Fantastic Four: First Steps Is Poised to Finally Give Mole Man His Due
A prequel comic confirms Paul Walter Hauser is Mole Man in The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. Does this mean Subterranea's day is at last at hand?
After something of a mixed bag during Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the world’s highest-grossing franchise is trying to usher in a new era with a familiar family that’s sporting some new faces. It was a few years ago that casting the Fantastic Four reboot was the only Marvel news fans cared about, but with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach ready to lead The Fantastic Four: First Steps, they’re tipped to be mainstays in the MCU’s future for a long time (whatever else a post-Avengers: Secret Wars world might actually hold).
It’s not just a family affair in First Steps with an all-star cast that includes John Malkovich, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, and more. While fans know who most of the major players are in Matt Shakman’s upcoming retrofuturistic epic, there have been questions about who Paul Walter Hauser is playing. His casting caused a flurry of excitement, especially as many noted his likeness to Harvey Rupert Elder, aka the comic book version of Mole Man. Well, it looks like those fans were right!
Mole Man in the MCU
The Fantastic Four: First Steps #1 is a canon prequel comic to the upcoming movie and the first issue has now revealed that Paul Walter Hauser is officially playing Mole Man. In the panels, fans can see the I, Tonya star’s likeness being used to portray the Fantastic Four’s very first comic book adversary. Introduced in 1961’s The Fantastic Four #1, courtesy of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, Elder was an American nuclear engineer and explorer who was shunned due to his wild ideas and mole-like appearance. His Mole Man persona truly formed when he fell into the underground world of Subterranea and damaged his vision by looking directly into a deposit of diamonds. He soon ruled over Subterranea and the Moloid species that dwell down there, launching regular attacks on the surface world with his monstrous Kaiju.
As a consequence, this marks a third time lucky for Mole Man after the character missed out on Roger Corman’s unreleased The Fantastic Four and Josh Trank’s notoriously troubled Fant4stic. Corman’s 1994 movie cast Ian Trigger as a character similar to Mole Man but had to change him to “the Jeweler” due to being unable to secure the rights. Meanwhile Trank’s 2015 box office bomb included Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Harvey Allen, who oversaw Franklin Storm’s experiments and was later killed by Doctor Doom.
Before that movie underwent its monumental changes, the character was supposed to be Harvey Elder. Considering 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps #1 is presented as a promotional tie-in from the Future Foundation to promote the team’s first outing after gaining their powers, it makes sense that Hauser’s Mole Man features here. Interestingly, it could also give us a hint of what role he’ll be doing in the movie.
‘Digging’ Deeper
Set to enjoy his first live-action appearance, this obscure and sometimes laughable villain is sure to get a typically MCU rebrand that should lean into Hauser’s comedy credentials. Like how Spider-Man: Homecoming reinvented Michael Keaton’s Vulture and Michael Chernus’ the Tinkerer from being C-tier villains, expect a more realistic Mole Man who fits the MCU’s somewhat grounded aesthetic. Unfortunately for Hauser, the fact that Mole Man features prominently in the prequel comic suggests he’ll have a limited role in First Steps.
Given that the ensemble has to juggle Garner’s Silver Surfer and Inneson’s colossal Galactus, as well as Malkovich possibly playing the villainous Red Ghost, the last thing Shakman wants to do is repeat Spider-Man 3’s villain overload. Chuck in rumors that Robert Downey Jr. will be making his Doctor Doom debut, we envision Mole Man having a fleeting opening appearance to establish the team—possibly with them spoiling his schemes or even being referenced as a bad guy they’ve already bested.
There have been some weird and wonderful character reinventions in the MCU, but for every Drax, there have been forgotten or hated ones like M.O.D.O.K. (remember poor Corey Stoll’s superimposed face in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?) First Steps should lean into the campy nature of Mole Man and deliver a comic-accurate version akin to The Incredibles’ Underminer (himself feeling like a parody of Mole Man).
We don’t know much about this corner of the multiverse, but Mole Man and his Moloids could easily fit a weirder aesthetic that might seem out of place on Earth-616. Although there are rumblings that Malkovich’s Red Ghost has been cut from the finished movie, the fact that he’s teamed up with Mole Man in the comics is another way to tie the pair of villains into things without taking away from Galactus’ substantial role.
For the hardcore Mole Man fans out there, it might be a disappointment that he’ll likely be resigned to the background instead of getting a Vulture-esque revamp. It’s true that villains like Taskmaster and Grandmaster have appeared in movies not typically associated with their comic book enemies, but as Mole Man is such an obscure part of Marvel history, it’s hard to see him appearing elsewhere in the MCU other than a Fantastic Four movie. Added to this, there’s already a deluge of villains like Aubrey Plaza’s Death and Nelson’s the Leader, who are sure to return further down the line.
While it might be nice for Mole Man to have a beefier part, he’ll probably be an amuse-bouche to establish the impressive powers of Marvel’s First Family. Then again, we could be wrong. Assuming the Fantastic Four’s universe isn’t devoured by Galactus (a popular theory), Mole Man could be set up for the inevitable sequel. At last Subterranea will have its day!
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Tom Chapman is a Manchester-based writer with a hunger for the Iron Throne. When not trying to protect the Sacred Timeline or defending superhumans at GLK&H,…