WARNING: The following contains spoilers for 2020 Force Works #2 by Matthew Rosenberg, Juanan Ramirez, Roberto di Salvo, Federico Blee, and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Force Works has it as rough as any superhero team in the Marvel Universe. While the first incarnation of the team is more famous for its losses than its victories, the new Force Works squad was established after Tony Stark's brother Arno took over Stark Unlimited and the title of Iron Man, with the aim of protecting the world with new A.I. and robotic regulations in Iron Man 2020.
In 2020 Force Works #2, the members of Force Works captured by a group of Dethloks -- corpses reanimated with cyborg technology -- on the island of Lingares, where Mockingbird was already being held captive. Although War Machine, Quake and U.S. Agent set out to Lingares to rescue her, their plane is shot down by local resistance, and the entirety of Force Works find themselves in the same camp.
While the heroes of Force Works get their salvation, it comes in the form of a classic Avengers villain.
The Dethloks intend to use the heroes as nothing more than spare parts for their army, but Force Works resolves to free themselves and the local resistance and save their leader. This is made distinctly easier by the arrival of an Ultimo unit, an alien robot designed to destroy planets that the Avengers have sparred with frequently. After it breaks the enclosure surrounding Force Works and eliminates some Dethloks surrounding it, the Marvel heroes use the opportunity to escape and begin an assault on the Deathlok forces.
Meanwhile, War Machine was being prepared for harveThe st by the apparent leader of the Dethloks. However, he is saved by an unknown figure, who claims to have saved War Machine not out of altruism, but because they have need of War Machine's services. They flee the surgical area and meet up with the rest of Force Works, at which point the mysterious figure is revealed to be none other than the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, M.O.D.O.K.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Tales of Suspense #93, George Tarleton was originally a technician for Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) who was randomly selected to become a living computer, with the aim of unlocking the mysteries of the Cosmic Cube. The process drove Tarleton mad, greatly enlarged his cranium and turned him into M.O.D.O.K., who has since become a mainstay Marvel villain who's battled Captain America, the Hulk and Iron Man on a regular basis.
However, this is not the first time that M.O.D.O.K. has sided with the heroes of the Marvel Universe. In 2013, he notably defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. from A.I.M. in Nick Spencer, Ales Kot and Butch Guice's Secret Avengers #12 in 2013. After joining the Secret Avengers. M.O.D.O.K. originally planned to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. down from within but fell in love with Maria Hill during his time on the team.
While that particular group of heroes has long-since disbanded, there are a number of similarities between the Secret Avengers and the Force Works groups. Both are more heavily informed by paramilitary ideas than most of Marvels teams. Plus, War Machine, Mockingbird, and Quake have all been members of the Secret Avengers at one point or another.
While M.O.D.O.K. expressed a need for War Machine's 'services', his true motives for joining Force Works are is currently unclear. He may see Arno Stark's view of the world as a threat to him and could need War Machine and the rest of Force Works to help quash Arno Stark's plans. Alternatively, M.O.D.O.K. could even be serving Arno Stark and looking to bring down Force Works from the inside, as he planned with Secret Avengers in the past.
Although he has found himself on the side of good before, M.O.D.O.K. has been primarily a force for evil in the Marvel Universe. His helping Force Works is suspicious at best and adds a new layer of robotic intrigue to a series already full of cybernetic chicanery.