The Fantastic Four's Very First Villain Has An Unexpected Link To The Eternals

Marvel's First Family, the Fantastic Four, has been a staple of Marvel Comics for decades. Created by comic book legends Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the group arrived on the scene in 1961 via their own self-titled comic series. Ever since, readers have followed Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards, "The Invisible Woman" Susan Storm, Ben "The Thing" Grimm, and Johnny Storm, aka "The Human Torch," on all kinds of adventures. Sometimes they've fought Earth-bound enemies, while on some occasions, they've encountered extraterrestrial threats, establishing quite the interesting rogues' gallery throughout their exciting exploits.

As the years have gone on, a handful of villains have risen to the top of the heap to become the Fantastic Four's most recognizable foes. Arguably the most popular is Victor von Doom, better known as the scheming Dr. Doom, though the likes of Galactus and Kang the Conqueror are in the upper echelon themselves. Of course, not all of their enemies have become the stuff of pop culture legend, either ending up forgotten by just about everyone or becoming a favorite among comic book fans alone. The Fantastic Four's first-ever opponent, Mole Man, leans further in the latter direction.

Mole Man doesn't seem like the most interesting bad guy out there, but he's worth getting acquainted with all the same. After all, anyone with a connection to the Eternals deserves some recognition. Here's how he's linked to these cosmic beings and their sworn enemies, the Deviants.

A genius by all accounts, Henry "Mole Man" Elder spent much of his life picked on by his peers due to his appearance. In response, he took it upon himself to seek out a rumored underground kingdom so he could live out his days free of ridicule. This goal eventually brought him to the Eternal Makkari, who assembled a team to help take down the Deviant known as Kro. A stowaway on their expedition, he inadvertently wound up on Monster Island, where he traveled underground to Subterranea and reverse-engineered Deviant technology. Elder also began ruling over various Mutates that the Deviants left behind long before (via Marvel).

While not the most powerful or physically imposing, Mole Man's link to Deviant creations makes him a tricky Fantastic Four foe. Therefore, one could imagine him being quite the villain for a Fantastic Four movie, and truth be told, he nearly was. In one of the original drafts of the disastrous "Fantastic Four" film from 2015, Dr. Harvey Elder (Tim Blake Nelson) would become Mole Man by the time the credits rolled (via Collider). As we know, that and many other ideas from that "Fantastic Four" script, ranging from the creation of the Fantasticar to the introduction of Galactus, never made it into the final film. 

Mole Man may not be an A-list Fantastic Four villain, but his connections to the Eternals and the Deviants sure do help his status.