WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for West Coast Avengers #2 by Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli, on sale now.
If there's one thing everyone can agree on in West Coast Avengers #2, it is that B.R.O.D.O.K., a tall and fit man with a big head who introduced himself as a "Bio-Robotic Organism Designed Overwhelmingly for Kissing," is actually M.O.D.O.K., an angry floating head of a supervillain whose acronymic name breaks down to "Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing."
B.R.O.D.O.K. introduced himself at the end of West Coast Avengers #1 as the answer to the titular team's most pressing problem -- an enormous, enraged Tigra hellbent on trashing Los Angeles. The West Coast Avengers did everything in their power to stop Tigra's advances nonlethally, but it's no use. Only B.R.O.D.O.K. can quell the hero's rage. The sophomore issue reveals that all B.R.O.D.O.K. needs to do to calm Tigra is… just kind of casually walk up to her. Tigra then recedes into the sea like some kind of enormous, fur-covered kaiju.
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If anyone was on the fence about B.R.O.D.O.K. being M.O.D.O.K., that should clear things right up. Everyone on Kate Bishop's West Coast Avengers team agrees, and their concerns are only validated when B.R.O.D.O.K. recounts his origin story. Who is B.R.O.D.O.K. according to B.R.O.D.O.K.? Well, it turns out there's more to the kissing robot than meets the eye. In fact, there's a very good chance that he has been preying on woman superheroes in the Marvel Universe for at least the past two months, with Tigra being just one of his victims.
When Kate (Hawkeye) and Clint Barton (the other Hawkeye) witness B.R.O.D.O.K.'s sway over the giant Tigra, their Avenger senses immediately start tingling. Something isn't right here, but at that point B.R.O.D.O.K. hasn't shown any outward signs of supervillain aggression, and, as the old adage goes, it's better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Kate invites B.R.O.D.O.K. (along with the rest of the West Coast Avengers) back to their headquarters for a post-battle hangout. There, B.R.O.D.O.K. launches into his harrowing origin story. It's played for laughs, but there's a sinister undertone to the whole thing.
According to B.R.O.D.O.K., he first came to Los Angeles about two months ago looking for love. Romanticism doesn't pay the bills, though, so he opened Advanced Image Mechanics to help people find their "most perfect selves." B.R.O.D.O.K. being B.R.O.D.O.K., he mixed business with pleasure, seemingly trying to woo his patients with little success. B.R.O.D.O.K.'s soulmate eluded him, but he never stopped looking. He went on countless dates and was even on one when he stumbled upon the West Coast Avengers trying to subdue Tigra. He saw his chance and leapt into action, becoming a "true American hero."
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B.R.O.D.O.K.'s backstory is littered with M.O.D.O.K. references, the most pertinent being the name of his company, Advanced Image Mechanics, which shares its acronym with Advanced Idea Mechanics, the semi-defunct organization that ran science experiments beyond the ethical constraints of the profession and threatened all of existence on more than one occasion. M.O.D.O.K. became the head of said organization for a time after A.I.M. forcibly turned him into a giant, super-intelligent, shrieking head of a supervillain with a jetpack.
There's also another very M.O.D.O.K. aspect to B.R.O.D.O.K.'s backstory, which Kate deftly points out. M.O.D.O.K. has a long track record of manipulating women for his own personal gain -- like Betty Ross and Carol Danvers. It becomes apparent that B.R.O.D.O.K. isn't much different when Kate and Clint lead a miniature raid on Advanced Image Mechanics, discovering a heap of mad scientist paraphernalia, like a table fitted with restraints and a bunch of very eccentric science equipment pointed at it. If there's a place better suited to making monsters in Los Angeles, it would be hard to find (and that's saying something).
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Kate and Clint abscond with several files from B.R.O.D.O.K.'s headquarters and return to the rest of the West Coast Avengers, who have been babysitting the uncanny robot man. Again, Kate doesn't want B.R.O.D.O.K. to get too far away, so she tells him he can stay at their headquarters. B.R.O.D.O.K. discovers the stolen files in the night, at which point all hell breaks loose. B.R.O.D.O.K. summons his minions to his side, but it's not just Tigra this time around. This time, we see several massive figures rising from the sea. While the identities of those figures are obscured, there's actually a great deal that can be gleaned from the scene and the art in B.R.O.D.O.K.'s backstory, all of which leads to the conclusion that B.R.O.D.O.K. has been abducting Marvel heroes and transforming them into kaiju… for reasons.
The best clue comes in the form of a dragon, which can be seen flying high above the rest of the kaiju superheroes as they emerge from the sea. When someone says "dragon" and "Marvel Universe" in the same sentence, it's only natural to assume that the creature in question is Fin Fang Foom, a popular villain whose alien visage resembles that of a dragon. But that's likely not the case here. Instead, there's a very good chance that readers are looking at none other than Evangeline Whedon (who first debuted in X-Treme X-Men #21), a powerful mutant who turns into a giant, red dragon when she encounters blood (see: the illustration from West Coast Avengers #2 on the previous page). The evidence can be found in B.R.O.D.O.K.'s backstory, which includes a scene in which the kiss bot can be seen talking to a woman with black hair and a bob cut who also wears all black, much like Evangeline.
So far, we know that B.R.O.D.O.K. has done something to at least two Marvel superheroes -- Tigra and Evangeline. Both are heroes whose altered forms are… disconcerting to the average person. Tigra is a walking tiger. Evangeline turns into a dragon. B.R.O.D.O.K. came to Los Angeles intent on finding love, but he also created an organization that focuses solely on people's "image." It's possible that B.R.O.D.O.K. lured these two women (and more) into his new A.I.M. with the promise of fixing their image; making it so that Tigra isn't a tiger woman anymore and Evangeline doesn't have to worry about dragoning out every once in a while. Perhaps they spurned his advances and, in retribution, he turned these women into his own personal "pretties," massive minions he seemingly has complete control over.
It's unclear just how many people B.R.O.D.O.K. might have done this to, but it seems we'll know the extent of his villainy come West Coast Avengers #3, which is bound to see some long-lost heroes return to the fray -- even if they are reintroduced as terrifying, enormous monsters on a rampage. Still, it's great to be back. Right?