Actor Joseph Quinn just confirmed that the legendary Marvel Comics character Mole Man will appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He mentioned the news at the CCXP convention in Mexico this weekend, and videos from the event quickly circulated on social media. It wasn’t entirely clear if Quinn was supposed to share this news at this point, or if it was a slip of the tongue. Either way, fans are now hard at work speculating about Mole Man’s role in this movie and his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So far, Marvel hasn’t even officially confirmed Quinn’s revelation.
“Certainly, a very stacked cast we have a lot of fantastic characters in there,” Quinn said before a cheering crowd this weekend. “There is also Mole Man, who’s wonderful in it, but Galactus is the big bad.” Fans have been theorizing that Mole Man will appear in this movie, and many figured that Quinn casually confirmed the theory because it was already so widespread online. We still don’t know who’s playing the villain, but the leading theory is Paul Walter Hauser, who is on the cast list in an undisclosed role.
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Mole Man first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in 1961, making him one of the oldest villains in the Marvel pantheon. Rejected from society at every turn, Harvey Elder became a bitter scientist with wanderlust, seeking after legends of a utopian world underground. He eventually found his way into the hollow earth through Monster Isle, and used to the advanced technology and powerful monsters he found there to seek vengeance on the surface world.
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Mole Man is generally treated as a silly side character by Marvel these days, and that’s probably how we should expect him to appear in First Steps. He may serve to provide an action scene in the very beginning, establishing our heroes and the place they serve in this world. With Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) on the scene, there won’t be much room for hollow earth lore in this movie.
On top of that, First Steps has the difficult task of connecting its story to the rest of the MCU, and raising the stakes on the Multiverse Saga. This movie takes place in an alternate reality, but we know it will crossover with the main continuity by the time of Avengers: Doomsday next year. There are a lot of questions to answer, and not a lot of time for side quests.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th. The MCU’s next release is Ironheart, premiering on Disney+ on June 24th.
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