K.’s attacks against each other, bringing an end to their scheme. [Iron Man (3rd series) #42-45]
In time, the Headmen called in their debt from M.O.D.O.K., and M.O.D.O.K. readily acquiesced. By bringing together the Star of Capistan with an ancient idol, the Headmen gained control over a self-declared space god, Orrgo the Unconquerable. Orrgo had vast power over matter and mind, allowing the Headmen to seize control of the planet in a matter of minutes. The world was bathed in hypnotic energy, placing everyone under the sway of Orrgo and therefore the Headmen. The sole catch was that anybody who touched the idol beforehand was immune to Orrgo’s power, and so M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. murdered all these potential wrinkles in the Headmen’s conquest of Earth. The only exceptions remained the Headmen’s enemies, the Defenders.
M.O.D.O.K. proved oddly passive under the Headmen’s rule. The quartet of mad scientists chose 
to leave M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. free to act as their partners and agents in the new world order, yet M.O.D.O.K. made no attempt to seize power from the Headmen or betray them. M.O.D.O.K. explained to his Scientist Supreme that A.I.M. had grown complacent and stagnant of late, their ideas no longer as innovative as in the past. The Headmen, on the other hand, were lunatics fixated on their own petty interests, yet the bizarre ideas they pursued while in possession of ultimate power were a fascinating source of data for the future. And so, M.O.D.O.K. was content to watch as Arthur Nagan tried to solve global warming and traffic patterns using a computer program, Chondu experimented with science and magic to create new bodies for himself, and Ruby Thursday contemplated seven-dimensional solids superimposed on a three-dimensional world. In time, the Defenders rallied and seized the idol, using it to undo Orrgo and the Headmen’s alterations to the world. M.O.D.O.K. was satisfied to escape unmolested with copies of the experimental data performed by the Headmen, for his personal review and consideration towards future projects. [Defenders (2nd series) #9-10]
M.O.D.O.K. continued to experiment with different ideas and acquire technologies that suited his goals. He amplified the power of a super-villain called Blizzard to create a cryo-cannon that would freeze the world, only to be stopped by the Avengers. [She-Hulk (1st series) #1] He was foiled by Squirrel Girl and S.H.I.E.L.D. while attempting to raid Maelstrom’s hidden base for exotic tech. [GLX-Mas Special #1] However, M.O.D.O.K. also proved willing to contribute to Cable’s recovery after the battle of Providence by providing a Phalanx embryo to restore his techno-organic parts. [Cable & Deadpool #11] M.O.D.O.K. was also consulted by Hank McCoy in the darker days of his efforts to undo the Decimation on mutantkind. [X-Men (2nd series) #200]
Since his resurrection, M.O.D.O.K. had also reacquainted himself with the Intelligencia. Their many individual setbacks had prevented the Intel’s long-term goals from proceeding much in his absence. During a raid on Edwards Air Force Base, they recovered details on the nation’s satellite network and, perhaps more intriguing, the body of Betty Ross. Poisoned by the Abomination, Betty was believed dead by her husband, Bruce Banner, yet General Ross kept his daughter in cryogenic suspension in the hopes a cure could be found. M.O.D.O.K. and the Leader recognized her value as a test subject and bargaining chip, so they removed her from deep storage and left a fake in her place. The Intelligencia had further plans but, after raiding the last repository of Alexandria in Atlantis, Doom betrayed them all to keep the knowledge for himself, and their brotherhood of scientists fell apart. [Fall of the Hulks: Alpha]
A complicated plot was orchestrated by Admiral Jimmy Westbrook of the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Rivas drug cartel in order to exploit M.O.D.O.K. for their own ends. In exchange for the feds and military turning a blind eye towards their drug smuggling, Manuel Rivas had his “designer drug” laboratory down in Cuba fashion a M.O.D.O.K. virus to threaten the head of A.I.M. into working for them. Admiral Jimmy wanted M.O.D.O.K.’s mind for stock manipulation and spy satellite surveillance, all in his self-serving definition of “in the national interest.” M.O.D.O.K. was not so easily contained, however, and he learned how to exchange his mind with 
that of Manuel’s brother, Damocles Rivas, the "legitimate" member of the Rivas clan known as the Saint. The real Damocles had his mind locked down inside M.O.D.O.K.’s body, responsive to Jimmy and “Damocles” as they requested data and calculations from him.
The plot began to unravel thanks to several factors, however. First, M.O.D.O.K. was Designed Only for Killing, and this core programming could not be ignored indefinitely. Even with Damocles Rivas’ mind inhabiting it as little more than a drone, M.O.D.O.K. still sought outlet for his murderous urges. The M.O.D.O.K. unit devised a transporter, teleporting around the world to execute former members of A.I.M. responsible for the original experiment that created him. Also, a spotlight was shined on O.N.I.’s relationship with Rivas when S.H.I.E.L.D. gave Falcon a mission that led him to uncover the connection. Captain America and the Falcon captured a sample of the M.O.D.O.K. virus – without knowing what it was – as well as the Anti-Cap, O.N.I.’s Super-Sailor who went rogue and killed Manuel Rivas when he learned his boss Admiral Westbrook was playing both sides in the drug war.
Westbrook held treason charges over the Falcon’s head because of his actions in Cuba, and the Rivas cartel also blamed Falcon for Manuel’s death. Just as Damocles was compelled to carry out M.O.D.O.K.’s programming, M.O.D.O.K. felt compelled to go after Falcon for the death of Damocles’ brother. This kept Cap and the Falcon on the Rivas’ trail, and S.H.I.E.L.D. triangulated 
M.O.D.O.K.’s transporter effect from his various executions around the world back to the Rivas compound in New Jersey. Captain America found the M.O.D.O.K. unit and reasoned out that M.O.D.O.K. “wasn’t home.” Meanwhile, Falcon and the Anti-Cap went after Admiral Westbrook and were captured by the real M.O.D.O.K. in Damocles Rivas’s body.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Ali Morales brought out Amari Rivas, Damocles’ niece, and threatened her in order to get M.O.D.O.K.’s attention. The influence of Rivas’ mind on M.O.D.O.K. stalled him long enough for the Anti-Cap to kill Damocles Rivas. This sent M.O.D.O.K.’s mind back into his original body, now co-habiting it with the mind of Rivas. Morales attempted to use the M.O.D.O.K. virus to kill him, but it turned out M.O.D.O.K. had out-maneuvered Westbrook and modified his research data from the Rivas labs. The M.O.D.O.K. virus was deadly to everyone BUT M.O.D.O.K., and in fact augmented his powers. However, if M.O.D.O.K. died, the virus would be unleashed from his body and threaten the world.
As M.O.D.O.K. lashed out in triumph at Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D., though, a stray blast killed Damocles’ niece, Amari. Damocles reasserted his mind inside M.O.D.O.K.’s body out of sheer grief. He became suicidal in his desperation to kill M.O.D.O.K. and teleported to the location of a Hulk rampage in progress, hoping to die. Cap followed in order to save Rivas and prevent the 
virus from escaping M.O.D.O.K.’s form. Cap convinced Rivas to search for an alternative, and Rivas even used M.O.D.O.K.’s power to put Bruce Banner in charge of the Hulk temporarily. Together with a video link to Hank Pym and Reed Richards, they formulated a M.O.D.O.K. anti-virus, but had no means of testing it. The batch might fail, or even mutate the M.O.D.O.K. virus further. M.O.D.O.K. reasserted control, and so Morales and Falcon teleported him back to the Rivas compound, locked down with the same protocols M.O.D.O.K. used to control Damocles as a drone. With M.O.D.O.K. contained, the immediate danger had passed, but Captain America still felt obligated to try the experimental anti-virus in an effort to save Damocles. Falcon destroyed the anti-virus instead, forcing Cap to return to Pym and Richards and give them time to develop an anti-virus they were more confident in. [Captain America and the Falcon (2nd series) #1-12]