Harvey Elder, better known in Marvel Comics by his alias Mole Man, is a long-time villain of many of the most popular Marvel characters. After being ridiculed for his crazy theories and dwarfish figure, using his super-intelligence, Elder eventually becomes the ruler of a subterranean race called Moloids - better known as Mole Men - and he leads his subjects on many occasions in an attempt to rule over the surface world. He has been a major nuisance for everyone from Spider-Man to Ant Man, and even the Avengers.
Having appeared in the very first issue of Fantastic Four, the character is usually associated with Marvel's first family. In fact, it is likely that Fox owned the rights to Mole Man until the Disney/Fox merger, as a version of the baddie (changed to Harvey Allen instead of Harvey Elder - maybe because Marvel wanted him?) was portrayed in the mess of a film Fant4stic back in 2015 by Tim Blake Nelson. So yes, the actor who kind of played the Leader is the same actor who kind of played Mole Man. Maybe he'll kind of play Rick Jones one day.
While the MCU has given us a lot of things that would have seemed hard to pull off - Asgard, Wakanda, and even the Quantum Realm - most things in the established universe as we know it can either be explained by magic, space, or pseudo-science. But what about an entire underground army of Mole Men? How would that be explained? Sure, it's possible that during the five years after the decimation Mole Man was able to go underground to a place that wasn't being monitored, but that doesn't explain him gaining his own army.
Instead, I believe that the MCU has a much simpler answer - one that may have been staring us in the face since Ant-Man & The Wasp. Remember that Quantum Realm city? We still don't know who lives there, but I have an idea.
It has been revealed that Hank Pym and his research on Pym Particles and the Quantum Realm date all the way back to at least the 70's and is S.H.I.E.L.D. business, as made evident by both Ant-Man and Avengers: Endgame when we see young Hank and his prototype helmet.
With Ant-Man's history with Mole Man, who is to say that Pym didn't bully or best Harvey Elder as a better man of science? They both have abrasive personalities and this situation could have led Elder to steal some of Pym's particles, accidentally shrinking himself to the Quantum Realm. Initially, Elder would be afraid and try to escape - until he discovers the Tardigrades.
If you don't remember what the tardigrades are, they are the big MOLE-like creatures that exist on a subatomic level, first introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe during the events of Ant Man. Why would Marvel Studios go out of the way create something unreasonable to make a character work when they can fold him into their universe as it is like they have many characters before?
There is an entire city in the Quantum Realm that has yet to be explored, but it's there for a reason and someone - or something - must surley inhabit it. It could be the Eternals, sure. Many fans theorized it would be the home of a "greater threat" during Avengers: Endgame, and we saw how that panned out. More reasonably, I'd like to believe that Harvey Elder, one of the smartest scientists and engineers in the MCU, built a city with the help of his Tardigrades who are as disfigured as he is.
Without having proper Quantum Realm wear, this could cause his eyesight to become poor like his comic book counterpart, lending to his origin. Instead of dealing with humans, he could continue to do research using Quantum energy in a palace of his own design, and, in a way, it's still under the surface. Seeing him bring an army of Tardigrades above ground could be amazing, and there was concept art of Ant Man using one one of these creatures a Pokemon but it didn't make the cut.
Sure, when thinking of villains fans want to see on the big screen, Mole Man is far from first, but this could be a great way to tie Ant-Man and Fantastic Four together - especially as Cassie and her likely upcoming role as Stature has a part to play with them in the future. What do you guys think? Be sure to let me know below!