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Quote1 Soon... all of mankind shall be sightless... unable to stop the Mole Man from conquering the entire planet! Quote2
Mole Man[src]

History

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Marvel Holiday Special Vol 1 2005 0001

Harvey as a child

Origins[]

Harvey Elder was born circa 1910.[4] A bizarre physical appearance and poor eyesight caused him to be shunned and ridiculed since childhood. However much of his past life is at this time unrecorded until his adulthood.[5] The earliest supposed record of Harvey Elder dates back to his childhood. According to his grandmother, Harvey was normally introverted but really enjoyed Christmas and Santa Claus. Because department store Santas shunned him, his grandfather Robert often dressed up as Santa which brought a little bit of joy in Harvey's otherwise miserable life.[6] As an adult, he became a scientist. Ridiculed by his peers, Harvey was pitied by a woman named Lorna. Elder fell in love with the woman but could not bring himself to tell her how he truly felt about her. Unable to take the taunting any more, Elder quit his job and started down the long road that would change his life forever.[7]

By 1956, having heard legends regarding a land at the center of the Earth, Elder began traveling around the world to find it. Seeking to further his avenues of investigation he attempted to join a New York City Explorer's Club owned by Stanley Hathaway. Unknown to Harvey, the organization that was the public front of a group known as the Monster Hunters. Unfortunately for Harvey, Hathaway told him that the legends were nothing more than the work of a crackpot and Elder was ejected from the building. Harvey vowed that Hathaway would one day regret rejecting him from his exclusive club. Elder then managed to sneak inside the building and listened in on a conversation between the Monster Hunters until he was discovered by the Wakandan huntress known as Zawadi. Wanting their organization kept secret the mystic Anthony Druid used his powers to make Harvey forget about what he heard and compelled him to find the Explorers Club beneath his notice. Falling completely under Druid's spell Elder left without further issue.[8]

Elder went to the Red Carpet Lounge where he unsuccessfully tried to pick up a woman. When seeing TV reports of a monster named Gorgilla on the rampage in the city, Harvey suddenly remembered what he overheard at the Explorers Club. He then witnessed the Monster Hunters take down Gorgilla at the Statue of Liberty. Believing that they were stealing all of his glory Harvey vowed to get revenge against the group.[9] Elder secretly followed the Monster Hunters to the secret government facility where they operated. There he smuggled himself aboard a plane which the heroes were taking to Midnight Mountain located on an island in the Pacific. Harvey was eventually discovered by Gorgilla and knocked out by Zawadi and left tied to a chair while the Monster Hunters dealt with an air attack and rough landing.[10] When the Monster Hunters' leader, the Eternal Makkari, was captured by the Deviant known as Kro, who was the one responsible for unleashing various monsters all over Earth, the Monster Hunters went after him to Monster Isle taking Harvey along with them. Elder broke free and attempted to attack Zawadi and Dr. Druid. But Zawadi detected his presence and took a swipe at him shaving off Harvey's mustache. Having had enough of Elder's interference Druid forced him out of the plane in a parachute. By the time Harvey swam to shore the Monster Hunters had defeated Kro and rescued Makkari and left. Having lost his glasses in the water Elder stumbled around blindly until he fell into a pit where he was blinded by Valley of Diamonds.[11]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Marvel Universe Vol 1 4 0001

Harvey Elder before he was the Mole Man

Harvey has told a variation of this tale omitting his clash with the Monster Hunters stating that he found Monster Isle alone when his ship was wrecked at sea and he has washed ashore on Monster Isle.[5][12] As Elder is driven by his anger to the surface world, his drive to be recognized as a brilliant man, and his desire to be pitied due to his harsh life -- despite the possibility that he may have been the creator of at least some of his misery -- it is not surprising that he omitted certain facts regarding how he found Monster Isle in order to seem more menacing to his foes.

Nevertheless, now calling himself the Mole Man, Harvey made himself ruler of a wide empire in the underground realm he called Subterranea (Subterranea does not actually lie at the center of the Earth, but instead consists of a seemingly planet-wide network of caverns lying miles beneath Earth's surface.) In this underground world, he discovered a race of semi-humanoid creatures called subterranean. The Mole Man controlled the race known as the Moloids, which were distinguished from other Subterranean races by their pale yellow skin color. The Mole Man also found and mastered highly advanced technological devices which had been created and abandoned by the race of Deviants. Furthermore, the Mole Man discovered and learned to control a large number of non-humanoid monsters, which either may have been descendants of beings created through genetic manipulation by the Deviants or may have been uncivilized, in some cases nearly mindless, highly mutated Deviants themselves.

While living in the tunnels he developed a radar sense[5] as well as longevity that kept him youthful for decades.[4] During his early years in Subterranea, the Mole Man encountered a group of Deviants that were still living within the vast underground domain who was ill. Using his medical skills honed from being a scientist he treated them. The Mole Man soon fell in love with the Deviant woman known as Kyzerra. When Kyzerra became pregnant and gave birth to their son later dubbed the Mole Monster, Harvey abandoned her according to Deviant customs. The Mole Monster eventually grew to adulthood and began to rule his own part of Subterranean however he and his father had the understanding to give each other wide berth.[13]

Early Schemes[]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 1 0001

First conflict with the Fantastic Four[5]

By the modern age, the Mole Man made it his sole mission to get revenge against the surface world that shunned him. The Mole Man first intended to take his revenge on the surface world's population by destroying Earth's power plants and unleashing his monsters. He was thwarted by the Fantastic Four on their first mission after gaining their superhuman powers and attempted to seal him and his monsters underground.[5] The Mole Man next attempted to trigger a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, intending to rule what remained of Earth's population with ray devices and then have his Subterranean armies conquer the planet. However, Harvey was also bent on revenge against the Fantastic Four. During this scheme, he orchestrated a series of public complaints regarding Mister Fantastic's various devices being used in the Baxter Building forcing Reed to seek another location to place his more dangerous experiments. Elder then put in an ad for a remote island for sale drawing the Fantastic Four there. The Mole Man captured the group, but he has defeated thanks in part to the Invisible Girl's newfound ability to project invisible force fields.[14] A short time later, the Mole Man took the Invisible Girl hostage by lowering a whole New York City block to Subterranea, but was foiled again by the combined forces of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers when the Human Torch started a chain reaction in Mole Man's equipment.[15]

He then created an atomic gyroscope with which he could increase the speed of the Earth's rotation, planning to destroy all life on the surface. His plot was discovered by the Avenger's size-changing member known as Giant Man but the Mole Man captured him before he could reveal the location to his comrades. Ultimately, the Avengers learned of the plot and came to stop him. The Mole Man was then surprised by the sudden arrival of former Russian scientist the Red Ghost, who offered his assistance to the Mole Man. Despite the two working together, the Avengers smashed the Mole Man's device and their union was quickly dissolved.[16] Next the Mole Man attempted to steal various works of art as he believed the surface world did not appreciate them. This scheme was later foiled by the Fantastic Four.[17] Shortly thereafter, the Mole Man decided to get revenge against the Avengers for his previous defeat. With the roster of the group has changed the Mole Man sent a robot to attack them but the new line up proved more than a match for the robot. When Captain America brought the group on a mission to track the Hulk he brought his novice team to the location where the found him last, a cavern where the Avengers previously fought the Lava Men. There the Mole Man unleashed his monster the Minotaur against the group. However, the Avengers defeated this challenge as well. Finding that he was in a losing battle, the Mole Man quickly dispatched the Avengers back to the surface rather than the fight to continue and cause more damage to his domain.[18]

Later, the Mole Man was among the many costumed menaces assembled by Doctor Doom who manipulated them with his Emotion Changer device in order to disrupt the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. The Mole Man and his Moloids broke through the reception hall floor but were forced back by the Thing and the X-Men. Ultimately Mr. Fantastic obtain a Time Displacer device from the Watcher that sent Mole Man and all of Doom's other lackeys back to their original locations with no memories of their fight.[19] Following this defeat, the Mole Man engaged in more petty pursuits, having his Moloids break into museums in New York to steal ancient artifacts. Including the spoils that he believed the Adventure Club robbed him of decades ago. These thefts attracted the attention of the X-Men's Marvel Girl and the Scarlet Witch a reformed member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The two frightened the Mole Man away when Wanda posed as the "Marvel Witch". This victory backfired on the two young mutants as the Mole Man soon became smitten by the "Marvel Witch" and soon returned to the surface to profess his love to her. Apparently, the Mole Man quickly lost interest and returned home.[20]

Battle for Dominion of Subterranea[]

The Mole Man soon found himself in conflict with another underworld ruler, Tyrannus and his army of Tyrannoids. The Mole Man cut Tyrannus from the Fountain of Youth causing him to revert to an old man. Facing death, Tyrannus used his advanced technology to teleport the Hulk to his realm. Tyrannus forced the Hulk to do his bidding by kidnapping General Ross, his daughter Betty and the Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones and using them as hostages. The Hulk smashed his way through the Mole Man's barriers and struggled with his Octo-Sapien robot. The battle ended when the Hulk and Octo-Sapien landed in the Fountain of Youth causing a massive explosion that destroyed the Fountain and robot while reverting the Hulk back into Bruce Banner.[21] Banner then freed his friends before reverting back into the Hulk and taking down Tyrannus' empire.[22] The Mole Man soon learned that the cosmic being known as the Collector had been capturing various monsters and placing them in a massive underground zoo. Objecting to his creatures being captured the Mole Man launched an attack on the zoo. The monsters broke free and many ran loose in New York until they were all banished to the Negative Zone by Reed Richards, Giant-Man, the Thing, Hulk and the Beast.[23] Shortly after this, the Avengers got into a battle with the Sub-Mariner involving the powerful Cosmic Cube. The Avengers won the battle and the Cube was lost within cracks in the Earth. The Cube ended up in Subterranea where it was found by the Mole Man. Not realizing it's power Harvey dismissed it as junk and tossed it away.[24]

The Mole Man next developed an earth boring device and used it to collapse one of Tony Stark's factories in order to obtain Stark's new Atomic Earth Digger device.[25] This led to a clash between the Mole Man and Stark's alter-ego Iron Man. In order to force Iron Man to surrender the Mole Man had his Moloids capture Stark's secretary Pepper Potts. Iron Man surrendered and instead of showing the Mole Man how to operate the Atomic Earth Digger he tricked him into setting it to explode and escaped with Pepper in the ensuing chaos.[26] Soon Tyrannus returned to resume his conflict with the Mole Man once more. Tyrannus kidnapped scientist Ralph Roberts in order to exploit his Super-Cobalt Alloy. Ralph's brother Ted then called his allies the X-Men to rescue his brother. The mutants crossed paths with and clashed with the Mole Man while searching for Roberts. Meanwhile, Tyrannus used Ralph's alloy to create a massive robotic warrior. Incidentally enough the Mole Man created his own android warrior and while the two massive machines clashed. The X-Men fought on both sides to rescue Ralph. During the conflict, the robots were destroyed and both Tyrannus and the Mole Man suffered amnesia thanks to a special mist discovered by the Mole Man used upon them by the X-Men. This ended their feud and leaving them to search to uncover their lost pasts.[27]

Eventually, the Mole Man's memories returned[28] and he built a massive construct that partially extruded out of the ground for the purposes of striking the entire world blind like out of revenge for being shunned. The structure was discovered by a real estate company that mistook it for a house and promptly put it up for sale. By this point, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl had given birth to a baby boy and were seeking a private home to raise the child. They purchased the strange house. When the Mole Man discovered his oldest foes were moving into his building he used them to test his new device striking the entire team blind and attacking them.[29] Even with the added power of the Inhuman elemental known as Crystal, the Fantastic Four were initially no match for the Mole Man without their vision. Reed eventually managed to force the Mole Man to blast his blinding ray, restoring their vision. The Mole Man was easily rounded up and taken prisoner.[30] Despite being captured the Mole Man managed to break free and flee back underground. Setting this base to self-destruct, Harvey forced the Fantastic Four to retreat from the premise.[31]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol 1 7 0001

The Mole Man

Sometime after this, the X-Men found themselves once more in the Mole Man's domain when they were trapped underground by a group called the Promise. Breaking free from the Promise's trap they ended up crossing paths with the Mole Man who sought revenge for his prior defeat at their hands.[32] The X-Men were then taken as prisoners and brought to the Mole Man's lair where he first tried to blind them with the Valley of Crystals, and when that failed, unleashed his various monsters upon them.[33] The X-Men eventually defeated the Mole Man's creatures but before they could defeat him, Elder dropped them into a massive echo chamber where the sound was amplified so much they were knocked out.[28] The Mole Man then shackled the group again but they once more broke free and when team leader Cyclops used his optic blast to cause a cave in. The X-Men finally managed to escape from the Mole Man and return to the surface.[34]

Tyrannus soon resumed hostilities against the Mole Man when Harvey once again took control of his Fountain of Youth. Using his robot minion Mogol to befriend and lure the Hulk into Subterranea, Tyrannus launched a massive attack on the Mole Man's domain. However when Mole Man's minions revealed that Mogol was a robot, the Hulk lashed out at both men destroying both their bases before leaving.[35] The Mole Man then decided that fighting with the surface world was a lost cause and sought only to live in peace. This peace was disturbed when the United States began drilling a deep hole into the Earth as part of Project Earth Dig The project saw tons of radioactive waste buried deep below the surface of the Earth.[36] The project was terrorized by the so-called Monster Ape who was opposed by Captain America, forcing the pair into the hole bored by Project Earth Dig. Saved by the Mole Man, Captain America told him what the project was for and vowed not to dispose of the toxic waste in the Mole Man's domain. The Monster Ape, however, reverted to human form and convinced the Mole Man that Captain America was lying and sent to spy on his domain. The Mole Man then decided to target one of his weapons at SHIELD headquarters in retaliation. However, when this threatened the life of the woman who Gorbo loved, Gorbo was mortally wounded trying to stop the Mole Man. Dying, Gorbo then admitted that he tricked the Mole Man who then allowed Captain America and his partner the Falcon to leave his domain unscathed.[37]

The Mole Man soon formed an alliance with yet another underground domain, the beautiful Kala of the Netherworld. He also finally bested Tyrannus making him a mindless slave and began developing a device that could scorch the surface world with lava from the planet's core. By this time, the Thing came to Subterranea seeking out the Mole Man, hoping to learn the secrets of his radar sense and cure his girlfriend Alicia Masters of her blindness. The Thing was lured into a sense of false security by Kala before the Mole Man sprung his trap on Ben and revealed his plans. The Thing broke free and rushed off to warn his teammates in the Fantastic Four unaware that the Mole Man tagged the Thing with an "electrical aura" that made him appear as one of the Mole Man's monsters so when he did find his teammates they would attack him.[38] This plan eventually fell apart when the Fantastic Four regrouped and attacked him. At that moment, Kala revealed that she truly wished to be with Tyrannus and freed him from the Mole Man's control. However, Tyrannus eventually betrayed Kala after she subdued the Mole Man. Mr. Fantastic, the only member of the Fantastic Four uncaptured managed to defeat Tyrannus and free his teammates and then set the Mole Man's weapon to self-destruct, seemingly killing Tyrannus in the process. With his trust betrayed by Kala, the Mole Man suffered a broken heart and allowed the Fantastic Four to leave unharmed.[39]

However, the Mole Man soon resumed his quest for the conquest of the surface world when the opportunity arose not long after. Prior to his scheme to flood the surface with lava he had developed a massive laser device to attack the surface but lacked a massive gem that could be the focal point for the laser.[40] This opportunity arose when the hero Spider-Man and the Kree warrior Captain Marvel clashed with the gem empowered villain Basilisk who sought to claim the Kree Alpha and Omega Stones. During the course of that battle, the Omega Stone reacted to Captain Marvel's Kree physiology making it grow in size and trapping Marvel inside. Mole Man's minions detected the massive gem and took it bringing it to their master.[41] The Mole Man's plans were interrupted when Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic tracked Captain Marvel to Subterranea. Things were further complicated when Basilisk, who had followed Spider-Man, arrived to claim the Omega Stone for himself. The plan ultimately went to bust when Captain Marvel was finally able to clash his Quantum Bands together allowing him to switch places with Rick Jones, the human whom he shared a bonded existence with at the time. This caused the Omega Stone to revert to normal, and Reed Richards sabotaged the laser cannon, causing it to explode. The Mole Man seemingly perished in the explosion.[40]

But the Mole Man survived because the blast knocked him into a crevasse and after the heroes left, he ordered his minions to sacrifice their lives to create a bridge that allowed him to cross safely back into his kingdom. The Mole Man then learned of Russian doctor Anton Palkov who developed a drug to cure blindness. This required the use of a rare flower that grew in the region of Trelka once every hundred years. Unfortunately for the Mole Man, his attempt to steal the rare flower came at a time when the Hulk was in the region and had befriended Palkov and his blind daughter Katerina. When the Moloids stole the anti-blindness drug, the Hulk followed after them. The Mole Man managed to capture the Hulk and revealed his plans, causing the brute to go into a fury. Smashing his way free and recovering the stolen drug, the Hulk returned it to Palkov on the surface.[42]

Expanding his Domain[]

Sometime later the Mole Man decided to create a sanctuary for those who were blinded, deformed or otherwise shunned by surfaced society due to their appearance. Each night he and his Moloids would surface in New York City and kidnap those who believed were like him. In order to make his sanctuary beautiful they also stole various sculptures from the city. Down below the surface, the Mole Man dubbed his new society the Outcasts. However, when he and his Moloids kidnapped Alicia Masters this brought the Fantastic Four down on him again. There was a brief fight between the Fantastic Four and the Outcasts until the Four realized that the Mole Man was doing and stopped hostilities. Seeing that the Mole Man's misguided plan was altruistic in nature, they decided to work with him. Agreeing to take back only those who were kept against their will and recovering the stolen statues, the Fantastic Four departed the Mole Man's domain. Alicia, as a sympathetic parting gift, sculpted a statue of the Mole Man in his honor.[43]

Soon after this, Tyrannus disappeared from Subterranea,[44] the Mole Man took control of the Fountain of Youth again. Kala, rapidly aging sought to use the fountain to restore her youth, but the Mole Man refused access due to her previous rejections. She, in turn, formed an alliance with the Lava Men and attacked the Mole Man's domain, but they were opposed by the Mole Man's Moloids and Outcasts. Kala then went after Olympic level athletes that were competing a winter sporting competition in Lake Placid. She succeeded in capturing Russian skater Maria Karsov, French bobsledder Claude LeBron, Canadian hockey champ Robby Kyle, American skier Brad Rossi, and the gamma-powered Hulk. These kidnappings had also attracted the attention of Spider-Man, who was soon captured by the Mole Man and learned of Kala's plans. The Olympic level athletes were then forced to compete in a massive battle between the Mole Man and Kala's forces with each equipped with high tech weapons based on their sport of choice. Tossed into the mix where the Hulk and Spider-Man as well. However, ultimately the competition was forfeited when Rossi refused to cross the finish line. Kala then began to rapidly age and it was soon revealed that the conflict caused enough damage to drain the Fountain of Youth. Although defeated Kala was invited to be the Mole Man's consort. the Mole Man revealed that despite the fact that she was now old and ugly he still had feelings for her. The pair then returned to their subterranean domain as a couple.[45]

Dire Wraiths[]

Soon after in the town of Clairton, the alien Dire Wraiths kidnapped and replicated many of the citizens including allies of the Wraith-destroying hero Rom, Brandy Clark, Steve Jackson, and the costumed hero known as Torpedo. They trapped the replicated humans in a chamber deep below the Earth. This chamber was discovered by the Mole Man and his minions who freed the captives and agreed to provide them shelter from the Wraiths. When Rom and his ally Starshine returned to Earth they were tricked by the Wraith duplicates to attack the Mole Man who had his Outcasts defend his kingdom. However this duplicity was revealed and Rom and Starshine turned against the Wraiths and they were defeated although Starshine was slain in the battle.[46] The entire experience made the Mole Man question his constant warring with the surface world and with a threat like the Dire Wraiths threatening the surface world considered that perhaps they were the greater threat to him.[47]

Growing Instability[]

The Mole Man's mental state soon began to suffer a series of instabilities that affect his behavior toward the surface world. Shortly after his encounter with Rom, the Mole Man and his Moloids began stealing truck convoys that were part of a government work detail that traveled a shipping route between New York City and the nearby mountains. With a number of truckers going missing the owner of the company hired the Heroes for Hire. Power Man and Iron Fist agreed to try and solve the mystery of the missing truckers. While on a shipping run Power Man's truck was absconded into Subterranea, and Iron Fist followed after him. While Power Man freed the captive truckers, Mole Man trapped them in a room that was quickly filling with lava. Power Man succeeded in lifting the massive boulder that barred their path for the truckers to get free but did not have the strength to save himself. Luckily, Iron Fist found the Mole Man's control room and bested Harvey in combat and was able to free his partner. They later brought the authorities down into the caverns only to find that Mole Man and his minions had fled.[48]

Following brutal battles against Gladiator[49] and the Champion,[50] the Thing was hospitalized due to his injuries. The news of his hospitalization brought many of the Thing's enemies to attack him there during his moment of weakness. The Mole Man and his minions burrowed into the basement of the hospital to launch an attack but they were driven back by the Asgardian thunder god Thor.[51] Subterranea soon became threatened by the millionaire cartoonist and entertainer Alden Maas who believed in the insane theory that the world was contracting and losing mass. Maas developed Project: Worldcore which worked on his theory that additional heat being applied to the core of the Earth could cause it to expand, benefitting an ever-growing surface population. He then constructed an elaborate trap for the Human Torch and exploit his Nova Flame to increase the temperature in the world's core. Stumbling upon this was his teammate the Thing. When Ben refused to let Maas tax his friend's powers to the brink of death he was dumped into Subterranea where an inquisitive Mole Man who had come to investigate why someone had been burrowing into his domain.[52] As Maas' digging caused massive lava flows to kill many of his subjects and nearly wipe out the Outcasts, the Mole Man initially the Mole Man sought to kill the Thing. Ben managed to convince him that they must stop their mutual foe or Maas would destroy both Subterranea and the surface world. The Mole Man assisted Ben by summoning his gargantuan beast Giganto and they freed the Torch. Maas was about to unleash a nuclear explosive in the Earth's core, however, his frail health caught up with him and he died before he could activate the weapon. In the aftermath of the battle, Ben attempted to befriend the Mole Man. Still furious over the loss of his subjects vowed to renew his hostilities against the surface world before retreating back to his domain.[53]

The Mole Man and other villains soon found themselves transported to Earth-1219 circa the year 1985. They were brought there by that world's only mutant and super-human, Clyde Wyncham Jr., who had been placed in a mental hospital years earlier after being brutally beaten by his mother and suffering brain damage. Clyde has fallen in love with comic books published by Marvel Comics that somehow retold the events on Mole Man's native reality of Earth-616. Wyncham became furious when the nurses neglected to transfer his comic book collection after he was moved to a new facility. Seeking revenge, he brought the villains of Earth-616 to his world hoping to get revenge by offering the villains a world bereft of heroes to oppose them.[54] The Mole Man quickly purchased the old mental hospital where Clyde used to live before the facility was shut down in order to use it as a hideout for the various villains who came with him. In the process of moving into the building, the Mole Man met youthful comic book aficionado Toby Goodman and his father Jerry, and attempted to give them Clyde's old comic book collection, little realizing their importance. When they refused Harvey promptly sold them to the local comic book shop for a mere $80, indifferent to their actual resale value. However, Dr. Doom, also transported to this reality was unimpressed by the prospect of living in a hovel and burned it to the ground.[55]

Soon the villains began terrorizing the people of this world,[56] the Mole Man taking particular interest in kidnapping small children and taking them into the caverns below the Earth.[57] However as the villains raged on, Toby managed to find the portal to Earth-616,[58] and managed to convince the heroes of Earth-616 to come rescue his world. They arrived just as Galactus sought to consume Earth-1219.[59] Clyde then sent Mole Man and other villains to stop Toby's father Jerry, but they were confronted by an army of heroes brought from Earth-616. Ultimately, after Jerry was gunned down by the Red Skull, Clyde returned every villain to their native reality including the Mole Man, and the heroes followed suit shortly thereafter.[54]

When the omnipotent cosmic being known as the Beyonder came to Earth to learn what he could about experiencing mortal life, he was quickly viewed as a threat to many other cosmic beings who had dominion over the universe. Chief among those was the demon Mephisto. To this end, he had captured much of the energy the Beyond had previously used to temporarily slay Death.[60] He used this energy and the power of Eternity to create a device called the Beyondersbane that he hoped would destroy the Beyonder. To utilize the power of the weapon, the Beyonder sought out an army of super villains, offering them false promises of their heart's desire. In reality, he was marking them with the deadly trigger that would set off the Beyondersbane upon physical contact with the Beyonder. Among those Mephisto chose were the Mole Man and his old foe the Thing, who at the time blamed the Beyonder for many of his troubles. However, when the army of villains attacked the Beyonder on a remote island where he had gone to contemplate, the Thing couldn't bring himself to allow the seemingly defenseless Beyonder be trounced by the army of villains and fought them off single-handedly. With his plan foiled and the Beyondersbane now having reached critical mass, Mephisto conceded defeat and returned the Mole Man and the others from whence they came.[61]

Following the Beyonder incident, the Mole Man focused on creating a utopia for his people, admitting even more deformed and maligned surface dwellers who sought a new life. He also developed a device that would push his domain to the surface in the middle of the Pacific so his people could live there. However, the Mole Man's sanity also began to lapse, believing that he had fallen ill he began spending time in a private holographic chamber where he could live out his fantasy of being admired by attractive people. It was around this time that the Thing, following a series of personal issues with his teammates in the Fantastic Four and was experiencing instability in his mutation came to Subterranea. Having come to the conclusion that it was the only place that a mutated individual like himself could call home and be accepted for who he was. The Mole Man accepted Ben with open arms, using his science to stabilize the Thing's form, Harvey made Ben the commander of the militia he was building to defend his people. Fearing for Ben's condition, the Fantastic Four and Ben's former girlfriend Alicia Masters (who was, in reality, a Skrull named Lyja who was secretly spying on the Fantastic Four) came to talk him out of his self-imposed exile. The Mole Man invited them to their home, but saw the Human Torch's relationship with Alicia as an affront to his newfound friend the Thing and used his technology to horribly disfigure Johnny. Reed eventually determined that raising the Mole Man's realm to the surface would cause a geographic upheaval that would decimate life along the Pacific Rim. Although initially against his fellow comrades, Ben eventually saw the truth and helped destroy the Mole Man's machine and they all escaped after restoring Johnny to normal. The Mole Man, too far gone at this point, only wished to remain with his holograms and seemingly perished as Monster Isle sank into the ocean.[62]

However the Mole Man had survived and sometime later the Thing (now the leader of the Fantastic Four) returned to Subterranea to seek the Mole Man's aid in restoring his teammate Ms. Marvel back to human form. However, the Mole Man had become more reclusive than ever, abandoning his Moloids and leaving them at the mercy of the now leaderless Tyrannoids and Lava Men. Ben convinced the Mole Man to return to his people, but during an attack by Lava Men, the Mole Man was pulled into a flow of lava. The Fantastic Four proved unable to rescue him in the extreme heat and had to return to retreat.[63] The Mole Man survived thanks to his heat-resistant suit and he eventually broke free and returned to his people. Around that time the Fantastic Four had been replaced with clones created by Aron a rogue Watcher seeking to create a Fantastic Four team that he could manipulate to his likings. This group of Fantastic Four impostors then "recreated" the Fantastic Four's first encounter with the Mole Man. First, they raised Monster Isle back out of the ocean. Unaware that he was dealing with impostors, the Mole Man welcomed the fake Fantastic Four with open arms, but they savagely attacked him. The battle eventually causing a cave in and they then detonated an explosive on the surface of Monster Isle before leaving.[64] The Mole Man was later manipulated as part of the Acts of Vengeance conspiracy when the Asgardian trickster god Loki fooled the Mole Man into believing that the Avengers West Coast had attacked his home. He retaliated by unleashing Giganto on Los Angeles. While Iron Man and US Agent dealt with the massive beast, Wonder Man and the original Human Torch confronted the Mole Man and convinced him that they did not attack him. The Mole Man eventually believed Wonder Man's claims after the hero withstood numerous blasts from his ray staff and called back Giganto and returned underground.[65]

Sanity Restored[]

After a time it appeared that the Mole Man regained his more lucid mental facilities. Later the Mole Man's monsters were enslaved by a group of Skrulls who were after a rebel named De'Lila who came to Earth to recover an Inorganic Techno-Troid egg that had been hidden on Earth.[66] The Mole Man confronted the Skrulls, and took them, prisoner, demanding to know why they had taken control of his creatures. They were soon interrupted by the so-called New Fantastic Four; an ad hoc team consisting of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ghost Rider and Wolverine. This group had been tricked by De'Lila into believing that the original Fantastic Four were dead, and sent on a quest to avenge them. Soon Mr. Fantastic arrived with De'Lila, who had disguised herself as the Invisible Woman to manipulate him into recovering the device as well.[67] Soon it became a race to obtain the weapon, as the original Fantastic Four, their "New" counterparts, the Skrulls, De'Lila, and the Mole Man all sought to obtain it for their own ends. Ultimately, the Techno-Troid hatched and imprinted itself on Mole Man's beast Giganto, who claimed it as its own child. With the device lost to them all and De'Lila captured by the Skrulls, the Mole Man agreed to let all the invaders into his realm go free in order to avoid further damage to his kingdom.[68] However once they all reached the surface the Mole Man decided to punish the Skrulls for invading his domain, but both Fantastic Four teams convinced the Mole Man to cease hostilities and return to his home. Just as the situation was diffused, Kristoff Vernard a one-time "successor" to Dr. Doom arrived in this time from a few years in the future. He forced another battle between the FF teams and the Skrulls. The resulting fight distracted the Mole Man long enough for Vernard to steal a sample of the Techno-Troid's armor and bring it back to his own era with him.[69]

Subterranean War[]

Soon the Deviants, now under the leadership of Brutus had returned to Subterranea to reclaim their technology and weapons that the Mole Man and other underground dwellers had exploited over the years. Mole Man was forced to align himself with Tyrannus and Grotesk, ruler of the Lava Men. Their initial counter-attack found their army of Moloids, Tyrannoids, and Lava Men fleeing into the streets of New York City attracting the Avengers to the scene. Mole Man and his allies then petitioned the Avengers for assistance. The Avengers agreed but were soon captured forcing the Mole Man, Grotesk, and Tyrannus to flee the battle.[70] With Tyrannus cut off from the Fountain of Youth, he began to fear that he would age -- greatly exaggerating the rate of which he aged, which had slowed to a normal rate -- and demanded that the Mole Man assist him in recovering the Fountain over anything else. The Mole Man and Tyrannus decided to coerce the Hulk into recovering it for them. To this end, the Mole Man captured Betty Ross and Rick Jones luring the Hulk into Subterranea. The Hulk, now with the intelligence of his alter-ego Bruce Banner, agreed to help and fought Brutus and his men at the Fountain of Youth with the Mole Man at his side. While the Fountain was lost in a cave in, the Hulk still managed to obtain a flask of the water and return to Tyrannus. However, when Tyrannus turned Betty and Rick over, the Hulk callously dumped the canteen's contents on the ground. Tyrannus shamefully lapped the water off the floor only to be affected by the poison that Brutus had tainted it with.[71] Eventually, Mole Man's consort Kala brought the west coast Avengers to join the battle. By this point, Brutus had obtained a powerful Oscillitron which he planned to use against the surface world. The Avengers attacked and freed their captured comrades. The battle was ultimately ended when the Avenger Sersi revealed that Brutus was not a true Deviant, but a Deviant Mutate and he was killed by his minions who then abandoned his quest for conquest. Grotesk, however, revealed his true motives and attempted to use the Oscillitron to get revenge on the surface world of wiping out his people in an atomic test, however the Avengers stopped him. With the so-called Subterranean War now over, the Mole Man recovered an antidote for Tyrannnus' poisoning and vowed to return Kala to her home domain to restore her youth.[72]

She-Hulk[]

The Mole Man became reclusive again and discovered that if he melted down the crystals found in the Valley of the Diamonds, the liquid would transform whoever was immersed in to -- at least by the Mole Man's assessment -- their exact opposite. Apparently, he had forgotten about Kala as it never occurred to him to use the formula on her.[73] Around this time, Spragg the Living Mountain revived itself below the planets surface, prompting Professor Bob Robertson to enlist the aid of both the She-Hulk and her sidekick Weezie.[74] Unfortunately for the She-Hulk she fell into the pit being dug by Robertson and found herself a prisoner of the Mole Man. Mole Man was about to dump She-Hulk in a vat of melted diamonds when the She-Hulk convinced Harvey to join her in opposing Spragg. The Mole Man agreed, but only for a price. Before he could explain this price, Spragg appeared before them and prepared to attack.[73] Before Spragg could attack, members of his race came to apprehend him. Spragg was quickly jettisoned into orbit where the aliens created a mantle plume that shot Spragg into the depths of space. The Mole Man then revealed his price for helping: the She-Hulk must marry him. She-Hulk reluctantly agreed but stopped the wedding when she noticed that Weezie was nowhere to be found.

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Sensational She-Hulk Vol 1 33 0001

Mole Man's transformation into a real mole

She-Hulk found Weezie suspended over the melted diamonds and rushed to her aid. The Mole Man tried to stop her and all three landed in the vat. Broken out, She-Hulk remained normal while Weezie was reduced to half her chronological age. She-Hulk revealed that the molten diamond didn't turn people into their exact opposite, but how they felt inside. Assuming the Mole Man fled, the heroes left. However, the Mole Man was apparently transformed into an actual mole.[75]

Landlord to the Infinity Watch[]

Eventually, the Mole Man was restored to human form, although the circumstances behind how he return to normal remain unrecorded.

One day he found Adam Warlock and his Infinity Watch washed ashore on his island. The Mole Man invited them in with open arms, offering them to use Monster Isle as their base of operations. The Mole Man explained that he wished them to stay as he required powerful allies to make a name for himself on the world stage. He managed to woo the group into staying by presenting them with a castle for a home and showing the many creatures and weapons which they could use to defend the island from attack. Shortly after the Infinity Watch decided to stay they were visited by the mad titan Thanos.[76] Thanos warned Adam of his evil doppelgänger known as the Magus was plotting against him, thus beginning the opening deliberations in what became known as the Infinity War. The Mole Man played his own small part in the early part of the conflict using his connections he learned that a coalition of super heroes led by Reed Richards was being gathered to deal with a crisis, prompting Warlock to meet with them.[77]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Warlock and the Infinity Watch Vol 1 22 0001

Killed during the Infinity Crusade

Not long after the end of the Infinity War, the Infinity Watch earned the ire of the United Nations who sent troops to secure Monster Isle. The Mole Man informed them that the raid on the island was due to the political aspirations of one Senator Kyle Munson who saw Adam Warlock as a threat. The Mole Man watched with incredulity as Watch member Gamora single-handedly defeated the entire UN invasion force.[78] During the so-called Infinity Crusade, the United Nations attempted to invade Monster Isle again while Adam Warlock was away clashing with his female aspect the Goddess. Although the Mole Man succeeded in defending his realm in a show of might that convinced the President of the United States to back down. The Mole Man and his minions -- along with the rest of the population of Earth -- was later wiped out when the sun went nova, as the final gambit of the Goddess' plan came into full motion.[79] However, Adam Warlock and his surviving allies managed to defeat the Goddess and everyone killed in her final attack was restored to life, including the Mole Man.[80]

Even though he was a beneficent ally to Adam Warlock, the Mole Man still pursued his own endeavors. Focusing on restoring Kala to life, the Mole Man learned of a charity fight between the Thing and the Hulk and rigged up a device that would absorb the energy expended in their battle to reinvigorate Kala and restore her to her former youthful self. However, the Mole Man soon realized that to get the energy he needed he had to get the Thing and Hulk closer and force them to fight at a lethal level until one of them died. To lure them into such a battle, Harvey kidnapped the Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and Atalanta, a member of the Pantheon, a group of heroes that the Hulk led at the time. The Hulk and the Thing pretended to battle as Kala began to de-age she protested to the Mole Man telling him that she would not sacrifice others for her own life. Ultimately, the Hulk and Thing freed the captives and the group fought off the Mole Man's Megataur until Kala stopped the fight. She then professed her love for the Mole Man and he conceded battle, asking her to marry him. When she agreed, the Mole Man allowed the heroes to go free.[81] Despite this profession of love, Kala apparently left the Mole Man again to resume her relationship with Tyrannus.[12] Kala has not been seen or mentioned since her fate is unknown presently. The Mole Man and some of his creatures were pulled forward in time to assist Aron the Rogue Watcher against the Fantastic Four and Fantastic Force. When Aron was defeated, all his thralls were returned to their proper time and place with no memory of what happened. [82] Returning to Monster Isle, the Mole Man had to deal with the Fantastic Four again along with their ally the Silver Surfer who had come to Monster Isle seeking to gain access to his underground tunnels. After a brief battle with the Mole Man's creature, the Mole Man grudgingly allowed the heroes passage after Adam Warlock intervened in the conflict.[83]

However, the relationship between the Mole Man and the Infinity Watch soon began to sour when Watch member Drax befriended a number of the Mole Man's creatures and left the island with them without the Mole Man's permission. This precluded a sudden attack by his old foe Tyrannus.[84] With a device that allowed him to control the Mole Man's creatures, Tyrannus had come to seek an alliance with the Infinity Watch and replace the Mole Man's role having presuming that someone more attractive would help the Infinity Watch's public image. However Warlock refused and when Tyrannus fought back, the Infinity Watch defended Monster Isle, wrecking Tyrannus' control device and sending him back fleeing into Subterranea.[85] When it was eventually revealed that the newest member of the Infinity Watch, Maxam was a traitor to the group, Adam Warlock had the Mole Man evacuate Monster Isle for the final battle. Ultimately, Maxam slew Adam Warlock in order to prevent him from becoming the Magus and creating the future that Maxam came from. With the death of Adam Warlock, the Infinity Watch was disbanded.[86] While Adam Warlock has since been resurrected and the members of the Infinity have worked together again in more recent times, the Mole Man has not interacted with them since.

Defender of Subterranea[]

The Mole Man then began focusing his energies on defending the Moloids and other creatures in his domain, which were often the victims of the surface dwellers greedy acquisition of wealth at the expense of polluting the land.

Shortly after parting company with the Infinity Watch, the Mole Man was caught in a conflict between two cosmic beings who were brothers that had dominion of his native Earth-616 universe, and another Earth from a distant cosmos. This conflict saw many of Earth's champions and villains from both worlds cross realities to battle against each other.[87] The Mole Man found himself transported to the other universe with a number of his Moloids, ending up in the Batcave headquarters of the hero known as Batman.[88] During the conflict, both realities were briefly merged creating a world that featured amalgamations of both realities heroes and villains, whom the Mole Man was merged with during this period is unrevealed.[89] When the two realities were restored to normal, the Mole Man was still in the Batcave and intended to stay there until he was forcibly removed by the Hulk, and Superman.[90]

Back in his native reality, the Mole Man found that his Moloids were becoming terminally ill due to the surface world disposing of toxic and nuclear waste in his domain. With their food supply of specific metals tainted, the Moloids required clean food. The Mole Man allowed them to go to the surface to collect some. However, the Moloids began disintegrating metal statues around New York City for sustenance. This led to a brief battle with the Human Torch when the Moloids attacked an art gallery where he was on a date with new girlfriend Laura Green. The Mole Man stopped the battle to explain what the Moloids were doing, and brought them back below ground to find another solution to his problem.[91] At some point, though unrevealed circumstances, the Mole Man was apprehended and imprisoned in the Vault, a maximum security prison for super-humans. When so-called Master of the World sent the U-Foes to break into the Vault, Mole Man was one of the many prisoners who managed to escape and evade re-capture.[92]

While the Mole Man was incarcerated his old foes the Fantastic Four were seemingly slain with other heroes defending the Earth from the psychic entity known as Onslaught.[93] Unknown to all at the time, the Fantastic Four's son Franklin Richards actually subconsciously transported them to a pocket dimension later called Counter-Earth.[94] There they lived a variation of their real lives[95] During this period the Mole Man believed the Fantastic Four to be dead and began mobilizing his entire forces for a massive invasion of the surface world.[96] However, eventually the heroes were found by Franklin and his allies and returned to their native reality.[97] This news did not reach the Mole Man on the eve of his planned invasion. Upon learning the news, the Mole Man called off his invasion for the time being.[96] The Mole Man did eventually launch an attack on the surface world with his monsters but they were shrunk down to size by the Fantastic Four leading to his defeat.[12] The Mole Man's kingdom was soon invaded by the alien being known as Terminus.[98] Terminus began infecting the Moloids with his essence in an attempt to use them to restore his body. The Mole Man then fled with those uninfected to the town of Yorkton in Saskatchewan, Canada. The rebirth of Terminus attracted the Silver Surfer and the Fantastic Four to Yorkton where they found the Mole Man and learned of his plight. Terminus then burst through the surface, and while the Fantastic Four literally tore away the Moloids that comprised of Terminus' new body, the Silver Surfer used his Power Cosmic to seemingly eliminate Terminus.[99]

New York Sewers[]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Wolverine Vol 2 156 0001

Alternate costume briefly worn by the Mole Man

Mole Man returned to the section of Subterranean that was below New York City. When his minions became ill from contaminated water, he returned to the surface and instigated a battle between the Thing and the Silver Surfer to create a distraction long enough for the Mole Man to steal a water treatment facility. The heroes realized the ruse and eventually caught up with the Mole Man, but agreed to let him return underground with it when they learned why the Mole Man needed fresh water.[100] However, the Moloids proved to be too sickly to carry the treatment plant without damaging some of its components. Harvey then returned to New York to seek out the Fantastic Four. Instead, he crossed paths with the technorganic being known as Warlock and his allies, Hope and Psimon. He kidnapped them in order to force the trio to help him instead. After fighting off creatures that had been mutated by the polluted water, Warlock and his friends helped bring the water treatment plant into operation again. Warlock later suggested to the Mole Man that instead of kidnapping people and forcing them to help he should buy their services, pointing out how easy it would be for him to obtain gold to use as payment.[101] The Mole Man and his creatures soon became hunted by a group of Morlocks led by a serial killing mutant named Carver who was slaughtering surface dwellers and Moloids alike.[102] The murders of the surface people drew the attention of the NYPD and the heroes Wolverine and Spider-Man. They were attacked by some of the Mole Man's creature and during the fight all of the police officers except for Lieutenant Tara Curson were slain.[103] The Mole Man revealed himself to the heroes and after a brief battle, he convinced them that the rogue Morlocks were responsible. Wolverine tracked down Carver and his minion Fugue, seemingly slaying both in combat.[102]

Return to Villainy[]

Surviving this encounter the Mole Man next crossed paths with Major Mapleleaf and Yukon Jack, two members of the Canadian superhero team known as Alpha Flight. The pair were searching the Mole Man's tunnels looking for the original Alpha Flight who had recently been captured by the alien Plodex. After a brief scuffle, the Mole Man learned that the two heroes hadn't come after his people and set them free.[104]

The Mole Man soon found himself an unwitting part of a complex feat of trickery played out by the Mad Thinker, another longtime foe of the Fantastic Four. The Thinker convinced the Puppet Master to gather other Fantastic Four foes to a meeting under the auspices of uniting against the Fantastic Four. The Mole Man was in attendance and like the other villains they refused to work together and departed, all according to the Mad Thinker's plans. Unknown to the villains, the Mad Thinker had placed devices that took their DNA. This DNA ended up in the hands of the Fantastic Four who were led to believe that, according to Reed's calculations, the group would die in two years if they continued their heroic careers. This prompted the group to use the DNA to track down and capture all of their foes before this could happen.[105] Eventually the Fantastic Four went after the Mole Man who was well aware of their activities by that point and was ready for them. But as always, the Mole Man proved no match for the quartet and was easily captured.[106] The Mole Man was imprisoned with other Fantastic Four villains in a brand new Vault prison built by Andrew Lewis in the Negative Zone. However, the villains were released from the prison by Threska an ally of the Mad Thinker who was posing as Andrew Lewis' wife since being stranded on Earth.[107] With the aid of Hercules and She-Hulk, the Fantastic Four clashed with the escapees. Some of the villains were so overwhelmed they gave up and returned to their cells, including the Mole Man. Ultimately, the Mad Thinker's plot as a success but the Fantastic Four made it out alive.[108]

The Mole Man was later one of the many super beings affected in the House of M reality warp, which briefly replaced the Earth-616 universe with Earth-58163.[109] During this reality warp, now called the Mole King, Harvey was slain by that reality Fearsome Four for transgressions against the House of Magnus.[110] Ultimately, reality was restored back to normal and Harvey was restored to life again.[111] Having grown lonely and seeking a new female companion, the Mole Man ordered his Moloids to dig a tunnel to Hawaii in the hopes that he might meet a woman. However the Mole Man's plans happened to coincided with Hercules being in the area. At the time the Grecian demi-god was involved in a reality television series that was recreating the legend of his 12 labours in a modern context. In this instance, Hercules had to tame Giganto and his siblings much like he did when he defeated Diomedes by subduing his four man-eating horses. The Mole Man was frightened back into reclusion when Hercules easily tied up the Gigantos.[112] However after production of Hercules' television show ended, the Mole Man accepted an invitation to the wrap party with everyone else who was involved in the project.[113] However, Harvey briefly reverted to type when he attacked New York City again before being defeated by the Fantastic Four once again.[114]

Christmas Vacation[]

Harvey Elder's Grandmother (Earth-616) from Marvel Holiday Special Vol 1 2005 001

Harvey Elder's grandmother

During the Christmas holidays that year the Mole Man was subject to a series of lawsuits being pressed against him by various women he had kidnapped over the years and tried to force to be his bride. The holiday season also apparently made him remember his grandfather making him quite morose. When one of his Moloids brought him a snow globe promoting tourism in Santa Barbara, California, the Mole Man decided to go on vacation. Uttering the word "Santa" and leaving without telling his minions where he was going led the primitive Moloids to believe that their leader left and would not return until they brought Santa to Subterranea. When the Moloids then began kidnapping mall Santas the Fantastic Four got involved and began searching for their leader. The Thing managed to track down the Mole Man's grandmother, who was impossibly still alive. She recounted the story of Harvey's childhood love of Santa. Noticing that Harvey's grandfather Robert bore a passing resemblance to the Sub-Mariner, Ben managed to convince Namor to dress as Santa. When the Moloids found Namor suitable but their leader still did not return. The Fantastic Four had the Moloids promise not to kidnap the anymore mall Santas.[6] While the story of Harvey's childhood might have an element of truth, the idea that his grandmother would still be alive some 100 years after his birth seem preposterous. Given the uncanny resemblance, it possible that the "old woman" that the Thing met was the Mole Man in disguise, to further prevent people from interrupting his vacation.

Apocalypse Beast & Howling Commandos[]

The Mole Man later returned home and was alerted that the so-called Apocalypse Beast was resurrected and was a threat to Monster Isle and flew on one of his Skeels to intercept it.[115] He followed the creature back to his home and with the assistance of the Fantastic Four and Iron Man. There he discovered that his Moloids were specially bred to be antibodies against the Apocalypse Beast. He also was astonished to learn that the beings responsible for constructing Monster Isle had hidden a massive device that acted like a syringe to inject the Moloids into the invading creature. Reed Richards then injected the Moloids into the Apocalypse Beast causing the creature to invert itself and be launched into space. This apparently left the Mole Man without any Moloids left under his command, leaving him heartbroken.[116] However Harvey found other Moloids who did not sacrifice themselves to the Apocalypse Beast and continued to rule over them. He was later asked for assistance from Clay Quartermain, then leader for SHIELD's new Howling Commandos, a unit of military trained monsters. The Mole Man assisted the Howling Commandos during their final attack on the sorcerer Merlin. Elder used his technologies to lift Merlin's stronghold out of the ground while the Howling Commandos made their attack, however, Merlin eventually managed to escape.[117]

Resumed Hostilities[]

Following the super hero Civil War, the Mole Man became furious over the surface world continuing to pollute his domain and making his Moloids sick. He then launched an attack on New York City shortly after Iron Man had formed a new team of Avengers that were part of his government backed Initiative program. These Mighty Avengers clashed with Mole Man and his monsters until suddenly Iron Man's armor was taken over by the robot Ultron who reshaped Iron Man's body in the form of his teammate the Wasp.[118] Harnessing the elements and other deadly weapons, Ultron destroyed many of the Mole Man's larger creatures, forcing him to retreat back to his domain before his people suffered any more casualties.[119] Ultimately, the Avengers managed to defeat Ultron.[120] The Mole Man then relocated to the underground caverns beneath San Juan, Puerto Rico. There he discovered the long though mythical Chupacabra living there and that the surface world's pollution there threatened to drive the Chupacabra extinct. The Mole Man convinced the normally skittish creatures to attack the locals. However, this coincided with a time the Thing took his annual vacation in the region. With the help of his fellow Fantastic Four members, Ben tracked down the Mole Man's lair and after a battle, Reed Richards pledged to help preserve the Chupacabra, getting the assistance of SHIELD as well to ensure that nobody harmed the nearly extinct creatures.[121]

About this time, the Mole Man's old foes the Fantastic Four suffered a tragic loss when the Human Torch seemingly died.[122] The group reinvented themselves into the Future Foundation, an organization that gathered a group of free-thinking intellectuals to better mankind. Incidentally enough, four young Moloids named Mik, Korr, Turg, and Tong joined the ranks of the Future Foundation.[123] During this period, something within the High Evolutionary's Forever City was making his Moloids become sentient and abandon him. As it turned out the High Evolutionary's Ascension Engines were causing nearby creatures to be drawn into the Forever City to be assimilated into the race of creatures that lived there, who were incapable of reproducing themselves and relied on assimilation to keep their species thriving. Going to investigate, the Mole Man crossed paths with the Reed Richards of Earth-4280 a member of the Interdimensional Council of Reeds, a group of alternate reality Reed Richards who were trapped on Earth-616 and were seeking to instigate the prophesied War of the Four Cities in order to gather the energy they needed to return to their home realm. Reed offered his assistance in freeing the Moloids from the Forever City in exchange for the Mole Man's assistance in the War of the Four Cities.[124] To this end the Council of Reeds got the Mole Man to use his minions to attack Old Atlantis, which at the time was under the protection of the Future Foundation. While the heroes were distracted, the Mole Man had his Moloids build a device created by the Council to destroy Old Atlantis. With the destruction of Old Atlantis, the Council including Reed Richards of Earth-12498 built a device that stopped the Ascension Engine. The Mole Man then forced the leader of the Forever City to close his doors to the outside world. However, just at that moment the Inhumans led by their leader Black Bolt returned to Earth and appeared over the Forever City.[125] The Inhumans attacked the Forever City, ultimately crushing the Interdimensional Council of Reed's plot. As things began to fall apart, the Mole Man fled back to his subterranean domain.[126]

Soon after returning home, Mole Man's domain was invaded by the Molans a species of barbaric warriors who lived in the heat planes deep below his own kingdom. Their leader Ra'ktar easily subdued the Mole Man and took over his kingdom, making the Mole Man his slave and interpreter.[127] Before his defeat, the Mole Man ordered some of his minions to find the "king" of the surface world to help his domain. The Moloids took this order too literally and kidnapped New York City mayor J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson's kidnapping prompted the Avengers to send Spider-Man and the Red Hulk to rescue Jameson.[128] While the Red Hulk stepped into battle Ra'ktar in Jameson's place however the Red Hulk proved no match against Ra'ktar and was seemingly slain.[127] While Spider-Man fled to Jameson, the Mole Man convinced Ra'ktar that since they slain the surface world's champion they should invade the surface world instead. Spider-Man managed to get Jameson to safety and went back to battle Ra'ktar alone. When Spider-Man managed to humiliate Ra'ktar in battle, his minions turned on him and the battle ended and the Molans returned to their domain, as did the surface dwellers -- including the Red Hulk who turned out to be alive after all. The experience left Mole Man furious, especially at the fact that he was being pitied by his own minions. However, upon gazing upon a ruined model of New York City, he vowed that it would stand as a symbol of his empires future.[129]

The Mole Man eventually learned that his long unrequited love, Lorna had passed away, The Mole Man resolved to steal her body to keep as his own. Although he knew which cemetery she was to be buried in, he was unsure which grave. As such, he ordered his Moloids to exhume every corpse from the property.[7] Among the corpses stolen was one belonging to Jonathan Murdock the late father of the blind superhero Daredevil. Daredevil followed the Mole Man's Moloids into Subterranea on their next trip from the cemetery. Upon witnessing the Mole Man defiling the various coffins and mixing the remains as they were nothing, Daredevil was consumed with anger and attacked the Mole Man. Harvey easily bested Daredevil in his angered state and had him thrown into a pit to be eaten by one of his creatures.[130] Daredevil survived and attacked the Mole Man. When their battle led them to the Valley of Diamonds, Harvey realized that Daredevil was blind and playing on the heroes rage, he learned that even though Daredevil came for his father's remains, he would never be able to tell which coffin or remains belong to his father. Mole Man then forced Daredevil to angrily accept that his father's remains were no longer the man who raised him. Daredevil furiously knocked out the Mole Man for making him accept this truth and the masked hero took chunks of the Valley of Crystal. Knowing that all the mixed remains could never be fully recovered or placed in the right crypts, Daredevil had chips of the glowing crystals to be placed on each of the defiled tombstones in tribute to the dead.[7] The Mole Man next got into a clash with the Asgardian rock troll known as Ulik, however, the details of this clash are unrecorded.[131]

By this time, the Human Torch was found to be still alive and rejoined his comrades in reforming the Fantastic Four which operated within the Future Foundation. Before going on a mission through time and space, Reed Richards appointed Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Medusa, and the Torch's pop-star girlfriend Darla Deering as their replacements during the four minutes they were gone. However something went wrong and the Fantastic Four did not return as planned and were presumed lost, leaving their replacements to operate in their place. This was not met with a positive reception, especially when the Mole Man -- who found the original Four's replacements an insult to their legacy -- launched an attack on New York. Even though they were caught off guard, this new incarnation of the Fantastic Four was able to defeat the Mole Man and send him fleeing.[132] The Mole Man later contacted the Moloids within the Future Foundation and although they hated him they agreed to provide him with a "Starheart" device.[133] However, his intended use of the device has as yet been unrevealed. The Mole Man later attacked the Jean Grey School for mutants, prompting Wolverine -- the school's headmaster -- to mobilize his X-Men to deal with the battle, although the reason for the Mole Man's attack and the outcome of the battle are unknown, the Mole Man likely lost.[134]

Harvey Elder (Earth-616) from Iron Man Vol 5 25 001

As a Mandarin

Rings of the Mandarin[]

The Mole Man was chosen by the Daimonic ring of the deceased Mandarin as its host, "Mandarin Six," in order to help it and the other rings have revenge on Tony Stark. Harvey and the other Mandarins later traveled to Svartalfheim in order to confront Malekith the Accursed, who had hunted down other three Mandarins and had taken their rings from them.[3] The Mandarins thwarted any attempt of Malekith to hide or flee, as the rings could locate each other. The elf 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 safety, as he could no longer be tracked. Following their failure to kill Malekith, the Mandarins resumed their own paths.[135]

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.[136]

Following the defeats of the other Mandarins, Mole Man decided to escape. His ring announced that he was now the Mandarin Prime, but Elder preferred to escape and leave it behind.[137]

Athol Kussar[]

Harvey was later contracted by unknown individuals to bring them Athol Kussar, half-brother of mine owner Faust Swart who laundered money to found Hydra's African base. Athol knew all about his brother's deals thanks to his eidetic memory and had been imprisoned in a radioactive mine after S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to capture him. Harvey broke into his cell, however, Kussar refused as Hydra planted a bomb in his chest that will go off if he escapes his cell. The Mole Man then threatened Kussar only to be attacked and knocked down by the Invisible Woman, who was there to capture Athol for S.H.I.E.L.D. However, after Athol's bomb was activated they were attacked by the Moloids on the way out. Despite this, the Invisible Woman managed to seal the explosive from the rest of the bomb and take Kussar into custody.[138]

Subterranean Civil War[]

Resenting Elder for abandoning him and his mother and believing him unfit to rule, the Mole Monster began a campaign to dethrone him as king of Subterranea. Things escalated into a civil war as the Mole Monster got more and more Subterraneans, including the Molans, to join his side. Elder soon found himself on the losing side of the war, with the Subterraneas that followed him living in a state of hunger and misery.[139] Some of his Moloids, starving due to the war, went up to New York City looking for food, getting the attention of the Avengers' teenage members Nova, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Man, who went down to Subterranea to investigate. The Moloids soon led them to the Mole Man, who explained the current state of his kingdom. Thinking they were spies on his son's payroll, he had them knocked out with some gas and had them fight Giganto in a gladiatorial arena in order to increase the morale of his subjects.[140] However, during the battle, the Mole Man's city came under attack of his son and his army. Nova decided to go directly to Mole Monster and try to reason with him but failed and was forced to leave.[139] Mole Monster eventually defeated his father and conquered Subterranea, later claiming that he threw Elder in his dungeon.[141]

Squirrel Girl[]

When Squirrel Girl's friends, Nancy, Tippy-Toe, and Koi Boi, helped set her up an online dating profile, it led to many unsuccessful dates, one of which ended with an encounter with Mole Man, who was angered by how Doreen's earlier suggestions to Kraven the Hunter had affected his home. Doreen apologized to him and the two had a conversation about his situation, leading Mole Man to propose to Doreen on the spot and a number of follow-up schemes to get Doreen to go on a date with him. He threatened to bury a number of worldwide landmarks if she did not date him, and after Nancy was nearly kidnapped by him and being swarmed by the media, she went to confront Mole Man only to find that Tricephalous was in love with him. She let Tricephalous defeat her to woo Mole Man and they left for good.[142]

Secret Empire[]

Mole Man 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 arrived with the Underground, Mole Man's kingdom was attacked by Dreadnoughts sent by Hydra. Though the heroes managed to defeat the Dreadnoughts, Mole Man put an end to his truce with Captain America and let the heroes leave.[143]

Dethroned[]

Mole Man's position as ruler of Monster Isle was challenged by the newcomer Googam. When the Human Torch and The Thing explored the island and stumbled upon its inhabitants, the Mole Man declared that whoever's supporters defeated the intruders would rule the island. To their surprise, Victor von Doom defeated them first, unwittingly becoming ruler of Monster Isle in the process. He then had both Mole Man and Googam sent "deep into the earth".[144]

Attributes

Power Grid[146]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Master: Single Form of Combat:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Medium Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Enhanced:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Peak Human:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Super-Genius

Powers

Radar Sense: The Mole Man possesses heightened senses that have developed naturally to compensate for his poor vision. Primary among these is his "Radar Sense", which may be similar to Daredevil's, although it is not as acute. The Mole Man's brain has several regions which are able to consciously sense that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that his brain constantly generates. The signals emanating from the "sending regions," bounce off objects around him, and return to the "receiving regions" of both hemispheres. In this way, he synthesizes a very close analogue of third-dimensional human sight, which supplements his own weak natural vision. Indeed, the combination of the Mole Man's sight and his radar sense makes his awareness of what is around him somewhat superior to the average human's. He can use his radar sense to detect the presence of objects behind him, or in total blackness.

Abilities

Super-Genius Intelligence: The Mole Man is a scientific genius, who has mastered the principles underlying the Deviant technology that he discovered in Subterranea and has even made radical improvements upon much of it.[145]

Fighting Skill: The Mole Man has developed a means of fighting with using his staffs that resembles the martial art of kendo.

Weaknesses

Light Sensitivity: Although the Mole Man has adequate vision in dark places, he is blinded by normal light.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Visor: The Mole Man wears a protective visor that reduces the intensity of normal lighting to comfortable levels.

Weapons

Staves: His stave appears to be an aid to the visually impaired Elder. However, he is quite skilled in their use as a weapon. On occasion, he has used a stave that launches a concussive blast.[48] He has also used “Zero - Point Energy” staves that increase the center of gravity of anyone, making people heavier the more they struggle. A mental force field, like the Invisible Woman’s, nullifies this effect.[121]

See Also

Links and References

References

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  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #½
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  87. [[DC Versus Marvel 1|[[w:c:dc: DC Versus Marvel #1|DC Versus Marvel 1]]]]
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  91. Fantastic Four: Unplugged #4
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  94. Heroes Reborn: The Return #1
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  111. House of M #8
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  114. 4 #21
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  121. 121.0 121.1 Fantastic Four: ¡Isla de la Muerte! #1
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  142. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (Vol. 2) #810
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  146. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 7
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