Is Daren Cross Returning as MODOK in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’?

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the newest MCU movie to hit the big screen, and it already showed plenty of potential regarding how it can affect the entire MCU. But while the focus may be on Kang the Conqueror, we can’t help but think that we still have a notable bad guy featured in this movie. We are talking about MODOK, who was rumored to be making his debut in the form of the returning Darren Cross. So, is Darren Cross returning as MODOK?

Darren Cross returned to the MCU in the form of MODOK, which stands for Mechanical Organism Designed Only for Killing. It was shown that he survived the events of the first Ant-Man movie, albeit deformed and trapped in the Quantum Realm, and Kang saved him and turned him into MODOK.

Even though Darren Cross was a big bad guy that needed to be put down in the events of the first Ant-Man movie, he became somewhat comedic in Quantumania, especially because of his eccentric personality. Nevertheless, despite being a secondary antagonist, he played a vital role in this movie. Now, let’s talk about Darren Cross and his return in Quantumania.

Who is Darren in Ant-Man?

For those who may have forgotten, the first Ant-Man movie featured a prominent villain that has always been in the Ant-Man storyline in the comics. That was when we met Darren Cross, who was a man that was in control over Pym Technologies and was looking to make use of Hank Pym’s particles for different reasons. That was when he became the villain named Yellowjacket. As the aforementioned villain, Darren had the same capabilities that Scott Lang’s Ant-Man suit had, but his suit was more technologically advanced. 

Nevertheless, because Darren threatened Cassie Lang, the fight between him and Scott became personal. That was when Scott shrank to an incredibly small size so he could mess up with the wirings in Darren’s Yellowjacket suit and force it to implode. The suit shrank and shrank until it became so small that Darren was quite possibly lost in the Quantum Realm, just like what happened with Janet Van Dyne decades ago when her Wasp suit shrank beyond its very limits.

Is Darren Cross returning as MODOK in Ant-Man 3?

We are now in the third Ant-Man movie, and we know that Darren’s whereabouts were still unknown before the start of Quantumania. He was believed dead from what happened to him in the first movie. Of course, in the third movie, Cassie Lang referenced him early on when she said that her life had never been normal since a man dressed as a bee tried to kill her when she was six.

Meanwhile, during the events of Quantumania, the entire Ant-Family got trapped in the Quantum Realm when Cassie sent a signal using the machine she invented. Scott and Cassie got separated from Hope and her parents, as they were forced to befriend a group of Quantum Realm natives called the freedom fighters. These freedom fighters were the ones that resisted Kang the Conqueror’s rule over the Quantum Realm.

Elsewhere, Hope and her family met up with Lord Krylar, Janet’s former fling when she spent decades in the Quantum Realm. Through Krylar, they heard that Kang was aware that the entire Ant-Family was now in the Quantum Realm. And Krylar said that Kang sent a killing machine to go after Scott and Cassie.

Back in the camp of the freedom fighters, Kang’s forces came and attacked everyone in sight. While Jentorra and her fighters fought bravely, they were outnumbered and outmatched. Things worsened when a machine-like organism appeared and destroyed the camp’s defenses before going after Scott and Cassie. This organism was very familiar to Scott as he called him his nemesis.

Yes, this machine-like organism was Darren Cross, who had become an entirely different creature that was more machine than man. However, Darren introduced himself as MODOK as he no longer answers to his given name because Kang had given him a new purpose in life. He became a Mechanized Organism Designed Only For Killing (MODOK) after he found himself in the Quantum Realm. Darren even revealed that he was the one that sucked the entire Ant-Family into the Quantum Realm after he received Cassie’s signal.

The funny part about this was that Darren had become so eccentric as MODOK that he no longer answered to his given name. When Scott was in the probability storm, he tried to contact Darren, only for MODOK to answer when Scott started calling him MODOK. Of course, there were also more comedic moments involving MODOK during the final portions of the movie.

How did Darren become MODOK?

As mentioned, the last time we saw Darren was when Scott messed up his Yellowjacket suit, causing it to malfunction. The suit shrank uncontrollably until it surpassed its limits. As such, it was believed that Darren was trapped in Quantum Realm. 

However, he revealed that he survived that ordeal with the Yellowjacket suit. But he became a deformed man due to how the suit malfunctioned. As such, he ended up with an enormous head and tiny limbs that could no longer support the weight of his body. Scott even said that he had baby arms and legs.

While Darren was trapped in the Quantum Realm and unable to do anything due to his deformed shape, Kang found him and used his futuristic technology to turn him into MODOK. That was how he found a new purpose in life as Kang’s hunting dog. But MODOK was not someone that Kang respected as he didn’t even think of him as human.

Nevertheless, during the final portion of the movie, Darren stopped being a “dick,” as Cassie described him. He betrayed Kang and was responsible for weakening his former master’s defenses so that Hank’s giant ants could get to him and damage his suit. However, Darren was fatally wounded in that attempt to defeat Kang, and he died in front of the Ant-Family, thinking that he had become an Avenger due to his noble efforts.

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