M.O.D.O.K. is an adults-only Marvel cartoon

With loose and absurd jokes that you’ll never hear Captain America crack, this is a Marvel cartoon that’s not suitable for children.

M.O.D.O.K. is streaming now on Disney+

M.O.D.O.K. is different to every other Marvel series you’ll find on Disney’s streaming service.

Unlike the mostly family friendly fare of Disney’s Marvel stable, M.O.D.O.K. is rated MA, and not just because its main character is a megalomaniacal villain whose desire for world domination puts him directly at odds with Iron Man.

M.O.D.O.K. is sharp, hilariously absurd and throws zingers at you like, “womb-wrecking head”. That’s a visual you won’t find Chris Evans’ Captain America trying to conjure.

Adapted for TV by actor Patton Oswalt with Jordan Blum, the character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, little more than a giant floating cylindrical head with disproportionately small arms and legs that hang out of his hover chair.

He’s (Oswalt) super smart, effortlessly inventing technologies that are supposed to help him conquer the world, including time machines. Yet his plans just don’t come off.

Grabbing Iron Man’s boot in the heat of battle is a victory for M.O.D.O.K. and his crew at the evil organisation A.I.M.

M.O.D.O.K. is rated MA in Australia

RELATED: The rare on-screen friendship in First Cow

Maybe M.O.D.O.K.’s inability to achieve his lofty goals is that despite his sociopathy and blatant disregard for life, he might just have a soft, gooey centre – and we’re not talking about his brain matter.

Because the real story in M.O.D.O.K. isn’t hatching nefarious plots, it’s his struggles as a suburban husband and dad to influencer wife Jodie (Aimee Garcia), cynical daughter Melissa (Melissa Fumero) and awkward son Lou (Ben Schwartz).

The series, based on the first three episodes made available for review, is much more interested in how family connections grounds M.O.D.O.K. and makes him a better person, even when he’s actively trying to be the worst version of himself.

And what happens when those bonds are not as strong as you thought they were.

Then the other thread running through the series is the takeover of a bankrupt A.I.M. by a tech company with the back-and-forth scheming between M.O.D.O.K. and his young boss Austin (Beck Bennett).

This plays out as the inevitable culture clash of when a small world domination company is subsumed by an actual world domination tech company, but there’s likely something dastardlier going on.

M.O.D.O.K. was co-created by Patton Oswalt.

RELATED: How Army of the Dead spliced Tig Notaro into the movie after filming

M.O.D.O.K. is a series that’s loose, funny and frequently profane – hence the adults-only rating – but it’s not in your face. Maybe it’s the colourful stop-motion animation that makes it seem as if it shouldn’t quite hit that MA classification. Certainly no one is bumping uglies – yet.

If there is one series that M.O.D.O.K. evokes, it’s the silliness and weirdness of Robot Chicken, the multiple Emmy-winning stop-motion sketch series which, after 200 episodes, is still running – and Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are executive producers here.

And there is so much starry talent in its voice cast, which in addition to the M.O.D.O.K. family includes some very fine comedic actors such as Wendi McLendon-Covey, Sam Richardson, Bill Hader, Jon Hamm, Nathan Fillion, Chris Parnell, Whoopi Goldberg and Alan Tudyk.

There’s a lot of undemanding fun to be had.

M.O.D.O.K. dropped all 10 episodes at once in the US but in Australia, it’s been released week-by-week. It might even be worth saving it until it’s all available to binge because it’s a very watchable series that provides plenty of chuckles and just enough depth.

M.O.D.O.K. is streaming on Disney+

Share your TV and movies obsessions | @wenleima