Created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov.

[volume & issue needed] When Elder fell into a massive cave leading deep into the underground realm of Subterranea, he decided his theories had finally been vindicated.

Partially blind and apparently secluded from the surface world forever, Elder dubbed himself the Mole Man and began exploring his new home.

[volume & issue needed] The Mole Man conducted attacks on the surface world by destroying nuclear power plants in the Eastern Bloc, Australia, South America, and French Equatorial Africa, attracting the attention of the newly formed Fantastic Four in their first adventure.

After the group arrived on Monster Isle, he captured Mister Fantastic and the Human Torch and told them his plans to invade every major urban area on the planet via a network of tunnels.

[volume & issue needed] The Mole Man later stole buildings from New York City, but was thwarted by the Fantastic Four and appeared to be killed in an explosion.

[6] Mole Man was among the criminals later assembled by Doctor Doom's mind-control device to attack Reed and Sue's wedding.

[volume & issue needed] Much later, Mole Man befriended the Thing and then plotted to raise a new continent at the cost of sinking California, but was again thwarted by the Fantastic Four.

A replacement Fantastic Four, consisting of Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, the Hulk and Wolverine were tricked into entering the Mole Man's territory and battling his forces.

[volume & issue needed] He later battled the West Coast Avengers along with the U-Foes during the Acts of Vengeance, but their attempts met with failure.

[volume & issue needed] Later, he surrendered his desire for conquest and revenge and began assembling a sanctuary for others who had been rejected by the surface world.

Briefly, the Mole Man allowed Adam Warlock's superhero team, the Infinity Watch, to use Monster Isle (more specifically, a castle located on its grounds) as a base, on the reasoning that they could help protect him from any meddlers, which they did on several occasions.

Aside from occasional fits of hostility, he seems for the most part content to rule his subterranean kingdom, and for the past few years his surface activities have mostly been limited to reacting to threats (real or imagined) to his people.

[volume & issue needed] In one incident, he was causing property damage purely to help the Moloids, whose water and food had become polluted.

During this time, Tyrannus rose to challenge Mole Man's claim and used magic to pervert the aliens so that they could destroy the surface.

[23] 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.

The Mandarins failed to escape as Iron Man's ally Dark Angel used magic to prevent them from teleporting.

[25] Mole Man was later contacted by unknown individuals to bring them Athol Kussar, the half-brother of mine owner Faust Swart who laundered money to fund HYDRA's African base after he knew about his half-brother's actions and had been previously imprisoned in a mine by Swart while evading the S.H.I.E.L.D.

He threatens to bury a number of worldwide landmarks if she does not date him, and after Nancy is nearly kidnapped by him and being swarmed by the media, she goes to confront Mole Man only to find that Tricephalous is in love with him.

[28] Mole Man later appears attacking New York with a group of monsters, but he is defeated by Amadeus Cho's Hulk form, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur.

[29] During the Secret Empire storyline, it is revealed that 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 arrives with the Underground Resistance, Mole Man's kingdom is attacked by Dreadnoughts sent by Hydra.

Mole Man has a series of similar-looking staves (6 feet long, made of wood or aluminum), designed by the Mad Thinker, which contain built-in weapons and additional features.

Mole Man's life has made him an expert on subterranean geography, spelunking, understanding Deviant weapons systems, and monster training.

[31] An alternate universe variant of the Mole Man from a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards appears in Heroes Reborn.

This version was talked down amidst his first attack on New York and subsequently hired by Reed Richards and Sue Storm to become part of the former's business empire.

[35] An alternate universe variant of the Mole Man named Melvin Kurtzman from Earth-77013 appears in The Amazing Spider-Man (1977).