Mole Man

Later, he surrendered his desire for conquest and revenge and began assembling a sanctuary for others who had been rejected by the surface world. His two attempts to do so led to the deaths of most of the visitors to his sanctuaries. Briefly, the Mole Man allowed Adam Warlock's superhero team, the Infinity Watch, to use Monster Isle (more specifically, a castle located on its grounds) as a base, on the reasoning that they could help protect him from any meddlers, which they did on several occasions. They proved helpful when the United Nations invaded the island. The Watch, primarily Gamora, drove away the invading force with an absolute minimum of harm. The Avengers assisted with the United Nations, then recognized the Mole Man's rulership over the island.

Mole Man tended to keep out of the way when the cosmic plans went on. The Watch occupied the Monster Isle castle until their dissolution as a team. Following their departure, the Mole Man apparently returned to his solitary, vengeful existence. Aside from occasional fits of hostility, he seems for the most part content to rule his subterranean kingdom, and for the past few years his surface activities have mostly been limited to reacting to threats (real or imagined) to his people.

In one incident, he was causing property damage purely to help the Moloids, whose water and food had become polluted.[18] He appeared in The Mighty Avengers having led an attack on New York, claiming retaliation for his underground home, which he says is destroyed. He was humiliated by a female-formed Ultron, who destroyed his remaining monsters, and he was arrested.[19]

Mole Man was also behind a series of Chupacabra attacks in Puerto Rico. His motive was to protect the blood-drinking race from extinction. He was defeated by the Fantastic Four.[20]

In the "Live Fast" story arc of Runaways, the Runaways are fighting a huge tall sky-scraper sized monster. When Victor suggests Nico shrink it, Nico mentions she already used that spell on Mole Man.

Mole Man witnessed the return of the Hulk, which pleased him. However, when the Hulk was defeated and his stone ship destroyed, various creatures from planet Sakaar were released into the underground. Mole Man trained the alien beasts and led them to attack New York once more. However, the creatures were really waiting for the arrival of Skaar, the Hulk's son. However, Tyrannus rose to challenge Mole Man's claim and used magic to pervert the aliens so that they could destroy the surface. Skaar went into a berserker rage and thus both Tyrannus and Mole Man fled.[21]

Mandarin's White Light Ring approached Mole Man in order to help it and the other rings have revenge on Tony Stark where he became Mandarin-Six. Mole Man and the other Mandarins later travelled to Svartalfheim in order to confront Malekith the Accursed, who had hunted down other three Mandarins and had taken their rings from them.[22] The Mandarins thwarted any attempt of Malekith to hide or flee, as the rings could locate each other. Malekith made a pact with Iron Man (who was also at the time in Svartalfheim to retrieve the rings) disposed of his ring and escaped to safely, as he could no longer be tracked. Following their failure to kill Malekith, the Mandarins resumed their own paths.[23] The Mandarins joined forces once more to help Mole Man's plan to create ring-powered weapons with which destroy cities from their base in Sinister London. A test was thwarted by the Fantastic Four. Before they could release one of the actual machines, Iron Man pinned them down along with the Trojan Guard and Abigail Burns. The Mandarins failed to escape as Iron Man's ally Dark Angel used magic to prevent them from teleporting.[24] After the other Mandarin's are defeated, Mole Man's ring declared him the Prime-Mandarin. Instead, Mole Man abandoned his ring and retreated.[25]

Mole Man was later contacted by unknown individuals to bring them Athol Kussar, the half-brother of mine owner Faust Swart who laundered money to fund HYDRA's African base after he knew about his half-brother's actions and had been previously imprisoned in a mine by Swart while evading the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. When Mole Man broke into Kussar's cell, Kussar did not want to leave due to a bomb inside his body that would detonate if he left his cell. Mole Man was attacked and knocked down by Invisible Woman who disposed of the bomb and placed Kussar in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[26]

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Mole Man and his fellow Subterraneans ended up in a civil war with the Subterraneans that are on the side of his son Mole Monster.[27]

When Squirrel Girl's friends, Nancy, Tippy Toe and Koi Boi, help set her up an online dating profile, it leads to many unsuccessful dates, one of which ends with an encounter with Mole Man, who is angered by how Doreen's earlier suggestions to Kraven has affected his home. Doreen apologizes to him and the two have a conversation about his situation, leading Mole Man to proposing to Doreen on the spot and a number of follow-up schemes to get Doreen to go on a date with him. He threatens to bury a number of worldwide landmarks if she does not date him, and after Nancy is nearly kidnapped by him and being swarmed by the media, she goes to confront Mole Man only to find that Tricephalous is in love with him. She lets Tricephalous defeat her to woo Mole Man and they leave for good.[28]

Mole Man later appears attacking New York with a group of monsters, but he is defeated by Hulk, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.[29]

During the Secret Empire storyline, it is revealed that Mole Man has struck a deal with Captain America to use the tunnels of his subterranean kingdom for his smuggling operation in exchange for specific items from the surface world, such as DVDs. When Captain America arrives with the Underground Resistance, Mole Man's kingdom is attacked by Dreadnoughts sent by Hydra. Though the heroes manage to defeat the Dreadnoughts, Mole Man puts an end to his truce with Captain America and lets the heroes leave.[30]

On an earth formerly dominated by Skrulls, Mole Man goes by the name 'Harvey'. When Galactus comes to eat the planet, Harvey is a vital part of the battle by having his monsters undermine the landing spot of their enemy.[31]

The spaceflight which grants the Fantastic Four their powers ends with them crash-landing on Mole Man's monster-inhabited islands. Mole Man ends up capturing Ben and Sue and takes a power source and potential explosive off the group's ship.[32]

This incarnation of the Mole Man looks physically different from his 616 counterpart, with a taller, more muscular build and apparently increased strength, being able to hold up Johnny Storm with only one hand.

Later, there are hints Mole Man's island is connected to the Inhumans' city of Attilian.[33]

In the Mutant X reality, when the Goblin Queen laid siege to New York City, Harvey, alongside his lover Callisto, provided a safe route of evacuation for tens of thousands of humans and mutants out of the city. When Ben Grimm was thrown out of a building by Reed Richards, his excessive bulk led him to the Morlock/Moleoid tunnels, where he helped organize the evacuations, and began planning a rebellion.[34]

In this modern-day re-imagining of the Fantastic Four, the Mole Man is swiftly talked down from his first attack on New York. Reed and Sue hire him and he becomes a valued employee of the Reed business empire. He later assists in the battle against a rage-maddened Namor by re-powering Ben Grimm and giving him the assistance of a monster.[35]

In the Spider-Man newspaper strip, The Mole Man travels to the surface and attempts to make Mary Jane Parker the queen of his underworld kingdom. When he learns MJ is already married to Peter Parker, these plans are dashed. That same evening, he bumps into May Parker and becomes instantly smitten with her. He eventually decides to kidnap both May and Mary Jane and takes them to his kingdom. Peter chases after them as Spider-Man but is bested in combat by the Mole Man, forcing him to seek out help from The Fantastic Four's Thing. The Mole Man and Aunt May begin to bond romantically, to the point May agrees to marry him. Spider-Man and The Thing arrive and after a short confrontation and conversation, are convinced to honor May's wishes that she spend the rest of her days making a lost soul happy. The wedding, however, is interrupted by May suffering from a physical condition called Spelunker's Lung, which causes her to have severe breathing problems when underground. This condition is what ultimately forces Spider-Man and the Thing to take May back to the surface along with MJ. Mole Man, realizing his newfound love can never rule alongside him due to this condition, reluctantly says goodbye to her and returns home to rule alone.

In this continuity, Mole Man's real name is revealed as "Melvin Kurtzman".[36]

In the House of M universe created by an insane Scarlet Witch, the Mole Man (under the name Mole-King) appears in Fantastic Four: House of M as an enemy of the Fearsome Four, which is composed of Doctor Doom, the Inhuman Torch, the Invincible Girl, and It. This version of the Mole Man is killed by the Fearsome Four during a battle with them.[37]

In Marvel Zombies, the Mole Man, along with several other undead villains, first appears to attack Galactus; after Galactus is defeated by several heroes, Mole Man gets into an argument with Colonel America over who gets to eat the injured Galactus, and is subsequently blasted apart by the cosmically powered colonel.

The zombie Mole Man also appears in the prequel to Marvel Zombies, Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, appearing to attack Nova alongside the Wizard.

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Mole Man was a Baxter Building scientist named Dr. Arthur Molekevic.[38] Nicknamed Mole Man by the students, he was fired due to his experiments in creating life after being warned off.[39] He claimed the files as his own but was told by the governmental officials firing him, which included Sue and Johnny's father, Dr. Franklin Storm, that everything he created was the property of the United States government. He soon disappeared into caverns with his Moloids. These caverns contained advanced technology, which Mole Man claimed had been built by an ancient race. Parts of the caverns were also under the Baxter Building itself, which provided Mole Man with links into their security system. His ability to spy on the team fostered his delusion that he was a father figure to them. When the Fantastic Four gained their powers and were transported across the world, Sue, while unconscious, was kidnapped and transported to his caverns. Mole Man sends one of his created monsters to New York to retrieve the others.[40] The other members of the team manage to defeat it. They follow the hole the monster made and confront Mole Man, eventually rescuing Sue. The Four defeat his forces but the Mole Man escapes. However, he returned and kidnapped several Baxter Building students while explaining more details of his life. He was eventually driven off when he left the students behind and went to confront the Fantastic Four, who had arrived to try to rescue them. The students created weaponry from the alien technology and drove off all parties (Mole Man, Fantastic Four and the government), intending to build their own civilization in the ruins of the city.[41]

According to his story, which he told to the abducted Baxter students, Mole Man left his family after he devolved his younger sister into a lungfish and turned his father over to the government for money. His first bioexperiment went unsuccessfully and he sneaked into Europe in the guise of a washerwoman (he adds that he kept the costume and later added sequins to it). He was 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 Mole Man found the Italian man's insane antics amusing, he later fed the Italian to an underground monster to gain the monster's trust.[42]

Ultimate Mole Man physically resembles the original character. However, he is bulkier, rarely washes and has an unsightly skin condition. The Ultimate Moloids are fungus-based life-forms engineered by Mole Man himself; though initially simplistic and animalistic, they are more intelligent in their second appearance, even speaking a language which Mole Man understands. Some new Moloids are engineered to have various super-powers.

• Mole Man appeared on the Iron Man segment and the Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner segment episode "Dr. Doom's Day" of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Paul Kligman.
• Mole Man appeared in the 1967 Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Jack DeLeon. In the episode "Menace of the Mole Man", the Fantastic Four land on a remote island where Mole Man traps them and plots to submerge the largest cities of the world. In "Return of the Mole Man", Mole Man creates earthquakes in order to sink buildings. After the Baxter Building falls victim, Mole Man has his Moloids capture the Invisible Woman.
• Two variations of the Mole Man appear in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series episodes "Menace from the Bottom of the World" and "Spider-Man Battles the Molemen" respectively, both voiced by Tom Harvey. Both versions lead a race of green, hairy humanoids in using sinkholes to steal buildings, though they differ from each other in some regards. In the former episode, escaped criminal Mugs Riley disguises himself and refers to himself as the Mole Man while leading the Molemen before he is foiled by Spider-Man. In the latter episode, a Moleman simply called the Mole leads the Molemen in a renewed attempt to continue Riley's plans, only to be similarly foiled by Spider-Man.
• Mole Man appeared in a self-titled episode of the 1978 Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Ted Cassidy.[43]
• Mole Man appeared in a self-titled episode of the 1994 Fantastic Four animated series, voiced by Gregg Berger.
• Mole Man appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes animated series, voiced by Paul Dobson.
• Mole Man first appears in The Super Hero Squad Show animated series, voiced by Ted Biaselli[44] [45] This version is a member of Doctor Doom's Lethal Legion and is shown to have intestinal gas problems while above ground. In the episode, "And Lo? A Pilot Shall Come", Mole Man leads a group of monsters in attacking Super Hero City. After gaining an Infinity Fractal, he gains super-speed and mind control capabilities as well as aspirations of taking over the Lethal Legion. While most of the Super Hero Squad battled the monsters, Iron Man and the Falcon fight Mole Man, and eventually claim the Fractal from him. While the heroes incarcerated Mole Man in the Vault, Doctor Doom withdrew Mole Man to reprimand him for his failure. In "From the Atom...It Rises", Mole Man and his Moloids assist Doctor Doom, MODOK, and the Abomination in a plot to use an Infinity Fractal to control a black hole, but are foiled by the Super Hero Squad. In "Wrath of the Red Skull", Mole Man attempts to burrow into the Vault to steal the Super Hero Squad's Infinity Fractals, but ended up in a garbage dump. The Red Skull later tasks him with excavating the former's UberSkullbot as part of Plan USB.
• Mole Man appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. animated series episode "Of Moles and Men",[46] voiced by David Harvard Lawrence.[44] This version moved to Subterranea after being ridiculed for his Hollow Earth theories. Mole Man and the Hulk are captured by larvae-beasts, but A-Bomb rescues them before Mole Man calls in his Moloids to help them fight off the queen larvae-beast before everyone goes their separate ways.

Tim Blake Nelson portrays Dr. Harvey Allen in the 2015 live-action film, Fantastic Four.[47] Nelson was originally supposed to portray Harvey Elder in the film, but his character's last name was later changed to Allen.[48] This version is a scientist and supervisor of the Baxter Foundation who oversaw Dr. Franklin Storm's experiments into interdimensional travel despite having initial doubts. Dr. Allen is later murdered by Von Doom following his return from Planet Zero.

• Mole Man appears in Fantastic Four, voiced by Barry Dennen. In the game, he sent his creatures to battle the Four rather than fight them himself. After his Monstroid is destroyed, Mole Man escapes and swears revenge on the Fantastic Four.
• Mole Man appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad, voiced by Ted Biaselli.
• Mole Man appears in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
• Mole Man appears as a boss in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Roger Rose.[44]
• Mole Man appears as table artwork in the Fantastic Four virtual pinball game for Pinball FX 2.[49]

• Mole Man makes a guest appearance in the syndicated comic strip, Scary Gary.[50]
• Mole Man appears in the daily Spider-Man cartoon, in which he dates Spider-Man's Aunt May.