Origin
Mole Man was once a normal person who was an American nuclear engineer and explorer, but society cast him out when he made ridiculous claims that the Earth was hollow. He was also shunned for his odd size and appearance.
He acquired his monsters from an island called none other than Monster Island. He found this island by following a group that called themselves the Monster Hunters. He later fell down a cave into a place called Subterranea. While underground, he suffered a permanent loss of vision, having stared at a brightly shining group of diamonds. This blindness forced him to wear a pair of goggles to negate the sensitivity on his eyes to bright light. Considering himself an outcast to the surface world, he began exploring the depths of Subterranea and began calling himself the Mole Man.
Creation
Mole Man was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four Vol.1 issue 1 (1961). As such, he became the first villain of the Fantastic Four and the newly established Marvel Universe. (He may be a little under estimated as a villain but he has a very large army of monsters and he was also featured (as the jeweler) in the original unreleased Fantastic 4 movie from the early 90’s).
Major Story Arcs
Moving Into the Depths
Down in the depths he came to control the monsters of the island such as the Moloids and made several attempts to attack the surface world. During one such attempt he commanded his army of monsters and used them to destroy all of Earth’s atomic plants. His plan to bring the world into darkness was foiled by the Fantastic Four. The Mole Man was also seen allied with a group calling themselves Outcasts. He later fell in love with Kala, who was the queen of the Netherworld, but was later betrayed. He has also fought against the Avengers, and was constantly at war with Tyrannus.
Reform
Later, the Mole Man stopped his criminal activities and formed an alliance with Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch. In exchange for their protection he allowed them to use Monster Island as their base of operations. However this change was short lived and he was once again seen attacking the surface, this time to find food and water for his Moloids. He encountered the Mighty Avengers, but was beaten by Ultron in female form.
World War Hulk
During the events of World War Hulk, Mole Man came into control of some of the alien species of the planet Sakaar, which he used in an attack of New York. Tyrannus tried to take over the creatures control from Mole Man. However, they both fled after witnessing the rage of Skaar. Some time later, Mole Man enlisted the help of the Fantastic Four, to help him explore a city once ruled by the High Evolutionary in Subterranea to prevent it from rising into the surface world.
Mole Man has an army of monsters to choose from, and is the ruler of the Subterraneans (Also known as the Moloids or Mole Men) and the Outcast. These two groups live in Subterranea, along with the Grotokians and Lava Men.
Daredevil
After Matt Murdock returns to New York City and becomes Daredevil once again, he is alerted by his pal Foggy Nelson that someone has stolen Matt’s father’s corpse by tunneling up from underneath stealing it and dozen others. Daredevil springs into actions and fallows the tunnel down deep underground where he finds a group of Moloids carrying away several caskets. He fallows them and comes upon Mole Man open the caskets and dropping the contents on to the cave floor. Daredevil attacks Mole Man, but when he grabs his staff it electrocutes the hero and now incapacitated, Mole Man orders the Moloids to throw him into the pit.
After Daredevil is taken away Mole Man finds the casket her was looking for, it contains the lifeless body of Lorna, the only woman to look upon Mole Man without pity. He then is ambushed by Daredevil who escaped the Pit and the two blind men do battle. During the battle Mole Man reveals his stole the body for nothing other then to look upon her once more. Daredevil eventually defeats Mole Man and as punishment takes Lorna’s body back to surface along with some diamonds.
Powers
Though he has no real superpowers, he has enhanced senses though he has weakened vision. He is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and can even beat people with years of experience. He controls a horde of underground monsters which he calls his army. He is also has an understanding of technology far beyond most people. He wields a technological staff with energy blasters and radar.
Other Versions
Earth 1610 Ultimate Universe
On this world, his name was Doctor Arthur Molekevic, and he was an employee in the Baxter Building as a research scientist and a teacher. His alienating personality bought him a hateful outlook on his students, who mocked him as “The Mole Man” due to his short stature and his caniving outlook on people. One of his most noteable and respectable students was a young Latverian man name Victor Van Damme, or, the Ultimate Doctor Doom… However, Victor had a strict refusal to follow the research institute’s guidelines, and he often alienated his teachers – Arthur Molekevic included.
After the government found Molekevic’s grizzly Humanoid Mold creatures he spent the Institute’s money creating, the government sent General Ross to the Baxter Building to fire him, which he got permission from Dr Franklin Storm to do.
Molekevic spent the next five years contemplating on philosopy, and religious studies, and ancient cultures that inspired his creations… Which gave him the idea to work on his own underground research facility (which actually was underground). He believed to be the long-dead lost city of Atlantis, which was located 1.4 miles under New York. There, he continued constructing his diabolical race of mold men out of DNA scraps he found in is lair, and he dubbed his new species “ani-men“.
He enacted his first attack on his former employers when Reed Richards tested his Negative Zone (“N-Zone” in this universe) Teleporter in the Nevada desert. Arthur sent several of his monsters after the five volunteers who teleported/transformed by the N-Zone Teleporter, but the fifth captive, Victor Damme, escaped… And Susan Storm was also one of the captives.
Craving even more malice on the Fantastic Four and his fellow colleges who work in the Baxter Building, he sends his Ani-men after Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. But with Ben Grimm’s help, they easily thwarted Arthur’s beasts, and tracked them back to his underground headquaurters. Outnumbered by the Trio, Molekevic returned Susan to the team, and offered them a chance for him to aid them in further scientific research.
Traumatized by their recent changes, the foursome refused to listen to Molekevic, who realized he once again faced minds closed to their own potential. Disgusted with their blindness, he ordered his ani-men to do as they wished with the four; however the strength of the transformed Grimm was much greater than anyone realized, and in the subsequent fight, much of the ancient chamber was destroyed. Molekevic was sent plummeting into a deep chasm, his dreams again destroyed by the world’s inability to share his vision.
Molekevic later reappeared and kidnapped several Think Tank students while explaining more details of his life: according to his history, Molekevic left his family after he devolved his younger sister into a lungfish and turned his father over to the government for money and official part of the government’s research department. His first bio-experiment went unsuccessfully after it ate several scientists and Molekevic escaped into Europe in the guise of a washerwoman (he adds that he kept the costume and later added sequins to it). He is led to the ruins of the underground civilization by an insane Italian man who was a part of a NATO expedition to find the lost city, the third group to try (the first two groups perished and the rest of the third group either starved to death or killed each other). Though Molekevic found the Italian man’s insane antics amusing, he later fed the Italian to an underground monster to gain the monster’s trust. Molekevic was eventually driven off when he left the students behind and went to confront the Fantastic Four, who had arrived to try and rescue them. The students created weaponry from the ancient technology and drove off all parties; Molekevic, Fantastic Four and the government, intending to build their own civilization in the ruins of the city.
Earth 58163 House of M
On Earth-58163, he was murdered by Doctor Doom after taunting him over Magneto’s power over him
Earth 2149 Marvel Zombies
In the Earth-2149 continuty, The Mole-man was one of the Zombified heroes who wandered around the Devourer of Worlds Galactus when he first arrived to Earth. He was also seen after the Avengers toppled Galactus over, when he spoke out against the Zombified Avengers to stay away from their meal, which lead to his head being blown off by a Cosmic powered Zombie Spider-Man, which lead to the final battle between the Deceased Avengers and their foes.
Mutant X
In this universe, Harvey, alongside his lover Callisto, provided a safe underground escape route for thousands of humans and the Fantastic Four when the Goblin Queen invaded New York City. He also partisipated in the planning of a rebellion against the Goblin Queen.
Earth-6160
On the Earth that was manipulated by The Maker, Mole Man joins the Sinister Six, Kingpin’s council of crime bosses from every borough, with the underground being the sixth borough.
In Other Media
Televison
- Mole Man appeared in the Iron Man segment from The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Paul Kligman.
- Mole Man appeared in the 60s Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Jack DeLeon.
- Mole Man appeared in a self-titled episode of the 1978 Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Ted Cassidy.
- Mole Man appeared in a self-titled Fantastic Four: The Animated Series episode, voiced by Gregg Berger.
- Mole Man appeared in Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, voiced by Paul Dobson.
- Mole Man appears in The Super Hero Squad Show, voiced by Ted Biaselli.
- Mole Man appeared in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode “Of Moles and Men,” voiced by David Harvard Lawrence.
Video Games
- Mole Man appears as a boss character in the video game adaptation of the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, despite not showing up in the actual film. He does not fight in person, but sends his army of creatures to attack the heroes.
- Mole Man appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad, with Ted Biaselli reprising his role fromo the cartoon.
- Mole Man also appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
- Mole Man appears as an enemy in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Roger Rose.
Merchandise
- Mole Man was featured in ToyBiz’s line for the 90s Fantastic Four cartoon.
- Mole Man appeared in The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
- Mole Man appeared in the HeroClix figure game.
- Diamond Select produced a Mole Man statue.
- Bowen Designs created a Mole Man bust.
- Mole Man was featured in the Marvel Legends Showdown line from ToyBiz.
- Mole Man was featured in the Marvel Legends Masterworks line from ToyBiz as part of a diorama recreating the cover of Fantastic Four #1.
- Mole Man was featured in the Marvel Legends line from Hasbro as part of the Ronan Build-a-Figure wave.